The discussion was pretty genteel at an education-business breakfast meeting of the Long Island chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professionals Tuesday at the Milleridge Cottage in Jericho. But the talk heated up among the educators and business executives when the topic veered to deficient communication skills among today’s young workers.
It’s relatively easy to find skilled workers, some execs said, but harder to find candidates with decent communication skills.
“What’s comparatively harder is to find people with the soft skills,” said Warren Lepkowski, the Long Island Rail Road’s director of IT application, architecture and quality assurance.
Chief among soft skills is communication, he said.
“Too many technical skills have taken us way from the soft skills,” he said.
Ebbe Reker, a native of Denmark and the vice president and chief financial officer of Applied Visions, a Northport software-development company, said he was appalled at young workers’ lack of communications skills.
“I find it odd that an ex-foreigner has to teach Americans English,” he said. “I find it odd that they can get through college with that level of English.
--Carrie Mason-Draffen