Research reveals new graduates lack basic skills

New survey finds majority of organisations cannot find suitably skilled staff

Saarbruecken/Sevenoaks, 20 March 2009 - Organisations are struggling to find adequately skilled school-leavers and new graduates, according to new research launched today by learning technology provider, IMC (UK) Learning Ltd. The survey revealed that only 16% of respondents agree “it is easy” to find suitably skilled staff.

The survey, ‘Exploring the educational skills gap’, surveyed over 100 business leaders and HR professionals and was designed to establish their views with regard to the perceived skills gap between school-leavers, graduates and business. With 96% of those questioned agreeing that a well-trained workforce makes a large contribution in enabling an organisation to succeed during an economic downturn, these findings highlight the problems a skills gap would pose to UK businesses during a recession.

Over eight in ten (83%) of those questioned believe that many school-leavers and new graduates do not have the basic skills necessary to work in business without further training, resulting in many organisations having to carry out training in basic areas such as literacy and numeracy. Out of the 31% of organisations offering training in numeracy and literacy, 63% are in the public sector. In addition, 76% of the whole sample offers training in IT, while 77% provide training in management.

Despite the agreement of respondents regarding the importance of a well-trained workforce, only around one in three (32%) questioned are familiar with the government’s ‘Train to Gain’ initiative.    

Commenting on the research, Gareth Walters, sales and marketing director at IMC (UK) Learning Ltd, says: “This report raises questions about what organisations can do to bridge the suspected skills gap between the classroom and the office. It reinforces my belief that training within the workplace is extremely important for business survival and success.”

For those organisations which have invested in training, 72% agreed that technology-enabled learning is important during an economic downturn and are already using some form of this as part of their training programmes. An additional 14% of respondents say they plan to do so in the near future.

Walters continues: “It is great that organisations recognise the important role technology plays in training. It not only offers companies flexible training options and minimises the time employees spend out of the office but it also engages learners through providing them with an interactive approach to learning that can be adapted to fit their individual training needs.”

Download the full report here.