INSTILLING HUMAN SOFT SKILLS TO THAILAND’S GEN-Z UNDERGRADUATES: LAYING GROUNDWORK FOR WORK LIFE’S EFFICACY AND WORKPLACE READINESS

Abstract

Gen-Zs are those who were born from 1995 to 2010. They account for approximately 19% of the Thailand’s population. They are independent and value flexibility. Today’s teachers/trainers/managers must consider emphasizing instilling human soft skills in them. Born in the digital era, they are categorized as tech-savvy people. Thus, on average, their lives revolve around social media platforms for about 7 hours daily. With the myriad of social media platforms, applications, online courses, how-to videos available to learn and hone their hard skills, easily access to the internet at their fingertip, combined with countless hours spent on smartphones and other electronic devices, and as a result, not enough time to spend on learning Emotional Intelligence side. Hence, it is increasingly essential for today’s teachers to spend time instilling and incorporating soft or human/people skills when facilitating, and incorporating such concepts and aspects into in-class activities and learning process. In addition, Gen-Z people prefer learning by doing rather than lecturing (EBC et al.). Not only can this article serve as a work-life balance guidance, but it also helps prepare them to deal with people in general, people-related complexities, peoples’ emotions and sensitivity in today’s working world. This work-experienced and explanatory-based article conclusively examines, defines, and pinpoints critical soft skills needed (e.g., communicating with others with rational and clarity, being creative and possess strategic thinking, having leadership skills (as opposed to go-by-the flow or submissive type of person), being an independent thinker, having self-confidence and conscience, being self-motivated, complemented by emotional quotient skills, such as empathy, positive attitude, humility, and flexibility…www.berkeleywellbeing.com/emotional-skills) and applied the skills mentioned above to complementary suit Gen-Zs’ traits and personality in order to successfully achieve meaningful outcomes as well as equipped them with strong mental strength, resilience and perseverance to deal with the dynamics and the challenges of workplace environment and cultures in the present and the future eras of employment. To support the writing, Somhar T. (2024)’s article in https://www.nationthailand.com/life/40038140 states that new generation graduates oftentimes struggle in the transition from school to work due to a lack of career readiness caused mainly by low educational achievement, a lack of marketable skills and a lack of interpersonal skills, according to a Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) report in 2020.