POLL: Do you think todays 17-25 year olds lack discipline?

[FelixDeCat]

Originally posted by: kranky
For a number of years I've gotten to observe new hires who have just finished school. It's true that there are good and bad, but in general today's graduates are lazier, more unmotivated, have poorer writing skills, and have poorer interpersonal skills.

When I have to put a few of them together on a team project, it's a disaster for the most part. It's to the point now where I would rather hire the B student who can demonstrate the ability to actually communicate instead of the A student who only wants to wear headphones and use IM instead of talking to people. I can train the B student to be better technically, but I can't get people to change their personalities.

We put in countertop water coolers with filters but they complained that it wasn't bottled water. They complain when their project assignment isn't as interesting as they would like. They complain that their work is reviewed for completeness and they have to fix their own mistakes - they think someone else should do that. They complain that they have been working on the same project for six months and it's not exciting enough. They want more than three weeks vacation because "I have lots of stuff I want to do."

Many have such unrealistic salary expectations it's hard not to laugh in their faces. OK, you're right out of college, with a BA in Computer Engineering, a 3.5 average and no experience. And you want $150,000? Where in the world did you come up with THAT number?

The best part of the job for me is finding those gems in the stack of resumes who will turn out to be good communicators, work well in a team environment, have realistic expectations of what working is like, and don't mind working hard. It's getting a lot tougher to find them, though.

Excellent response. I hope your insight resonates with those who need it.

On a lighter note, I propose you create a dept of haircuts and spankings for new hires as part of their orientation. :thumbsup:

 

[imported_Condor]

About the same ratio as my generation.

 

[Tiamat]

13-18 are the years where disciplining need to occur. Also, people of 58+ years of age need to be shown that they are not immune from common courtesy.