I’ve Gots Me a College Degree But None Leadership Skills

If you think that today’s two- and four-year college students lack solid writing and leadership abilities, you’re not alone. According to a recent study of 431 human resource professionals across the United States, recent college graduates are not ready for the workplace.
Although 71 percent of the human resource professionals said written communication was very important for graduates of community, technical, and other two-year colleges, 47 percent said that these graduates are deficient in their written communication skills. Similarly, 83 percent said that skill was very important for graduates of four-year schools yet 28 percent said graduates of four-year colleges are deficient in that area.

The concern didn’t stop with written communication skills either. Some 45 percent of human resource professionals said leadership qualities is a very important skill for two-year graduates to have and 82 percent said the same for graduates of four-year schools. Yet 43 percent said two-year graduates were deficient in their leadership skills and 24 percent said that four-year graduates were deficient in that area.
— Sources: Campus Career Counselor; Are They Really Ready to Work?; Inside Higher Ed, October 3, 2006; and Financial Times, October 1, 2006.