Businesses brace themselves for less-than-ready workers

[10 December 2006 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch] Everyone wishes she had taken Life Skills 101 growing up. Well, how about a course in Employment 101? How shall I say this? Businesses looking ahead to hire young people entering the super-competitive work force have some big "concerns" about the next generation. To be blunt, business has seen the work force future, and it's looking darn unprepared. That's one of the critical conclusions of a hefty study out called "Are They Really Ready To Work?" It's backed by such business groups as the Conference Board and the Society for Human Resource Management. ... Want to play in the Big Leagues of Working? Better be nimble. Better be quick. Better learn critical thinking; how to work with others; even a foreign language. And most of all? How to be creative. An innovator. ... This study finds high school grads "deficient" in most work force skills. Two-year college grads got kudos only for tech skills. Four-year college grads did better, especially in "critical thinking" and "creativity." More