美國(guó)大學(xué)畢業(yè)生缺乏職業(yè)素養(yǎng).

　　上周，我安排了一場(chǎng)考試，一個(gè)學(xué)生遲到了25分鐘?？荚嚱Y(jié)束時(shí)，我去收卷。這個(gè)學(xué)生坐在座位上，抬頭可憐巴巴地望著我，嘴里嘟噥：“求求您了，我來(lái)晚了，能再給我 20分鐘嗎?”詳細(xì)請(qǐng)看下面的雙語(yǔ)信息：

　　I shook my head and said, “Can’t do that.” His request echoed in my head all the way back to my of?fice. Where in the world did he get the idea that an exam doesn’t begin and end at a set time?

　　我搖了搖頭說(shuō)：“不行?！痹诨剞k公室的路上，他的要求不停地在我腦海里回響。他怎么會(huì)認(rèn)為考試不會(huì)準(zhǔn)點(diǎn)開(kāi)始和結(jié)束呢?

　　Employers call it an “employ?ability skill” – work ethic, timeliness, attendance and so on – and they deal with it every day. Whenever the Na?tional Association of Manufacturers administers its “Skills Gap” surveys to members, failings in this area are as likely to be cited as complaints about inadequate technical and verbal skills.

　　雇主把守時(shí)稱為“就業(yè)技能”，“就業(yè)技能”包括職業(yè)道德、守時(shí)、出勤等。雇主每天都和這些技能打交道。無(wú)論何時(shí)，全國(guó)制造商協(xié)會(huì)對(duì)其會(huì)員開(kāi)展 “技能缺失”的調(diào)查，結(jié)果都是：和糟糕的專業(yè)技能、語(yǔ)言技能一樣，就業(yè)技能的缺失也招致抱怨。

　　In 2001 and 2005, the associa?tion’s members rated employability skills as a crushing diciency in their workforce, and more respondents urged schools to instill better behavior than did those who demanded more training in reading and math.

　　在 2001年和 2005年，全國(guó)制造商協(xié)會(huì)的會(huì)員認(rèn)為員工們嚴(yán)重缺乏就業(yè)技能。有些調(diào)查對(duì)象要求在閱讀和數(shù)學(xué)方面加強(qiáng)訓(xùn)練，但更多的調(diào)查對(duì)象力主學(xué)校培養(yǎng)學(xué)生更好的行為。

　　Even after the 2008 financial crisis, poor conduct remains a top complaint. In the 2011 survey, 40 percent of employers cited “inad?equate basic employability skills” as a reason for why they can’t hire and keep workers.

　　即使在 2008年金融危機(jī)之后，雇主抱怨最多的仍是不良的工作行為。2011年的調(diào)查顯示，40%的雇主將“缺乏基本的就業(yè)技能”列為他們不雇用和不留用員工的一個(gè)理由。

　　Employability skills aren’t only a blue-collar failing, as shown by the “Professionalism in the Workplace” survey from York College of Pennsyl?vania released earlier this year. The college’s project asked 401 human-resource people about the profession?alism of recent college graduates.

　　今年早些時(shí)候，賓夕法尼亞約克學(xué)院發(fā)布的一項(xiàng)“職場(chǎng)素養(yǎng)”的調(diào)查顯示，就業(yè)技能的欠缺不僅限于藍(lán)領(lǐng)。本次調(diào)查向 401名人力資源職員詢問(wèn)了當(dāng)下大學(xué)畢業(yè)生的職業(yè)素養(yǎng)狀況。

　　Casual Attitudes

　　漫不經(jīng)心的態(tài)度

　　Forty-nine percent of them stated that less than half of new em?ployees “exhibit professionalism in their first year.” More than half (53 percent) have noticed “a sense of entitlement” rising among younger workers; almost 45 percent have seen a “worsening of the work ethic,” including “too casual of an attitude toward work” and “not understanding what hard work is.”

　　49%的調(diào)查對(duì)象表示，不到一半的新員工“在第一年表現(xiàn)出了職業(yè)素養(yǎng)”。超過(guò)一半的人(53%)注意到年輕員工中出現(xiàn)了“理所應(yīng)得”的思想;將近 45%的人看到了“職業(yè)道德日益惡化”，包括“過(guò)于隨便的工作態(tài)度”和“不明白努力工作是什么”。

　　Younger workers believe they can multitask and remain productive, the human-resources people told the York researchers. Thirty-eight percent of respondents blamed multitasking for the lack of “focus” among younger workers. The authors of the study explained that the younger generation “believes that it is possible to multi-task fectively” and that using social media, for example, is an ficient way to communicate. In interviews, the applicants check their phones for texts and calls, dress inappropriately and overrate their talents. “The sad fact is some of these persons probably do not understand what is wrong with this,” the authors note.

