Some New Jersey employers are complaining that young people entering the workforce have poor communication skills, especially when it pertains to writing.

Keyboard
Flickr User Peter Harrison
loading...

"Colleges really don't test when people come out of school, whether they've actually learned anything or can communicate," said Phil Kirschner, president of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association.

He said the art of writing and expressing yourself through writing has largely disappeared.   "With today's 20-somethings, a lot of the communication is done by text and shorthand and email and abbreviations, as opposed to paragraphs and coherent sentences."

Some New Jersey businesses have reported seeing shorthand and abbreviations appear on resumes.

Kirschner said what some younger workers forget is that no matter how much they enjoy social media and electronic communications, nothing replaces human relationships because that's how business and a lot of other endeavors operate.

"They need to learn," he said, "in the business world you don't use shorthand, you don't use small little bursts of information.  You really need to be able to express yourself both in writing and verbally.  The more they practice that, the better off they'll be in trying to secure a job."

More From New Jersey 101.5 FM