Advice for all you folks with College students

[Mike Circo]

Have them take some class, external program, practice on how to interview.

I just spend a day at a recruitment event at a state university near here. We knew going in that we would likely not find any college students with the IT technologies we needed, they are just too specific. The intent was to get some grads with the basics in IT, and some basic social and learning skills to be able to be taught what we do. The results were damning to the education system.

Again, finding the right technical skills were off the table. All I was looking for was some entry level kids that could string together 12 words into a coherent sentence. I asked for their experiences, expectations, dreams. All I got back was blank stares. They babbled incoherently, couldn't develop a rational story and seemed unprepared for the basic questions. There were over 200 companies at the event, I could not have been the first person to ask these fundamental questions. Oddly, the exchange students from overseas did far better even though English would probably be their second language.

And the wardrobes. I wouldn't be seen buying fertilizer at Menard's in some of the outfits they were wearing! The ladies did better for the most part. I don't expect a $700 suit, but at least clean up a bit. Someone should be directing these kids. Come on parents! Either you or the kid just spent thousands on a college degree, at least help them pay for it.

So either get after your education professionals, high schools, colleges, universities, to give these kids some basic interviewing skills (or take charge yourself). How to dress, how to prepare... yes prepare ahead of time. Don't wait until the question is answered to have your first thought of the month. I think its the Xbox/Smartphone generation. Head down, social interaction in 160 character chunks. I was a miserable dork at that age, but I know I could carry on a conversation with an adult, formulate a thought, and present it rationally. These skills count in any arena, and from my experience, are not being taught.

[Chris Padilla]

Mike,

Any idea if the kids had to take a speech class? I hated speech class in college but it was invaluable as I see so many bad presentations. Add that in, too. :)

[Lee Schierer]

As a professional in industry for over 40 years, I encountered pretty much the same thing. When young people I know are looking for work, I give them some insight on how to get noticed and taken seriously at an interview, with emphasis on how to dress, show up early and do some research on the company they are trying to get hired by. Colleges and High Schools generally don't do anything to prepare their graduates to actually go look for a job at any level. There is a feeling in the youth today that someone owes them a job since they completed X years of education and got great grades so they show up in the same clothes they wear going to class.

I was at a bank the other day talking to a lady about opening an account for my mother's estate to pay the final bills. She told me that she frequently has high school graduates that come in with their parent(s) to open a checking account with the graduation money they received and when she asks them to sign the signature card for the bank, they haven't a clue how to sign their name and look at their parents with a what do I do now look.

[Larry Frank]

Where I sent my kids for college they were given excellent instruction about how to interview and a lot of practice. It paid off for them. The school they went to was not cheap but a huge return on investment.

[Brian Ashton]

Have them take some class, external program, practice on how to interview.

I just spend a day at a recruitment event at a state university near here. We knew going in that we would likely not find any college students with the IT technologies we needed, they are just too specific. The intent was to get some grads with the basics in IT, and some basic social and learning skills to be able to be taught what we do. The results were damning to the education system.

Again, finding the right technical skills were off the table. All I was looking for was some entry level kids that could string together 12 words into a coherent sentence. I asked for their experiences, expectations, dreams. All I got back was blank stares. They babbled incoherently, couldn't develop a rational story and seemed unprepared for the basic questions. There were over 200 companies at the event, I could not have been the first person to ask these fundamental questions. Oddly, the exchange students from overseas did far better even though English would probably be their second language.

And the wardrobes. I wouldn't be seen buying fertilizer at Menard's in some of the outfits they were wearing! The ladies did better for the most part. I don't expect a $700 suit, but at least clean up a bit. Someone should be directing these kids. Come on parents! Either you or the kid just spent thousands on a college degree, at least help them pay for it.

So either get after your education professionals, high schools, colleges, universities, to give these kids some basic interviewing skills (or take charge yourself). How to dress, how to prepare... yes prepare ahead of time. Don't wait until the question is answered to have your first thought of the month. I think its the Xbox/Smartphone generation. Head down, social interaction in 160 character chunks. I was a miserable dork at that age, but I know I could carry on a conversation with an adult, formulate a thought, and present it rationally. These skills count in any arena, and from my experience, are not being taught.

