Just before the New Year, I interviewed a 22 year old with a 2:1 in Business Administration & Finance for a client looking for a management trainee paying up to £20k. Despite a reasonable number of GCSEs at C grade and above, 4 A levels and intermediate Excel he was not able to give me the answers to these basic maths questions WITHOUT using a calculator…1000 divided by 50, if we mark up a £150 product by 20% what is the new sale price and finally what is 1/5 as a %. Shocked? I was horrified! What are these students learning these days? Call me an old ‘grump’ but come on…these are basic skill sets that employers need. The moral of the story…learn basic numeracy and literacy skills. They will serve you well!
Happy New Year to you all…Graham Martin AKA The Recruitment Guy