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Employer Quotes
The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Manufacturing
They are talking about this topic: General Skills
The quotes below are about this issue:
Several employers want new hires that have stronger project management and leadership skills.
| "What we're seeing is that people may be technically very good on the machines, but they are a little bit needier in terms of the soft skills, which includes thinking more about the high level of the quality of our product. It's also looking at things like: How do they interrelate with their peers? How do they lead? How do they demonstrate leadership skills? Even though they may not be the vice president of the factory, everybody, in the end, needs to be somewhat of a leader. So, I think, for us, the struggle is that the training we're trying to do is to ensure that people—with a little bit more of these soft skills of leadership—work at a higher level. And that they're aware of their workstation workflow, and that would include quality." | Metro |
| "We definitely see the need for the project understanding and the teamwork skills, because these both work hand-in-hand. You're on a project. You're leading a project." | Northeast |
| "We hire driller-helpers, and it is on-the-job training. But to advance to a driller—you may have good skills as a driller-helper and you may understand the drill—but the soft skills come into play, such as being a team leader and how versatile you can be. And, sometimes, you're demoted because those skills aren't there." | Northeast |
| "Small team integration ties in with it. Those are the terms that are used a lot in our industry. But college-levels use terms that people don't even learn about until they go to work in the industry. So, what does it mean to get together as a small team to make process improvements and to look at a factory from a 10,000 foot view? Or to look at the flow of a product, and to be able to take it apart, and find where the waste is at? That sort of thing is extremely helpful—to have people that have at least some exposure to that skill set." | Northwest |
| "Employer 1: It's perhaps a bit of a stretch on the production technology part. We all talk about people we've worked up through the ranks for positions, and to get people into leadership roles. But, just because you're a great welder, doesn't necessarily mean you're a great leader. Employer 2: I'd like to see more training in that area—even certificate level for the development of leadership skills." |
Northwest |
| "The need for communication skills is growing, and it is countered by what is coming up the pipeline in terms of the way that kids—who are coming into the workforce—are used to dealing with social media and communication. I think it has put us in an even tougher spot in terms of certain types of communication, teamwork, and leadership. Communication still, at least for now, often has to take place face-to-face with real people. Also, the folks coming in seem to default more towards an impersonal attitude of, 'I'm going to take care of this right here,' without a broader perspective of being a team worker and without a leadership element." | Northwest |
| "Communication and facilitation and leadership are important. Because, as we get more global and move around the country, if we open up a new distribution center somewhere, then we're potentially taking people from our plant that are subject matter experts and sending them to other places to help get a certain department or certain employees up-and-running. So, some of those soft skills are a big thing—communicating and being able to get your message out. And, like I said, also being able to facilitate and train. That is important to us, too, as we grow and send people to different locations to help build for the future. So, those are big for us." | Northwest |
| "There's so little leadership taught these days. I try to glean as many leaders out of the military as I can because they've learned leadership through osmosis. They've had to." | Southwest |
| "One of the things that I've seen missing from the four-year institutions is the ability to actually manage people. Some candidates think, 'I graduated with a business management degree, and that means I can manage people.' Well, no, not really. They don't have the fundamental soft skills. They don't have interpersonal savvy. They don't have political savvy. They don't have the ability to do a gap analysis on the employees and then develop a training. One of the best leaders said, 'You don't have to be a great leader to be a good trainer, but you have to be a great trainer to be a good leader.' And I'm seeing the deficit in that leadership area. I'm wondering what you guys are teaching, and what can we do to help you teach more?" | Southwest |