So the young ones are all drop kicks... what about older students on a career change?

[Lee Reep]

[...]

I was at a bank the other day talking to a lady about opening an account for my mother's estate to pay the final bills. She told me that she frequently has high school graduates that come in with their parent(s) to open a checking account with the graduation money they received and when she asks them to sign the signature card for the bank, they haven't a clue how to sign their name and look at their parents with a what do I do now look.

While I am shocked at what is taught in school (or emphasized), and also what is not taught, I'd fault the parents for not getting involved enough to teach their children some of the basics like signing your name! Wow, I guess I finally have become just like my father...

[Jerry Thompson]

My son and daughter, who are parents of my grand children, are on their kids if they dress as we see a lot of on the streets and in the malls.
We are on them whenever they say "like", "awesome", "Uhm", etc. They have been taught at home to look a person in the eye and say yes sir and no ma'am.
When I took my grand sons to South Dakota to see my friend, who is a real cowboy. many of his friends said, "He'll make a good hand," That means a lot if one knows the language.
The point I am making is the family, from the parents on down, are the major element in a youth's demeanor and actions.

[Frederick Skelly]

My son and daughter, who are parents of my grand children, are on their kids if they dress as we see a lot of on the streets and in the malls.We are on them whenever they say "like", "awesome", "Uhm", etc. They have been taught at home to look a person in the eye and say yes sir and no ma'am.When I took my grand sons to South Dakota to see my friend, who is a real cowboy. many of his friends said, "He'll make a good hand," That means a lot if one knows the language.The point I am making is the family, from the parents on down, are the major element in a youth's demeanor and actions.+1. My Dad and Mom taught me how to research a potential employer (what kind of things does the company do and which of those things would I like to do, how to interview, how to dress for that interview and how to follow up with a handwritten note (NOT email) after the interview. I recently learned that many schools no longer teach long hand (cursive?) handwriting. They assume kids will "keyboard". So that might be why they cant sign. I dont know.

[Brian Elfert]

Today's youth communicate in ways that don't mesh with societal norms that those in their 30s, 40s, and 50s are used to. I work with young males in Boy Scouts. Hardly any of them want to communicate by phone, or they get mom and dad to call for them. One of the leaders is very specific about having the youth CALL her to sign up for certain things. She won't accept emails for these things and will tell parents to have their son call her. The Scouts are told they need to CALL merit badge counselors to set up initial appointments. There are certainly plenty of emails going around too, but we try to teach boys that voice communications by phone is still required from time to time.

If the way you do the majority of your communications is via text with abbreviations, misspellings, and bad grammar then your verbal communications are likely to suffer too. I hate text messaging, but I use it from time to time. I always spell out everything and use correct grammar. It takes too darn long for me to write a text on a phone with the tiny keyboard. Sometimes a 60 second phone call is way more productive than 10 texts back and forth to figure something out.

I deal with employees in their 20s who won't even answer their work phones. They leave their phones in do not disturb so they go straight to voice mail. It is irritating when you need to communicate via voice and have to walk half way across a large building to visit them in person. Written communication like email doesn't always work. A lot of young people these days won't answer phone calls on their smart phones either and never listen to voice mails if you leave them one.

[Frederick Skelly]

I deal with employees in their 20s who won't even answer their work hones. They leave their phones in do not disturb so they go straight to voice mail. It is irritating when you need to communicate via voice and have to walk half way across a large building to visit them in person. Written communication like email doesn't always work. A lot of young people these days won't answer phone calls on their smart phones either and never listen to voice mails if you leave them one.

Youre right. Heres how my boss solved that. Started giving choice assignments to an individual who does respond to voice communications. When folks complained, boss told them he must be able to count on a response rapidly and that he would continue to funnel the high visibility work to those he could COUNT ON to do so. All the 20 somethings answer their desk phones NOW.

[Dan Hintz]

She told me that she frequently has high school graduates that come in with their parent(s) to open a checking account with the graduation money they received and when she asks them to sign the signature card for the bank, they haven't a clue how to sign their name and look at their parents with a what do I do now look.


