Join/Renew
Students appear to be unfamiliar with the concept of skills-based hiring, despite acknowledging that they have been asked to demonstrate their skills and that they have worked to develop them, according to results of NACE’s 2025 Student Survey.
Fewer than 40% of graduating seniors said they were familiar with the term “skills-based hiring,” but nearly 46% said they were asked to demonstrate their skills through an assessment as part of the job application or interview.
Nearly 9 out of 10 graduating seniors said they had taken part in a program or activity to develop skills relevant to their career goals. Furthermore, all but a handful of graduating seniors reported that they have heard from faculty in at least some of their classes on how the coursework connects to career opportunities; nearly half of respondents said this was the case in at least half of their classes and more than one-third reported that career center staff had visited their classrooms.
Graduating seniors also reported high levels of comfort in their ability to articulate their career readiness competencies, with more than 90% expressing their comfort in discussing their teamwork, communication, critical thinking, and professionalism-related skills.
Despite that comfort, only 55% said they believe their institution prepared them well or extremely well for the next step in their career.
This is problematic, especially since our forthcoming Job Outlook 2026 report shows that employer use of skills-based hiring has grown over the last year, with nearly 70% now saying they are now using it. This shift in hiring filters—from relying on majors and GPA—removes limits and widens the hiring focus to students who show that they have the skills to do the job.
According to responding employers, students can best demonstrate their skills during the hiring process by sharing examples and situations when they used their skills to resolve issues or solve problems. Employers also reiterated the importance of students participating in experiential learning and/or work during college and being able to translate their college coursework and extracurricular activities into a skills language.
That matches as students embrace hands-on skills development through experiential learning; among Class of 2025 graduating seniors taking part in the 2025 Student Survey, 84% took part in an internship, co-op, or other experiential learning program.
What can career services and employers do to ensure that students understand the skills that they need and are developing to successfully transition to the workplace? First, students need clear communication about the types of skills that are prized in new hires and interns and how to develop those skills. And, they need to be familiarized with the skills-based hiring process so they can reflect on the knowledge, skills, and experience they gained and how those can translate to the workplace.
Employers and career services can help in several ways:
- Employers can include specific skill requirements in their job and internship position descriptions;
- Employers can make sure their internship descriptions also identify the skills the students will develop through the experience;
- Career services can work with faculty and staff to ensure skills are called out in coursework and co-curricular activities; and
- Employers and career services can partner to educate and prepare students for skills-based hiring.
NACE’s 2025 Student Survey, sponsored by Indeed, was conducted April 1 through May 30, 2025; 13,684 college students, including 1,479 Class of 2025 graduating seniors at the bachelor’s degree level, took part. Participants can access the report and dashboard through MyNACE. The report and dashboard are also available in the NACE Store.
