A degree without skills won’t cut it: Indian employers now judge freshers on skills, experience and day

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 w