How well can you read and write? Well enough to be reading news articles on the internet, of course, but are you a confident reader? What about writer? And let’s talk math. Quick: 5×5=?
By the time we reach adulthood, these should be skills that everyone has and is confident in. We’re not talking about doing vector calculus or writing Pulitzer Prize winning material. Yet a recent survey by Lee Hecht Harrison found that 63 percent of job hunters felt they needed improvement in one or more basic area –reading, writing, math or basic computer skills. Only 28 percent felt confident in all these things.
To keep reading, click here: Do job applicants lack basic skills?
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! Finally someone had the courage to say it! I feel that as our culture becomes more technically evolved, our skills of basic math, reading and conversation erode more and more. Each time I post a job opening I ask for a cover letter along with the resume; I can count on both hands the number of actual cover letters I have received in the last year. So; is it that they don’t read the entire posting; or that they can’t follow directions? And I am talking the majority of these people have been out of college for less than ten years, with most less than 5 years. And don’t get me started on basic conversation skills – yet, when asked to rate themselves on a scale of 1 to 5, five being the best, they almost always rate themselves a 4 or 5 in the category of communication skills. So annoying.
I fully agree. Basic skills on most every level seem to be disappearing….quickly. Conversation, basic math and english……really all the things that make a civilization, well, civil.
I find it ironic that my daughters fine arts classes in high school are being dropped one by one to focus on “important” things like math and engineering yet we do not seem to be graduating talents people in that discipline any more than before…
Balance my friends, balance.
Perhaps a start would be no longer accepting text acronyms and, instead, demand actual words and sentences……you know…a conversation.
It is my rule but only if someone expects me to reply!
Most seem to have those basic skills but it is worth noting that many employers seem to do english/math tests now as well as a range of other tests such as attention to detail.