If you care more about an
applicant's practical knowledge and skills than their degree, you are not
alone. According to a recent Gallup poll, most employers do not consider recent
college graduates to be "workforce ready," meaning that they do not
have the skills necessary to do their jobs properly. As a result, companies who
hire recent grads may have to spend extensive time and resources training these
individuals.
While employers are complaining that recent college graduates do not have the
skills to do their jobs, academic supervisors believe that college students are
being adequately prepared. Clearly, educational leaders have a different idea
of what it means to be prepared for the workforce. No matter what their field
-- medicine, sales, production, management or web design, just to name a few --
many employers today believe that students learn a lot of theory, but have
relatively few chances to learn practical applications of those theories.
To make matters worse, these students often have inflated perceptions of their
workforce readiness. Students with high GPAs from big-name universities tend to
believe that they are a dream come true for future employers. However,
employers often care more about specific job-related skills than grade point
average.
Of course, that is not to say that all recent grads are incompetent eggheads.
Some really do have the communication, leadership and problem-solving skills
necessary to help you take your business to the next level. However, they may
not have necessarily developed these skills in a classroom. Savvy students will
take advantage of internships and volunteer work in their field to prepare
themselves for their future careers. Others will have developed these types of
skills through other previous life experience.
These exceptions aside, it is an unfortunate fact that the next generation of
workers is entering the workforce with a skills handicap. Small business owners
may need to provide these individuals with their first real-life work
experience. Learning to recognize which recent grads are actually
"workforce ready" will be essential to the success of small
businesses in the future.