I recently learned that many schools no longer teach long hand (cursive?) handwriting. They assume kids will "keyboard". So that might be why they cant sign. I dont know.

My guess would be the kid is looking to their parents before signing their name on a legal document (I know I would have, even at that age). Students have to sign their name multiple times to get into the college, and likely sign it multiple times per week throughout. My daughter started learning cursive in 2nd grade and has used it ever since (6th-grader now). I'm surprised any school would take handwriting out of their curriculum. But I simply can't believe any child above the age of 10 doesn't know how to sign their own name.

[Keith Outten]

Dan,

My wife is a teacher at our local high school and the schools in or area stopped teaching cursive writing a long time ago so we have high school grads who have no signature. I expect some of them have to just print their name on various documents or convince someone to help them develop a signature outside of the school system.

I can't imagine going to a library and doing research that may contain documents written in longhand and having to ask someone to read it for you or to have to ask someone to read a letter you found from Grandma.....how sad is that this day and time. My children are grown but if I had young ones I would teach them to write in longhand myself rather then allowing them to live with such a handicap. Imagine your first day in college and having to tell your professor that you can't read what he/she has written on the board unless they use block letters.
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[Dan Hintz]

Dan,

My wife is a teacher at our local high school and the schools in or area stopped teaching cursive writing a long time ago so we have high school grads who have no signature. I expect some of them have to just print their name on various documents or convince someone to help them develop a signature outside of the school system.

I can't imagine going to a library and doing research that may contain documents written in longhand and having to ask someone to read it for you or to have to ask someone to read a letter you found from Grandma.....how sad is that this day and time. My children are grown but if I had young ones I would teach them to write in longhand myself rather then allowing them to live with such a handicap. Imagine your first day in college and having to tell your professor that you can't read what he/she has written on the board unless they use block letters.
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This saddens me... greatly. We have officially reverted back to a time where signatures are made with an 'X'.

[Keith Outten]

We have exceptional teachers who know their job and are anxious to teach students from coast to coast. What we don't have is competent school administrators that will defend the system from those who think they know best how to educate our children. The new regulations that impose strict rules on school lunches are causing high school kids to buy their lunch at 7-11 on the way to school because they can't eat the so called healthy food the school is required to serve. It backfires when kids begin eating candy bars and potato chips for lunch which is exactly what they will do.

Three years ago a tornado severely damaged one of our middle schools. The County insurance policy would have repaired 100% of the damages but our school board decided to build a new middle school that will end up costing our County about 30 million dollars in addition to the insurance payoff. We spent one million dollars renting trailers to house the middle school kids for three years at a temporary location next to our high school. All this smack dab in the middle of a very bad economic situation when jobs are decreasing and people are living right on the edge trying not to lose their homes, and revenue has to be increased to cover a County debt that went from 40 to 70 million dollars. They don't want to raise the tax rate so they have a scheme to boost our home values which not only increases our tax burden it moves our home values out of sync with other localities in the area and boosts our home owner insurance rates. Our school board is comprised of highly educated people and they demonstrated an amazing level of stupidity. Our high school graduates who can't read a handwritten letter could probably do a better job of managing our County finances even though the majority of them can't calculate simple interest because we don't teach that anymore. :(

Our County is a small bedroom community with a near zero commercial tax base and our residents are primarily blue collar but we have an abundance of arrogant management with no experience.

If we allow people to sign legal documents with an X the law will probably require someone who can sign their name to witness the document or have it signed by a Notary. There can be no progress when all you have is incompetent management, no matter what their educational level may be. If we don't teach our children to write, how to calculate a 10% discount on the clothes they buy or how to dress and interview how can we expect them to become responsible adults. One thing we do allow in our schools is students with cell phones so they can send text messages to each other in class and share answers during tests.

When I was working at CNU one of the professors told me that all students cheat. I have to tell you that I was stunned by the comment and the fact that the professor would admit it without hesitation. I'm glad that I don't need to hire any help in my sign shop as I wouldn't want to hire either a high school or college graduate.