　　人力資源職員告訴約克學(xué)院的研究者，年輕的員工認(rèn)為自己能夠一心多用并保持高效。而 38%的調(diào)查對(duì)象批評(píng)年輕員工一心多用會(huì)缺乏“專注”。本研究的發(fā)起人解釋說(shuō)，年輕一代“認(rèn)為高效地一心多用是可能的”，比如，使用社交媒體進(jìn)行交流很有效。在面試中，面試者會(huì)查短信，看電話，穿著也不得體，還會(huì)高估自己的才能。發(fā)起人注意到：“令人難過(guò)的是，有的面試者可能壓根兒就不明白他們的表現(xiàn)有什么問(wèn)題?！?/p>

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　　Faculty members identify parents as the main cause, though American culture in general and grade inflation in high school also re?ceive blame.

　　盡管總體的美國(guó)文化和高中階段的分?jǐn)?shù)膨脹都應(yīng)該為學(xué)生的不專注負(fù)責(zé)，教職工認(rèn)為學(xué)生家長(zhǎng)還是主要原因。

　　Let’s agree that everyone is at fault, more or less. The burden falls heaviest on the workplace. High-school teachers have few direct incen?tives to toughen up their classrooms. The steady drag of uninterested stu?dents and school bureaucracy beats them down to the point where using higher grades and lax discipline are the easiest ways to make it through the week.

　　我們姑且承認(rèn)，每一方或多或少都有責(zé)任。負(fù)擔(dān)重重落在了職場(chǎng)上。高中老師沒(méi)有直接的動(dòng)力在課堂上對(duì)學(xué)生嚴(yán)格要求。對(duì)學(xué)習(xí)不感興趣的學(xué)生的拖沓作風(fēng)和校方的官僚作風(fēng)，徹底擊敗了高中老師，他們憑借較高的分?jǐn)?shù)和松散的紀(jì)律就能最輕松地混過(guò)每一周。

　　College professors, too, have no direct incentive to raise the bar on behavior, given the influence of student ratings of their performance and pressure from administrators and parents. Most of all, poor behavior by students doesn’t immediately threaten the livelihood of teachers.

　　大學(xué)教授會(huì)受到學(xué)生評(píng)教的影響，還要承受來(lái)自學(xué)校行政機(jī)構(gòu)和學(xué)生家長(zhǎng)兩方面的壓力，因此，也沒(méi)有直接的動(dòng)力去提高行為標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。最重要的是，學(xué)生的不良表現(xiàn)并不會(huì)直接威脅到老師的飯碗。

　　A bad worker, however, jeop?ardizes a whole unit’s productivity, and a manager can’t simply pass a low performer to the next level. Teachers who allow delinquent students to slide merely compromise their own integ?rity. Dereliction in the workplace puts profits at risk.

　　然而，差的員工會(huì)危及整個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)的效率。經(jīng)理不會(huì)讓差勁的員工輕松過(guò)關(guān)。讓拖欠作業(yè)的學(xué)生過(guò)關(guān)的老師只是違背了自己的操守;而工作中的玩忽職守則會(huì)威脅到利潤(rùn)。

　　This, then, is the real transition into adulthood in the U.S. today – not graduating from high school, leaving home or learning how to succeed in college, but performing full-time work for bosses who can’t compromise, and all too often must say, “Your work isn’t up to par, you’re not as great as you think, and if you don’t improve, you’re fired.”

　　這就是當(dāng)下美國(guó)年輕人邁向成年的真正轉(zhuǎn)折點(diǎn)：不是高中畢業(yè)，不是離開(kāi)家，也不是學(xué)會(huì)如何在大學(xué)取得成功;而是成為從不妥協(xié)的雇主聘用的全職雇員。他們通常會(huì)說(shuō)：“你的工作沒(méi)有達(dá)標(biāo);你沒(méi)有自己想象得那么好;如果不改進(jìn)，你就會(huì)被解雇。”

　　As employers and govern?ment officials put more pressure on colleges to produce employable graduates, this message should reach students bore they collect their di?ploma.

　　雇主和政府官員對(duì)學(xué)校大幅施壓，以期培養(yǎng)出可雇用的畢業(yè)生，因此，學(xué)生們?cè)谀玫綄W(xué)位之前，就應(yīng)當(dāng)充分認(rèn)識(shí)到職業(yè)素養(yǎng)的重要性。