A new survey by MYOB shows that 44 per cent of small-to-medium business owners say they do not think the education system gives students the skills they need to work in their business.
Almost 60 per cent said students did not have the skills to run their own businesses and only 16 per cent said the education system gave young people the skills to be entrepreneurs or innovators.
We live in a fast-paced, high-demand environment, where demand for skills currently exceeds supply and expectations are heightened because we are so busy. But some of these SME operators may be writing young people off too soon.
My business partner used to tell me stories of the new grads they hired at one of the firms he worked in before ours.
He would say that fresh out of university, it would take graduates a year to be truly useful.