Often considered lazy, ungracious, entitled, and even disrespectful, Millennials have faced their share of preconceived notions. Now, a new study from Bentley University tackles yet another issue: their lack of an adequate “work ethic”.
The massive study of more than 3,100 respondents, including everyone from business leaders, corporate recruiters and higher education officials to college students, recent grads and parents, examined and discussed today’s many issues facing Millennials in the labour force.
Surprisingly, nearly two thirds of all respondents (58 per cent) state that Millenials deserve a grade of “C” or lower for being prepared to enter the job market. All parties agreed that unpreparedness severally harms the day-to-day productivity of any business.
Basically, young grads aren’t ready to face the music when it’s time for them to buckle up and become employees.
Mixed messages
The problem may just stem from the business community’s difficulty in clearly expressing its needs, and not Gen Y as previously speculated.
While a majority of business stakeholders consider such soft skills as integrity, professionalism and positive attitude as “very important” in their quest for an ideal candidate, they also provide conflicting information about the skills they value most in young employees.
Over 60 per cent of business decision makers and corporate recruiters say they value both sets of skills equally. Yet, most contradict themselves when they say that they would prefer to hire someone with industry-specific skills rather than a political science graduate who needs to first be trained.
Practice makes perfect
So how exactly does one become prepared? One thing that does seem to make a difference is internships. A Harris Interactive survey found that 80 per cent of employers are more likely to hire graduates who have completed not only one, but multiple internships. Why? Simply put, “colleges aren't preparing students enough for the tasks associated with their first jobs.”
Staggeringly, only 8 per cent of students actually make time for outside opportunities such as internships, summer jobs, work-study programs, job shadowing and mentoring.
Yet, internships are the easiest way to secure a job. According to a 2013 Forbes survey, 69 per cent of companies with 100 or more employees offered full-time jobs to their interns in 2012.