http://www.news.com.au/business/business-smarts/gen-y-too-lazy-and-unfocused-to-hire-bosses/story-e6frfm9r-1225827302507
I know this article is primarily about attitude, but the way the kids communicate now is directly linked to their public behaviour.
When I was working at Coles, back in Australia, I'd often see emails from new employees usually asking for assistance with finding people or things. I was appalled by their use of SMS-speak and terrible grammar. I wondered how on earth they got past the initial job interview, let alone got hired! Rightly or wrongly, I think many people associate a poor level of communication with a lower skill-set and/or education. I know that many of them are Uni graduates, and knowing that increases my lack of respect for the real value of University degrees.
For me, using poor grammar and shortened words or phrases common to the IM and SMS generation, is indicative of a laziness that I then equate to one's ability or desire to work effectively. So, while many of the younger generation tell the rest of us to get lost because they think we don't know what we're talking about, we are still the ones doing the hiring and firing. I can tell you right now that someone without the ability to communicate professionally wouldn't get to first base at any company in which I held any influence.
I only hope that, even though there are a lot more poor communicators in the corporate workplace than ever before, the cream continues to rise to the top so that the English language does not take a permanent nosedive.
But it will. That's "progress".
I also hope that the spread of Asian students throughout the world introduces a new level of focus and willingness to work hard in Western businesses. Maybe the rise of China will actually curtail the downward trend occurring in the West…
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Posted via email from RockPortrait in Vietnam
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