A degree without skills won't cut it: Indian employers now judge freshers on skills, experience and day-one readiness

For years, graduating college felt like stepping straight into a career. But India’s job market has changed gears, and the shift is too big to ignore. Recruiters scanning résumés are no longer asking where you studied — they are asking what you can do on a Monday morning, without training wheels. Practical skills, projects, internships, communication and digital readiness have become the new hiring currency in a workplace where automation is accelerating and technology demands are evolving every quarter.

This shift came into sharp focus in insights shared with PTI by Devashish Sharma, Founding Member and CEO of digital recruitment platform Taggd . He says employers, especially large ones, are moving away from hiring purely based on degrees. They want demonstrable readiness: candidates with proof of skills, validated through real work, not classroom theory. And that means a fresher with internship experience or a portfolio now outruns someone with just a strong academic record.
Bridging India’s employability gapThe urgency behind this transformation has been building for years. Government reports and workforce surveys repeatedly show a mismatch between what universities teach and what companies need. The India Skills Report 2025 , jointly produced by TeamLease Skills University and CII, reinforces the gap: India is growing its graduate pool every year, but employers continue to struggle to find job-ready talent equipped with digital and problem-solving capabilities.

The data points toward a common concern — students are leaving campuses with degrees, yet lacking the hands-on experience that modern workplaces demand. The report notes a strong expectation that over half of secondary and higher-ed students will require vocational exposure by 2025 if India aims to meet industry hiring needs in emerging sectors like AI, cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing, health tech and green energy.
Industry steps into the classroomCompanies are no longer waiting for the system to fix itself. According to Sharma’s comments to PTI, employers are co-creating skill programmes with academic institutions to ensure graduates hit the ground running. He cites collaboration models already in motion, such as the INAE-Infosys Foundation Centre at IIT Delhi and the IIT Hyderabad-Renesas partnership in the semiconductor sector — both designed to develop homegrown innovation and deepen industry-aligned learning.

This trend echoes broader national efforts highlighted by recent government and industry analyses: curriculum redesign, finishing schools, hybrid learning and real-world capability assessments are becoming core to employability.
Apprenticeships: From optional to essentialSharma acknowledges that apprenticeships have emerged as a powerful talent engine in India. PTI data he referred to shows enrolments under the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) touching around 9.3 lakh in 2023-24, with a government ambition to scale this to 46 lakh.

The reason is simple: apprentices arrive ready to contribute. There is no long adjustment period. They already understand how the organisation works, driving down training and onboarding costs. Adoption is strongest in automotive, engineering, manufacturing, IT and even emerging gig-based job roles.
Students are catching on and levelling upThe talent pool is reading the signals correctly. Surveys cited by Microsoft’s Work Trend Index and HR tech platforms show rising interest among students in communication skills, leadership, creativity, digital tools and problem-solving as competitive essentials. Micro-credentials, projects, hackathons and blended skill learning have become part of the new résumé. Freshers are no longer waiting until placement season to worry about employability — they are building it semester by semester.
The hiring script has changedPut simply, India’s workforce future is being shaped by proof of competence. The message from employers, backed by fresh labour market data, is loud and clear: a college degree may open the door, but only real-world skills walk you through it.

As Sharma told PTI, the next wave of hiring “will be defined not by degrees, but by demonstrable readiness.” And the India Skills Report 2025 — along with insights from national apprenticeship data and digital workforce studies — confirms that this shift isn’t temporary. It’s a new norm.

For graduates stepping into India’s fast-changing job market, the takeaway is straightforward: you don’t just need to be qualified. You need to be capable.

(With inputs from PTI)