Study Finds Ill-Prepared Workforce

A recent study produced by four key workforce and training organizations shows that “U.S. employers continue to struggle with an ill-prepared workforce, finding new hires lack critical basic and applied skills.” And employer-sponsored training is not successfully correcting the deficiencies.

What does that tell me? That employees (or wanna be employees) need to work to correct the deficiencies on their own. Knowledge is power–if you know what employers are looking for, you can highlight the key skills that you have and improve where you’re lacking. Employers aren’t going to do it for you, more than ever employees are responsible for their own success and career growth. May seem like a Catch-22, but it’s the reality of today’s working environment.

Statistics from the report:

OVERALL PREPARATION OF NEW WORKFORCE ENTRANTS
Educational level    Deficient    Adequate    Excellent
High school            33.9%        50.6%         15.6%
Two-year college    21.7          54.6           23.7
Four-year college   17.4           51.1          31.5

TRAINING GAP IN APPLIED SKILLS
Skill    Percentage reporting a high need for the skill, but offering no training in it
Creativity                        68.6
Ethics                              55
Professionalism               47.5
Lifelong learning             44.1
Critical thinking               43.6
Written communication    37
Diversity                          33.3
Oral communication        31.3
Teamwork                       24.5
IT                                    24.4
Leadership                      22.6

Source: The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce: Exploring the Challenges of Employer-Provided Workforce Readiness Training, produced by Corporate Voices for Working Families, the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD), The Conference Board, and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).