70% of Community College Students Are Working to Improve AI Career Readiness, Despite Mixed Feelings About AI

A recent report from IT training and certification provider CompTIA reveals the value of digital skills for community college students working toward career success. In the survey of 462 community college students across the United States, 44% of respondents said that digital skills were highly important across all career fields, while another 36% rated digital skills at a mid degree of importance.

Students ranked the importance of specific skill domains as follows:

  • Leadership, team, communications (88%);
  • Digital fluency (82%);
  • Data and analytics (79%);
  • Project management, operations (77%);
  • Financial, accounting (68%);
  • IT, cloud, cybersecurity (67%);
  • Creative, content creation, video (65%);
  • Coding, software development (55%); and
  • Artificial intelligence (52%).

Although AI did not top students' list of important skills, 70% of respondents said they are taking some action to improve their AI career readiness. Ways students are learning about and preparing for AI include:

  • Using or learning AI tools, such as ChatGPT and Copilot (cited by 40% of respondents);
  • Learning AI skills through free sources, such as YouTube or TikTok (30%);
  • Researching how companies are using AI (28%);
  • Taking AI classes or training courses (18%);
  • Networking with AI thought leaders via LinkedIn or other platforms (15%); and
  • Earning a certification or other credential in AI (13%).

Students expressed a variety of opinions toward AI and its potential impact on their job prospects or career. While 26% of respondents had generally positive feelings toward AI, 14% said their feelings were generally negative. Forty-eight percent reported having mixed feelings, and 9% were unsure.

Other key findings from the survey:

  • 66% of community college students feel generally optimistic about the job market post-graduation, but 44% reported a degree of anxiety around the economy.
  • 51% of students reported concern with identifying and navigating career path options in their chosen field, and 30% have concerns about potential gaps in their academic program leaving them short of career-ready.
  • 49% of students said earning an industry-recognized certification is required or recommended as part of their academic program.
  • 81% of students said that industry-recognized certifications provide a stepping stone to career advancement.

For the full report, visit the CompTIA site.

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

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