Preparing students to succeed in the workforce is increasingly seen as a key to global competitiveness. But employers aren't sending clear-cut answers on what young people need to know and be able to do on the job. In efforts to obtain information about workforce readiness, various agencies sent out surveys to various employers. One such agency is the New York City-based Conference Board which sent out a survey to some 10,000 human-resource and training executives to ask them what knowledge and skills their companies are looking for in recent job entrants. (Contains 3 graphs and 1 photograph.)