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Technology hinders basic working skills

June 16, 2013

In multiple surveys released recently, college graduates reported feeling unprepared as they enter the workforce. And likewise, a small majority of employers plan to hire graduates after they leave school.

In a survey released by Millennial Branding and Internships.com, 25 percent of graduates said they feel unprepared entering the workforce, with the main reason cited as lack of internships.

This is nothing new as internships are the best way for college students to get the real-world experience so they can succeed when they enter it.

Students only can learn so much in the classroom. They easily can read about how to build a car but it’s not going to matter until they go to a body shop to see how it’s really done.

But in a separate survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, 53 percent of employers said they will hire graduates out of college. One of the reasons cited was a lack of basic skills in certain areas with the majority saying most graduates lack professionalism and work ethic. Others said the decision was tied to writing ability, relationship-building skills, initiative, critical-thinking ability and basic math skills.

Although some of these skills can be attained through practice and internships, the lack of skills can be attributed to pure laziness. And that might be because all of these graduates lacking skills can in some way be linked to the rise of technology.

This is the first generation of graduates who grew up in the computer era. Because of the rise of the computer and digital age, each crop of graduates don’t have as much experience with people-to-people interaction because they spent so much time on their computers, phones or playing video games, all of which hindered relationship-building skills.

Nobody can get that kind of experience when the majority of the time they talk to people, it’s texting or through Facebook or Twitter. The reason employers think graduates have a lack of critical-thinking skills is because they think in 140 characters or less, which also attributes to the lack of writing ability.

But skills such as professionalism, work ethic and initiative are really disconcerting. These are real-life skills that can’t be covered in the classroom or internships. It’s the simple drive people need to push themselves and to make an impression.

Technology might be a part of the reason this is true, because as the world became more digitized, people grew comfortable with doing less since technology made their life easier.

That’s why these skills are so important. Nobody’s going to make a connection on Facebook as well as they would if they met the person on the street or at an internship. If a graduate has the drive as well as the real-world experience, then there shouldn’t be any reason employers will not hire them out of college.

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