San Bernardino, CA - June 01: A San Bernardino High School graduate waves to their relatives in the crowd at Valley College commencement ceremony in San Bernardino on Thursday, June 1, 2023. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul/MediaNews Group/The San Bernardino Sun via Getty Images)
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The high school class of 2026 is graduating into the most uncertain job market in years. AI has introduced widespread career volatility for high school graduates, with reports showing higher unemployment rates for both young workers without a college degree and recent college graduates than the overall U.S. population.
I think about this constantly, and not just because I study leadership for a living. My own son is on the runway to high school himself, and watching him navigate a world where the cap-and-gown-to-career path has never been less linear, many parents like me are asking: What human skills matter for high school graduates? Some call these soft skills, even though they are anything but, so let’s stick to human skills.
Dr. Michele Borba, Ed.D., the author of Thrivers: The Surprising Reasons Why Some Kids Struggle and Others Shine, shared her perspective on this in an email interview, “In today’s new AI-driven, uncertain world, high school seniors will need a new set of ABC’s to be ready for life.” She adds that instead of overprioritizing GPA, rank or resume, the ABCs that high school seniors can focus on include adaptability, belief (self-confidence and agency) and coping skills (such as problem solving, handling stress and effective communication).
Elyse Klaidman, CEO of Xperential, an experiential learning company preparing young people for the real world, holds a similar view, explaining via email, “The most important skills for students to master are the ones that help them learn continuously, think clearly, and work effectively with others regardless of how our world and technology evolve.”
A 2025 MIT study on AI and the future of work supports what Borba and Klaidman shared. It found that the skills AI is the least likely to replace are the ones that depend on uniquely human capabilities. Unique human capacities, such as empathy, discernment and critical thinking, are just as crucial (and relevant) for new grads navigating the uncertainty of today’s working world as they are for current leaders.
This is a skill that no one can put on a resume, but an employer or college admissions officer can often detect instantly. Self-awareness means having a strong understanding of your emotions, your triggers and how you actually come across (versus how you think you come across).
Emotional intelligence expert Daniel Goleman wrote in his best-selling book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, “If you don’t have self-awareness, if you are not able to manage your distressing emotions, if you can’t have empathy and have effective relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far.”
High school graduates who want to excel in the workplace or higher education benefit from being able to name what they are good at, name what they struggle with and accept challenging feedback as a gift to be met with curiosity and a desire to grow.
Effective self-care is what will sustain momentum and resilience as new graduates enter a job market that may demand endless productivity, especially given that Gen Z report high rates of anxiety, stress and burnout compared to other generations.
As I wrote in The Empathy Dilemma, self-care does not merely include spa days. Instead, it’s the ability to recharge the body, mind and soul. For some, this looks like yoga or meditation. For others, it might be more active, such as rock climbing or running.
Those who practice self-care also maintain boundaries, protect periods of rest and steward their mental health to show up fully in the college classroom or at your job. It’s worth finding ways to decompress at least one to two full days a week, and practicing saying no to low-stakes requests when you’re at capacity (for example, declining to join a volunteer committee if you’re already stressed by your workload).
Karen Ares, a career and technical education coordinator in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, explains in an email that high school graduates "should be learning how professional communication is different from peer communication and how to differentiate the two. Employers often comment that this communication skill is lacking in young adults.”
Some best practices include:
The graduates who feel the most stuck are not the ones who make the wrong choices. In fact, experimentation can be a useful learning tool. Instead, they are the ones who stay in a place of limbo or outsource their decision-making to a parent or peer.
Decisiveness means weighing multiple points of view and making a firm decision based on the best available information. While committing to a career at just 18 years old is a tall ask, the important thing is that you immerse yourself in learning, working and creating. It’s okay if the type of work you do changes or evolves along the way.
As Amy Mosher Berry, CEO and founder of Visions Internships, which helps purpose-driven young professionals sharpen their skills and gain meaningful real-world experience in the 21st century, shares via email, “Be proactive in exploring career paths that interest you.” She advises seniors to step up and capitalize on the opportunities in front of them, which could be joining a school club, volunteering in their community, starting a passion project, job shadowing or attending networking events.
Joy is the most underrated skill on this list. You don’t need to have figured out the exact career that you want at 18 (I certainly hadn’t). However, approaching college or the working world with an open mind and finding joy in the work on the horizon can make a meaningful difference.
For instance, if you have decided to pursue a college degree, try to choose subjects that genuinely fascinate you, or choose to write a research paper on a topic you are passionate about. In fact, some experts predict that humanities and arts majors, and the skills that frequently accompany them, will become sought after again by employers as AI automates more technical work.
If you choose to take a gap year, why not spend some of that time volunteering for a social cause that you care deeply about? Don’t underestimate the value of informal part-time or voluntary work. As Ares explained, “It has been repeatedly shared by prospective professional employers that they are much more apt to hire someone who has worked a regular part-time job in which they have learned and practiced such valuable skills."
A diploma tells the world what you studied. The five skills above tell the world how you’ll show up once you walk through the door. These skills do not simply represent a checklist you complete and move past. They're a practice you return to, in every job interview, every group project and every difficult conversation that you have for the rest of your career.
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