Atlanta round table on who owns the digital experience
Brian opened with a recap of the Atlanta round table, where companies like NAPA Auto Parts, Kimberly Clark, and Glocker Metals gathered to discuss B2B ecommerce. A recurring question was who should own the digital experience. Some said the customer, which Brian called a cop-out because someone in the organization still has to make decisions. Others said the CEO, which Andy dismissed as equally unaccountable. The consensus was that ownership needs to sit at a functional level, though it varies by organization.
B2B roles require skills graduates may not have
B2B ecommerce roles are not simple. Product management, project management, digital marketing, and analytics all require interpersonal skills: managing relationships, holding people accountable, setting expectations, and communicating clearly. B2B involves complex products, multi-stakeholder buying processes, and minimal margin for error. One practitioner described selling gloves for clean rooms, where the wrong product can cause millions of dollars in contamination damage.
You have to have interest in the industry. How many B2B companies say hey, we are not sexy, we make hydraulic equipment. They cannot get anybody in Gen Z to have interest in getting industry knowledge.
Andy Hoar, Master B2B
The data on graduate performance
An intelligent.com report surveyed nearly a thousand hiring managers and found that 75% reported that some or all of the recent college graduates they hired this year were unsatisfactory. Six in ten companies had to fire a recent graduate. The top reasons cited were lack of motivation, unprofessionalism, poor organizational skills, and poor communication. The communication issue is particularly acute for young men, who research suggests spent formative years interacting with screens rather than people.
Service experience builds interpersonal skills
Brian consulted Dr. Corey Castillo, who has a PhD in organizational leadership. Castillo’s research on interpersonal acuity found that candidates with direct service experience, such as working at a coffee shop or McDonald’s, tend to have stronger communication and collaboration skills. Interacting with hundreds of customers daily, handling complaints, and staying composed under pressure builds the capabilities that B2B roles require.
Think about someone at a coffee shop interacting with 500 customers each day with people yelling at them about all kinds of things. That is real customer service experience.
Brian Beck, Master B2B
Companies are investing in training
Some companies are adapting by building training programs. Robert Parate from Vtex shared that they launched a Digital Commerce Specialist program for recent graduates. Participants are hired and trained across disciplines for 18 months, then placed in positions aligned with their interests and skills. The model treats entry-level hiring as an apprenticeship rather than a finished product.
Rick Wingender from Mueller Sports Medicine took a harsher view, describing the situation as a cultural and educational failure, a lowering of standards he has studied since 2005. He noted that contributions to the workplace continue to decline at an accelerating rate. Whether companies adapt by training or by raising hiring standards, the gap between graduate preparation and workplace expectations is real.
The LinkedIn poll confirms the challenge
A LinkedIn poll asked how prepared recent college graduates are to work in B2B ecommerce. The results: 64% said not very prepared, nearly 20% said not at all, and only 8% said very prepared. That is 85% of practitioners saying graduates are underprepared. Brian noted that when you do find someone who is skilled, talented, and motivated, they stand out more than ever. The challenge is finding them.