Graduates underprepared for life in the workplace

It has been revealed that the UK’s top employers are leaning towards hiring school leavers over graduates

A survey of 1,000 of the UK’s top firms has revealed that one in five believe school leavers to be better workers than graduates.

The survey comes amidst an analysis conducted last week, that a third of new graduate jobs will go to students who have already worked for the employer.

The survey, carried out by giant recruitment agency Adecco, also found that half of university graduates had an unrealistic expectation of working life and one in three believed that the education system was failing to prepare students for life in British business.

Adecco have not put pressure on the Government and the education system in general to tackle shortcomings that are brought into the workplace.

New employees in the surveyed companies were found to be lacking interpersonal and computer skills, with one in four graduate recruits lacking basic literacy and numeracy skills.

The research found that almost half of graduates thought that their degree failed to provide the right skills to enter the working world.

However, in areas such as timekeeping, productivity, teamwork, working long hours, going “the extra mile”, or showing loyalty, younger employees compared favourably to their older counterparts. Younger employees were also spoken highly about when referred to entrepreneurial spirit and being “drivers for change”

Chris Moore of the Adecco Group, said: “Undeniably, Britain has one of the best and most advanced education system in the world but it must deliver a talented, reliable graduate workforce that brings demonstrable value to UK plc. On a significant scale, employers believe it is failing to do that.

“Collectively, we – the Government, businesses and educators – must work together and take full responsibility for developing skills in line with commercial needs.”

In June 2011, former Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy said poor standards in education left the younger generation under-prepared for work, suggesting that higher education institutions focused too heavily on research at the expense of quality teaching.

Student charged over racist Collymore Twitter abuse

Law student Josh Cryer has been charged over the alleged racist abuse of ex-Premiership footballer Stan Collymore.

The 21-year-old captain of Intra Mural side Barca-Law-Na and Jesmond resident is set to appear before Newcastle Magistrates on January 23, a Northumbria Police spokesman said.

Cryer was arrested in the early hours of this morning after Staffordshire police informed Northumbria police of the allegation.

The Talksport radio-station confirmed that a Twitter user sent two racist messages to the ex-footballer and radio presenter. The first read: “@Stan Collymore has anyone ever called you Stan Cooneymore #bellend.” and the second: “@StanCollymore has anyone ever referred to you as semi pro as in a semi pro coon #neitherwhitenorblack.”

The Twitter user’s account has been removed from the site, while a plethora of tweets have expressed support to the ex-Liverpool and Nottingham Forest striker, condemning the racist comments and even highlighting the personal details of the user.

The incident comes at a time when English football is having to deal with an unprecedented and worrying number of racially-aggravated incidents. Only last week Liverpool forward Luis Suarez’s eight match ban for comments towards Patrice Evra, while Liverpool have also opened up their own investigation in relation to alleged racist abuse received by young Oldham defender Tom Adeyemi after Friday’s FA Cup tie at Anfield.