Lulusan pendidikan kejuruan dilengkapi dengan banyak keterampilan teknis yang diperlukan untuk memasuki lingkungan kerja. soft skill juga dianggap penting tetapi seringkali diabaikan pentingnya oleh institusi pendidikan.Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengeksplorasi pentingnya soft skill seperti berpikir kritis, pemecahan masalah, memperoleh pengetahuan baru dan manajemen informasi, untuk lulusan pendidikan kejuruan di tempat kerja mereka dan apakah gender, tipe industri dan posisi saat ini memainkan peran dalam mendiferensiasi kemampuan soft skill. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan penelitian kuantitatif melalui pendistribusian kuesioner kepada lulusan pendidikan kejuruan di Jawa Tengah. Respons kemudian dianalisis secara statistik menggunakan SPSS.Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa hanya ada sedikit korelasi yang ditemukan antara gender dan keterampilan berpikir kritis lulusan pendidikan kejuruan. Sementara jenis kelamin tidak menunjukkan adanya korelasi dengan pemecahan masalah, memperoleh pengetahuan baru dan manajemen informasi. Selain itu, juga tidak ada korelasi yang ditemukan antara jenis industri dan posisi saat ini dengan keempat jenis soft skill yang diuji dalam penelitian ini. Hal ini menyimpulkan bahwa hanya gender dan kemampuan berpikir kritis yang menunjukkan korelasi satu sama lain, sedangkan latar belakang demografis lainnya yaitu jenis industri dan posisi saat ini yang dipegang oleh lulusan tidak mempengaruhi kemampuan soft skillmereka di tempat kerja.  Kata kunci: lulusan, pendidikan kejuruan, soft skill, tempat kerja

ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is a regional program which started in 2015, was developed by members of ASEAN countries which have agreed on pillars on mutual collaboration to increase the economic and social growth. The AEC has agreed to carry out four major pillars: (1) single market and production base, (2) competitive economic region, (3) equitable economic development and (4) integration into global economy. The four pillars are divided into 17 core elements, and among the core element, there is one particular core element which focuses on human resources which is the free flow of skilled labours<strong>. </strong>The government of the ASEAN countries have taken actions towards anticipating the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), especially in regards to the free flow of skilled labour. One of actions is improving the quality of education. Some countries have invested high amount of funds in order to increase the quality of graduates. Indonesia has also started to make improvements in the quality of education. One of the improvement was in the form of constructing Indonesian Qualification Framework (IQF) which were then obliged for all education institution to follow. However, related to the vocational education, more beneficial collaborations with the industry should be carried out. Also, other soft skills which are required in workplace still need to be formally included in the assessment process of the education

<p><em>S</em><em>ister city collaboration is an activity carried out based on cooperation agreements between city governments in Indonesia and city governments abroad to mutually improve relations of friendship and understanding between the two countries. The Semarang Government on 11 January 1993 signed the first Sister City Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Lord Mayor Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Unfortunately, this MoU of cooperation was halted in 2005, and although the MoU was still ongoing the implementation of the program activities stopped in 1997. The results of previous studies showed several factors as factors supporting the success of sister city cooperation. One of the supporting factors is the factor of human resources</em><em> (HR)</em><em>. The purpose of this study is to identify aspects of the human resource factor that can support the success of the Semarang-Brisbane sister city activity.</em></p><p><em>Primary data collection in this study was in the form of a questionnaire and interview to eight respondents from various backgrounds. The analysis in this study was carried out using descriptive analysis to describe the opinions of respondents about human resource factors that support the success of Semarang-Brisbane sister city.</em></p><em>The results of the study show that the important HR competency factors are those who have an understanding of the culture and language of the partner countries. Whereas according to its importance the competence of human resources is mastering English or other relevant languages, understanding partner countries, experts in the field of international agreements and mastering foreign policy.</em>