Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0009-0001-2662-5936
Abstract
Workplace demands around competent demonstration of soft skills have been steadily increasing; therefore, institutions of higher education have started focusing attention on instilling these skills within their student populations. The latest generational cohort to enter college and the workforce, Generation Z, has only recently begun to be studied for the impact of its members’ attitudes towards work and how those might change employer expectations around soft skills. A research gap exists, however, regarding students in Generation Z attending two-year schools and which soft skills they feel are most valuable to their future careers. This study sought to explore those attitudes by answering the research question: Which soft skills do members of Generation Z within Liberal Arts and Sciences courses at two-year schools find most relevant to their future careers? Study participants were enrolled in a two-year higher educational institution in Minnesota in Generation Z as defined by Twenge (2023) and taking courses in the Liberal Arts and Sciences. The present study is non-experimental in design and focused on exploratory research. A variety of soft skills (the dependent variables) were studied in relationship to the constant, two-year college students within Generation Z. A questionnaire was utilized that included a Likert scale rating the value of nine soft skills along with demographic questions and questions about future career goals. The findings of this study indicated that all participants valued certain skills that are also in demand by employers, such as communication and metacognition. Participants disagreed, however, on the value of an in-demand employer skill, creativity. Additionally, the study results indicated strong differences among gender cohorts of participants regarding the value of several key skills. Implications for further research include further exploration of those soft skills that generated greatest disagreement among participants and between participants and in-demand skills; additionally, further research could establish stronger correlations between the soft skills valued by Generation Z and their future career goals.
Recommended Citation
Hallsten Erickson, K. (2025). An Exploratory Study of Soft Skills Development Expectations in Two-Year Generation Z College Students. The Interactive Journal of Global Leadership and Learning, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.55354/2692-3394.1064
