Graduates 'sms' in job l3tt3rs

University graduates are using text message abbreviations and gaming slang in their job applications, prompting alarmed employers and education institutions to run special courses in written communication.

But although many employers feel graduates are poorly trained in grammar and appropriate language, they do not want to confront universities because they want to keep good relations during the skills shortage, said Ben Reeves of the Australian Association of Graduate Employers.

[...] Annabelle Puddy, the national head of recruiting for Accenture, said it was a particular problem among students who had studied for a technical degree such as software engineering.

"We're absolutely dumbfounded at the amount of students who use very relaxed [language], as though they're communicating with their friends on text messaging or email, so everything's abbreviated in their applications," she said.

Very interesting and not supriseable to me. The blurring of the leisure-work boundary was initiated by companies themselves ("be flexible"). With the new generation it's a done deal and students with a technical degree are just the avantgarde what is yet to come for the mainstream.

In 2005 I wrote here:

As Mick Masnik notes, the boundaries between work/school and personal life will fall and the mobile device has a lot to do with it. The world we are coming from was one where physical space ruled our life – a place for home, a place for work, leisure spaces and in-between spaces. With the advent of the mobile phone, our life is no longer dependent on physical space and we can connect with others in whatever space we are.

Additonally in software engineering most students already have done projects for themselves and it becomes ever more difficult to say what kind of work is leisure and what is a job. Savvy individuals in this sector also feel that they have gained more power, especially when there is a skills shortage on the job market.

So I guess it's up to the companies to adjust as much as the employees. I predict however that in certain sectors companies will not have much choice.