Both executives and employees say entry-level workers are unprepared for their jobs in 2024, particularly compared to five years ago, according to a Nov. 14 report from General Assembly, a technology education provider.
Only 48% of employees and 12% of mid-level executives believe today’s entry-level workers are well-prepared, the report found.
“The entry-level employee pipeline is broken,” Jourdan Hathaway, chief marketing officer at General Assembly, said in a statement. “Companies must rethink how they source, train and onboard employees. There are evidence-based approaches to improving workforce readiness.”
In separate surveys of 1,180 employed adults and 393 vice presidents or directors at companies in the U.S. and U.K., 27% of executives said they wouldn’t hire today’s entry-level employees. About 23% of all employees said the same, including 33% of Baby Boomers.
One of the top reasons these workers seem unprepared is a lack of soft skills, according to 49% of executives and 37% of employees. About 40% of Gen Z respondents said that lacking soft skills is a major shortcoming among entry-level workers. Both executives and employees also said entry-level workers don’t have the right attitude or technical skills.
At the same time, employers don’t provide enough training, both groups said. A third of executives and more than a quarter of employees said that companies don’t provide enough training to new hires. In fact, those who said entry-level employees seem unprepared were also more likely to work at a company that they felt doesn’t provide enough training.
About 1 in 5 employees said their employers provide little to no training to new hires. In addition, more than 2 in 5 executives said their company doesn’t offer a learning stipend or training budget to employees. Among the companies that do provide stipends or training funds, 43% said employees use the stipends only sometimes, rarely or never.
Both employers and employees see the need for skills development, but continuous upskilling isn’t the norm for most U.S. workers, according to a D2L report. Employee uptake of learning opportunities remains limited due to barriers such as time, money and a lack of motivation.
Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic may have affected Gen Z’s ability to acquire foundational workplace skills, Resume Builder’s chief career advisor said in a recent report; while filling entry-level positions, nearly a third of hiring managers said they avoid hiring Gen Z workers in favor of older job candidates, the company’s survey results indicated.
Although technology and AI-related skills have been in high demand in recent years, the need for human skills still outstrips the demand for digital skills, according to a report from Cornerstone OnDemand. The most common human skills-related job postings tended to include communication, collaboration and problem-solving, the report found.