[Brian Elfert]

While I certainly know how to write and read cursive I write everything in block letters. It is just easier for me.

[Bert Kemp]

I had my Gran daughter with me last summer when I was back home,(she's 19) we were going someplace can't remember where,she just saw a sign that said the town was 70 miles and ask how long till we got there , I said well were going 70 miles per hour so how long till were there. She says Gran Pa how long, I said you tell me, she says How am I suppose to know. I said hey were going 70 mph the town is 70 miles away how long till we get there . I was flabbergasted she could not figure it out.

[Dan Hintz]

I had my Gran daughter with me last summer when I was back home,(she's 19) we were going someplace can't remember where,she just saw a sign that said the town was 70 miles and ask how long till we got there , I said well were going 70 miles per hour so how long till were there. She says Gran Pa how long, I said you tell me, she says How am I suppose to know. I said hey were going 70 mph the town is 70 miles away how long till we get there . I was flabbergasted she could not figure it out.

I'll just leave this for you here, Bert:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhm7-LEBznk

[Keith Outten]

Think about how much money it cost to send the young lady in the video to school for twelve years of public school. She may have graduated but the system failed her, its a very sad situation.

Lets assume she becomes a hairdresser and she is supposed to dye your wifes hair. Per the instructions on a particular product she is required to mix 70% of one product with 10 percent of a second product and 20% of a third product.......what color would your wifes hair be? :) :) :)

[Dan Hintz]

Lets assume she becomes a hairdresser and she is supposed to dye your wifes hair. Per the instructions on a particular product she is required to mix 70% of one product with 10 percent of a second product and 20% of a third product.......what color would your wifes hair be? :) :) :)

If she gets the ratio wrong, she could burn the hair completely off of her head...

[Keith Outten]

The answer is 40 Miles Per Hour :)

[Pat Barry]

To the OP: I wouldn't be even a bit surprised at the findings. In fact I suspect most of those kids who didn't seem all that serious were there just for the experience in interviewing. I do know for a fact that they are encouraged to go to interviews such as that to gain practice and get a feel for a real interview situation. That way they will be prepared for interviews they actually care about.

[Mike Circo]

To the OP: I wouldn't be even a bit surprised at the findings. In fact I suspect most of those kids who didn't seem all that serious were there just for the experience in interviewing. I do know for a fact that they are encouraged to go to interviews such as that to gain practice and get a feel for a real interview situation. That way they will be prepared for interviews they actually care about.

After the fact, that was something I thought of. In fact, I tell my son the same thing, to interview as much as possible for the experience. Still, these kids (can you call a 21 or 22 year old a "kid"?) were miles away from being ready for the real world.

Someone early in this thread asked about the Older students. We were hiring pure, raw recruits, however some Master's candidates did stop by our booth just in case we had some other availability. They were indeed better spoken, better dressed and obviously of a higher quality. However, is that due to the additional maturity and schooling? Or is is due to the fact that Masters students are the top performers anyway?

Sad part is that next time we do this, I may be setting my bar lower because we need additional help. This will just dragging down the curve for everyone. :-(

[Chris Padilla]

Dan,

My wife is a teacher at our local high school and the schools in or area stopped teaching cursive writing a long time ago so we have high school grads who have no signature. I expect some of them have to just print their name on various documents or convince someone to help them develop a signature outside of the school system.

I can't imagine going to a library and doing research that may contain documents written in longhand and having to ask someone to read it for you or to have to ask someone to read a letter you found from Grandma.....how sad is that this day and time. My children are grown but if I had young ones I would teach them to write in longhand myself rather then allowing them to live with such a handicap. Imagine your first day in college and having to tell your professor that you can't read what he/she has written on the board unless they use block letters.
.

Interesting about the cursive writing, Keith. My daughter turns 13 tomorrow...she learned cursive in elementary (she is in 7th grade now). Honestly, from what I can tell, I'm relatively happy about what she is learning in school. I think that it might be too easy for her or maybe she is smarter than I give her credit for as she has been pulling a 4.0 since day one and she is in all the advance courses we can get her into. I'm waiting for high school to hit her...see how she does there. :)