CED

October 2013

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Dare to Prepare Training Fact: Lower job preparedness is becoming the norm – and it's up to us to equip our current and incoming personnel at every level. Our customers are counting on it. By Ron Slee This is Part 2 of a special threepart series. Last month, we looked at the subject of technicians and the challenges we face in attracting, developing and retaining them. This month, I want to touch on everyone other than management and supervision in the Product Support group. That covers the office support personnel in the service department, the parts office personnel, the warehousing group, the in-store selling group in parts – counter and telephone – as well as the product support sales team. So, we're talking about a lot of people. We've established that technical schools don't get the attention they deserve in a society that pushes for everyone to have a university education. I also pointed to universities' deficiencies in terms of preparing students for a work life. But let's drop down in the education chain to the high schools that feed the universities, technical schools, and much of business directly. First, some straightforward statistics from "The Condition and College and Career 2013" (this report can be found at www.act.org) – 25 percent of all 2012 ACT-tested high school graduates met all four ACT College Readiness Benchmarks, meaning that just 1 in 4 were academically ready for college coursework in all four subject areas. In 2013, 26 percent met the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks in all four subjects, so the 2012 results were not an abnormality. By the definition used by ACT, this means those who are ready for university will have a 75 percent chance of obtaining a C grade and 50 percent chance of receiving a B. That is quite a lot to digest, I suspect. The end result is that the new workers – coming from high school, technical schools or universities – are not a finished product. They require training and development, as we all did and do. But the level of capabilities leaves a lot to be desired, and it calls for some actions on our part. As time passes, we will be dealing with a lower level of job preparedness from the school systems. Businesses that adapt to this fact and develop programs and tools to assess and develop employee talent will succeed. Others will not. Flashback I remember starting in the equipment business. I was hired on a one-year contract to fix a problem. I received (continued on page 34) 32 | www.cedmag.com | Construction Equipment Distribution | October 2013 32_Slee_Feature_KP.indd 32 9/26/13 3:27 PM

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