Manpower Minister Reveals Key Secret Companies Seek in Gen Z
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Manpower Minister Yassierli has a message for the younger generation, such as Generation Z and Generation Alpha, who will enter the workforce in the next five to ten years. According to him, future labour competition will no longer be solely about comparing diplomas or competing with fellow job seekers, but also about the ability to adapt to technological changes and evolving industry demands.
Therefore, Yassierli stressed the importance of young people equipping themselves with skills relevant to the needs of the business world. He assessed that companies are now more interested in workers who possess the right skills, rather than merely focusing on formal educational backgrounds.
“There is an interesting term I often use, ‘Skill not School’. What the industry is looking for is skill, and many reports also say that companies are having difficulty finding people whose skills match their expectations,” Yassierli said during the CNBC Indonesia Economics Update on Friday (3/7/2026).
According to him, the demands of the working world are no longer centred on just one type of ability. Companies are now looking for a combination of various skills, ranging from technical abilities to soft skills or human skills, depending on the characteristics and needs of each business.
“They might expect a combination of several skills. There are technical skills, soft skills or human skills, and so on. Because they need a competency profile that suits their business,” he said.
Yassierli noted that the challenge for the young workforce is that skill requirements are constantly changing along with industrial and technological developments. Therefore, he believes that the readiness to continuously learn new things is the main requirement to remain relevant in the job market.
“So my first message is, Skill not School. But the skills needed by companies are constantly evolving, so what is needed is the readiness of our workforce to learn something new,” he said.
He also emphasised the importance of having a growth mindset. According to Yassierli, young people should not feel that mastering one area of expertise or sticking to the major they studied is enough, because industrial changes can make old skills irrelevant.
“So the mindset that must be adopted is a growth mindset. This is something I also often say, don’t think ‘well, I graduated from a technical vocational school, so it’s impossible for me to learn about IT’, that is not allowed,” he advised.
Yassierli believes that future workers must be ready to develop more than one competency in order to survive amid disruption. In this way, the workforce will not only possess one skill but can combine two or three competencies at once according to industry needs.
“No matter how great someone is, when disruption occurs and industry demands change, many skills become irrelevant. The solution is that your mindset must change, that you can also develop yourself to gain new competencies. So, one is not enough; it could be two or three competencies, integrated as a result of his readiness to continue developing himself to acquire new skills,” Yassierli said.
He affirmed that the government continues to strive to prepare the Indonesian workforce to be more ready to face changes in job market needs, including through various training and skills development programmes.
“We continue to try our best,” he concluded.