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Employer Quotes

The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Manufacturing

They are talking about this topic: Occupation-Specific Skills

 

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The quotes below are about this issue:
Employers emphasize the need for new hires that have strong mathematical abilities; levels of skill needed vary by position, but range from algebra to trigonometry. Many employers need to send new employees to remedial math courses. Similarly, although mentioned less frequently, some employers feel that reading and writing skills are lacking in new hires as well.

Employer Quote Region
"Even as far as some of the basics, reading the ruler and things like that. Some of the folks over here might not need that training, but they might help develop the training program to support an operation or working with individuals to try and teach them. So, it's a different support role." Central
"Employer 1: Two things to add for the colleges who are here: Employees need to be able to read a ruler and be able to measure with a ruler, very basic. I was at a high school just the other day—or junior high—and they said that they all learned that in the second grade. But even the basic things with the ruler today are not what they used to be. People are not able to read a ruler and people cannot convert decimals to fractions. So, very interesting things that we notice.

Employer 2: Long division, they can't do it.

Employer 2: We have heard that math skills, basic math skills, are a really big deal. I think it's 40 percent of the kids coming in need some remedial help in math and reading. So, that is clearly an issue. We continue to hear it—particularly in the manufacturing industry—but in other areas as well. Basic math."		 Central
"Years ago, when I was in high school—and I'm sure employees of mine that are in that age range would say the same thing—we learned how to do geometry and trigonometry. And people in sheet metal have to be able to do trigonometry. And I think—maybe they're looking at a ruler, and some don't know how to use a ruler. If you work on a press brake or something like that, you have to know how to do trigonometry. I'm sure you can do it on a calculator, if you use a cheat sheet, but it's not what we learned in high school. And the kids nowadays—I don't know if they're not learning it or if they're not getting it—because it just really seems to be a struggle. So, we have to teach people that." Central
"Employer 1: About half of the people fail the tests or the assessments. They fail the math. We use true science math.

Employer 2: What level math is that test?

Employer 1: I think it's a fifth-grade level. That's for the entry-level operator position."		 Metro
"About half the people fail the pre-employment tests." Metro
"People use Google maps, but they can't read maps. This is the transportation industry, so..." Metro
"One problem is that some folks don't perform. Secondarily, they come into our places of employment with rudimentary math skills, things like that. So, we have to turn to a batch of assessments to find out what the candidates' baseline skills are. Should we have to do that? Probably not, but the need is there." Northeast
"The soft skills are such a critical area, before you even get to the technical level. We have to have somebody that can do the basic reading and writing. Someone who can understand and follow directions. Someone who has team skills, team-working skills, ethical skills, and an understanding of ethical practices. All of those are so critical, and those are areas we constantly spend time training on." Northeast
"Some of them don't have any math skills at all. Some can't even write." Northwest
"Employer 1: I'm concerned that when we've got kids that are very good in math—because we're stressing that in our high schools—that they're the kids that are going to be the higher learners or the academics rather than the machinists, the CNCs, and the hands-on welders. In the old days, the hands-on group didn't need the technology degree that they need now. Our equipment has changed. So, the mindset of those kids needs to change in school. We need to somehow let our youth know that it's going to be a higher requirement on this side because of the technological advances we've made. That's our biggest struggle and our biggest gap right now.

Employer 2: You can no longer go into machining as a way to avoid math."		 Northwest
"Our key difficulty is getting enough interested kids and returning adult students into that pipeline. And, finding folks who have the capability to handle the basic trigonometry and some of the other pieces that are involved in that program." Northwest
"Employer 1: Candidates need better math skills.

Employer 2: It's a big problem.

Employer 3: Huge.

Employer 1: Understanding trig, math, and geometry. It's a huge problem that more candidates don't have those skills.

Employer 2: Coming from the welding side, that's what we're finding as our students come in—that we're having to teach them the basic math and how to read a tape measure before we can take them into the actual trade side of it. So, this goes back to why the high school is not putting out this math? Why aren't candidates understanding the math before they come to us? They should have learned this already. I mean, I'm talking simple stuff like adding fractions or converting fractions to a decimal. Basic stuff that a sixth-grader could do. And we get them in from high school and they can't do that."		 Northwest
"We always require math and welding blueprint testing as they come in. They have to pass with 80 percent. If they don't, then we sit down with them in a little training session and go over that. For the most part, they do pass, but for the particular group that is under that percentage, we have to re-teach those math skills and blueprint skills. We do that internally." Southeast
"I think, getting back to the basic English and basic writing skills—it's really having writing skills, so that you can write an articulate letter. I think we're losing a lot of basic communication skills that, quite frankly, take a little more time and take a little more thinking. They can be very technical." Southeast
"I would say 'able' is a big portion of it, whether they don't read or write English and if can't understand English—we're getting a very diverse crew." Southeast
"We don't have any sort of pre-employment test like the other two employers have mentioned. But I've seen the same things. And it is the basic stuff like weighing product and then subtracting the tank that the product was in to come up with the finished product. And the number of hours and the number of cases. And so this discussion is very interesting. Because I didn't necessarily know—I thought it was just us experiencing these types of issues." Southwest
"There are things that we can teach on the line as far as food handling and food safety and knife handling and knife safety. But it's the basic skills like the math. And then some of the soft skills like showing up on time because the production line starts at a certain time. So, it's important to be on time. And that's where the frustration comes in." Southwest
"And if they're going to go to technical school, here's some of the things that you need to work on: You have to have a basic understanding of logic. You need to have a basic understanding of math. You need to be able to use a computer fairly effectively. You need to be able to problem-solve and troubleshoot. You need to be able to have all these higher skills and, good golly, high school's having trouble teaching them how to read and write." Southwest
"Employer 1: So, to get a certificate in one of these things, do they have to be able to demonstrate algebra skills at the twelfth grade level? Like you said, I don't know if we need calculus, but we need algebra skills.

Employer 2: We have tutors if they need them.

Employer 1: If they don't place at the right skill level, they have to take the skill courses. A very high percentage of the people have to take remedial courses."		 Southwest
"So, we've got to ramp it up because sometimes people don't even have math after their first year. And they graduate." Southwest
"Employer 1: Square roots. Or, I started at 10:00 o'clock and I finished at 11:00 o'clock, so how much time did I put in?

Employer 2: Right. That's how basic it is."		 Southwest
"That's what I was going to say. Some of our hires are entry-level production assemblers, they're working in a team. And I've thought, 'When did we stop teaching reading?' Just in terms of reading instructions." Southwest
"They need math skills." Southwest
"I had the privilege of teaching at [non-MnSCU college] for three years. And the most stunning part of that experience was how ill-prepared the students were just to write a complete sentence. I had to stop a marketing class to teach people how to calculate a percentage. And so, as we talk about all this technical stuff, those real basic things are so critical. And we don't try to teach them math. If they can't do the basic math, as much as we need employees, we move on to the next person. We just don't have time to do that." Southwest
"I think one of the frustrations is the remedial work that they're doing. Even as kids come into the higher education systems, they're going back to do math—math that they should have learned in eighth, ninth, and tenth grade." Southwest
"We have a highly-customized shop, and math skills are critical. Math is the theme right here. And job-costing is critical to success. If they cannot help keep accurate records so that we can get an accurate job cost, then I'm lost. So, math is it." Southwest