Vokatek : Jurnal Pengabdian Masyarakat
Volume 4: Issue 2 (August 2026)

Enhancing Students’ Work Readiness through Soft Skills Development: A Pre-test-Post-test Evaluation

Megawati Fratiwi (Politeknik Perkapalan Negeri Surabaya)
Milasari Milasari (Politeknik Perkapalan Negeri Surabaya)
Rofiqoh Nur Rohmah (Politeknik Perkapalan Negeri Surabaya)
Sindi Wahyu Pratiwi (Politeknik Perkapalan Negeri Surabaya)
Maya Revanola Zainida (Politeknik Perkapalan Negeri Surabaya)



Article Info

Publish Date
21 Sep 2026

Abstract

Competition in the business and industrial sectors requires Vocational High School (SMK) graduates to master not only technical skills (hard skills) but also non-technical skills (soft skills). SMK Mambaul Ulum Pandaan, as a relatively new vocational school, faces challenges in preparing students for workforce entry, particularly in recruitment processes and Curriculum Vitae (CV) preparation. This Community Service program aimed to enhance students' work readiness through integrated training in three core soft skills: time management, professional communication, and CV preparation. The activity used a participatory training approach involving lectures, discussions, simulations, and hands-on practice, evaluated using a one-group pre-test–post-test design. A total of 25 students from Grade XI and Grade XII participated in the activity. The results showed an increase in the average scores of both groups, with Grade XI improving from 2.86 to 3.05 and Grade XII from 3.05 to 3.22. The N-Gain scores were 16.7% and 17.9%, respectively. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test yielded an Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) value of 0.036, indicating a statistically significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores. Overall, the findings indicate a positive change in students’ work-readiness scores following the training, although the relatively modest N-Gain values suggest that the magnitude of improvement was limited.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

VOKATEK

Publisher

Subject

Humanities Social Sciences

Description

Vokatek : Jurnal Pengabdian Masyarakat with registered number E-ISSN : 2986-0105 and P-ISSN : 2985-8402 is a scientific multidisciplinary journal published by Sakura Digital Nusantara. It is in the national level that covers a lot of common problems or issues related to community services. The aim ...