This study was conducted to compare how male and female graduates utilize the important role of soft skills in workplaces, typically which should be prepared in vocational programs. The soft skills include creative thinking, problem solving, acquiring new knowledge and information management. This study employed quantitative research approach and delivered the survey questionnaires to the current workers in industries who were the graduates of a vocational education program in Central Java. The returned 33 respondents, used as the major research data, were then analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The data analyses revealed that the all workers highly valued the soft skills. Typically, the critical thinking was shown to have significant differences between male and female respondents. This study also showed that the three other soft skills were equally recognized by men and women. These participants all recognized and suggested the vocational education progams to well prepare youngsters with soft skills for their future careers.

Keyword: Soft skills, vocational education, Indonesian workplace