I don’t get it.  I don’t get this weird disconnect where talented people can’t get decent jobs.  For example, how is it that a young man with excellent communication skills, Ivy League caliber test scores, an ability to write well, a good work ethic, and a desire to do virtually anything just to get a start in life (asking only that it pay enough to live off of), can’t generate any interest?  Why are so many recent college graduates just wondering around, desperately looking for any decent opportunity?

No, this isn’t due to the recession.

This has been happening for a while now.

Is it possible that a college degree now signifies little or nothing?  Are college graduates viewed as being unprepared to do anything productive?  I’m serious – is that the essence of what’s happening?  Is that the general perception of  business and government?

Maybe we do need to re-think the current educational system and what we are preparing our students to do with their lives.  If the market for your product is shrinking, then it’s time to act.  What can be changed?  How can the value of a college degree be strengthened?  Or is a matter of relevance?  Four years is too much time to waste.

There was a time when graduates could be hired and trained in-house to perform certain jobs.  Your first year might be spent learning specific, job-related knowledge and methods to conform you to the procedures and culture of the business where you worked.  I don’t know if that’s still done.  But I see a lot of talent being wasted and I share in the concerns that have been expressed about a “lost generation” of young Americans – people who will get a late start in their careers and have less total earnings potential than prior generations.

We need to figure out the inhibitors that are keeping talented people out of the workplace and then we need to fix them.