On the Job by Anita Bruzzese Feelings mixed about recent college hires

On the Job by Anita Bruzzese Feelings mixed about recent college hires In the last year there has been a noticeable shift in the mood regarding recent college graduates. While many blogs used to tout the world was their oyster, and employers had better accommodate anything they wanted, now the mood is much cooler. There has been concern and criticism about this younger generation and what they're bringing to the workplace.I have worked with a lot of college students, and just like the rest of population -- there are some great workers and some not-so-great ones. But I wanted to talk to employers about what they were experiencing and their thoughts on how a tighter job market is impacting their hiring decisions for college students.I wrote this for my Gannett column:Within the last year Sarah Schupp has hired five new employees with freshly minted college degrees. She fired one on his first day for inappropriate sexual comments to a co-worker. Another lasted a week before getting a pink slip.When youre hiring for sales, its tricky to find a good fit, an d selling advertising is not for everyone, says Schupp, founder of UniversityParent.com in Boulder, Colo. But you cant call in sick at 7:45 a.m. just because you dont want to come to work at 8 a.m.Jeanne Achille also was disappointed with the hiring of a recent college hire, promoted by a university professor as a superstar and fired after three weeks when it was discovered she spent hours online at work visiting a dating site. She also Twittered about a night of partying then e-mailed in sick the next day.Just who is supposed to be preparing these kids for the workplace? questions Achille, CEO of The Devon Group in Middletown, N.J. Is it home? Is it school? Or is there a layer weve missed?That seems to be the question that has re-ignited the debate about who is responsible for the quality of college graduates in the workplace. The tension has grown as young workers enter a labor force where employers are closely watching costs, including those for recruitment and training.Ive been hearing these same complaints for the last 15 years, says Steven Rothberg, founder of CollegeRecruiter.com, a job board for students seeking full-time work or internships. Employers have always complained about a lack of hard and soft skills. The problem is that now employers dont have the luxury of letting employees learn on the job.With only 15 employees, Achille says that we dont go into a hiring decision lightly in this economy, and says no company can afford to put money into training new workers those dollars are reserved for top talent, she says.Weve decided to just not offer this position to an entry-level person anymore, Achille says. Weve had some good college students come and work here in the past, but we just cant afford to lose the productivity. It costs us money.Schupp also agrees that there has been some awesome recent college graduates work for her, but she is in the same boat as Achille. With a staff of 12, she cant afford to teach basic business and proper offic e behavior to new hires. Thats why she believes that schools need to work more closely with businesses to set up internship programs that will closely track the results of a students performance. It needs to be measured, even if the internship is unpaid, Schupp says. The classroom needs to be more closely integrated with the internships.Rothberg says he believes part of the problem is that in this tough economy, some employers are hiring down, meaning they are bringing inexperienced people on board for less money to perform jobs normally reserved for more skilled employees.The vast majority of schools are aware of the complaints from employers, Rothberg says. Their eyes are permanently rolling. Theyre sick of being blamed. The career service people also roll their eyes because theyre fed up with the lack of soft skills by these kids, like them using Twitter to badmouth a boss.Achille says shes frustrated with some professors who are trying to be friends and not mentors to student s, and believes that schools should offer an MBA of life course to help students understand that in the workplace there are boundaries.Schupp says she believes students need to take more initiative and visit college career resource centers so theyre more prepared to leave the classroom and enter the working world.Both Achille and Schupp say they will be much more careful in the future about hiring new college graduates, and will be looking for those with past internships and a real work record of their skills.Rothberg urges all those involved in this issue to remember what it was like to be in their early 20s, and to avoid negative labels of the younger generation, often referred to as Generation Y.This is not a generational issue. A 22-year-old is just not fully matured yet. I thought I knew everything at that age. Remember youre still dealing with people whose frontal lobes are not fully developed yet. They dont know what they dont know, Rothberg says.How do you think college stud ents could be better prepared to enter the workforce?Social Bookmarking