NH Consultant Says New Graduates Lack Skills Employers Need

Ronald J. Bourque, a consultant and speaker based in Salem, New Hampshire, argued in a column published by NH Business Review on October 13, 2026, that many recent college graduates arrive in the workforce without the skills their degrees once implied, and he called for a non-political national task force to address the gap.

Bourque wrote that he has heard from managers about new hires being let go within months of starting, and that some companies have halted college recruiting altogether — a step he said raises questions about how they will replace retiring workers. He pointed to grade inflation and to incoming freshmen missing skills that were previously prerequisites, saying colleges have loosened standards even as employers demand more.

He described meeting engineers who could not do basic arithmetic without a calculator, and said some graduates resist training and view experienced colleagues as the problem.

Bourque also rejected the idea that artificial intelligence will compensate. Working with AI, he wrote, "requires greater, not less, proficiency," and managers who do not understand the work they oversee will struggle.

This story was first reported by NH Business Review.