Almost 60% of manufacturers participating in CME’s 2004 Management Issues Survey identified problem-solving as a skill in need of improvement within the primary and secondary school curriculum. (See Tables 23, 24, and 25.) Over 40% identified personal responsibility and basic employability and decision-making skills along with technical and vocational skills as areas in need of improvement. Mid-sized companies have the highest level of dissatisfaction with the current curriculum.
Manufacturers must aim to improve employee retention and performance by hiring for attitude and training for aptitude.
Young people must be encouraged to remain in educational or skills training programs until they are at least 18 years of age.
Manufacturers, primary and secondary schools, community organizations, and parents must engage young people in activities that develop a greater sense of personal responsibility and discipline.
“Manufacturers and educators must stress the importance of creative thinking, reading instructions, numeracy, report writing, adaptability, how to function in a grey area, how to network; how to problem solve, and so on and so on.”
“Many of the job applicants my company turns down are people who lack basic skill sets – work ethic, the ability to communicate, the ability to think and solve problems without direct supervision. They just don’t fit in a modern manufacturing business.”