Do Communication Students Have the “Write Stuff”?: Practitioners Evaluate Writing Skills of Entry-Level Workers

Abstract

Communication managers have long expressed the sentiment that good writing contributes to a company's bottom line and helps the writer gain momentum up the corporate ladder. However, an alarming number of communication professionals report that entry-level employees possess poor writing skills and even poorer editing skills. This article describes a quantitative study conducted with senior-level communication professionals who report that entry-level workers lack a thorough understanding of the rules of grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. In addition, these senior-level professionals feel that colleges and universities do an inadequate job of training future communication workers in writing competency.