Skills vs CGPA: What Are Companies Really Looking for in Freshers

Introduction

For years, students have been encouraged to maintain strong academic scores because CGPA can affect eligibility for campus placements, higher education and some recruitment processes.

At the same time, companies increasingly want graduates who can actually perform the work required for a role.

This has created a common debate:

CGPA can help a student clear an initial eligibility filter. Skills, projects, internships, communication and problem-solving can become important when employers assess whether a candidate is suitable for a particular role.

In 2026, academic performance and practical skills serve different purposes.

Does CGPA Still Matter in 2026?

Yes.

But its importance depends on the company, role, college and recruitment process.

Some employers use academic cut-offs during campus recruitment.

For example, a company may specify a minimum percentage or CGPA for candidates before allowing them to participate in the hiring process.

In such a situation, a student with strong skills but a CGPA below the stated eligibility requirement may not even reach the next stage.

This is why students should not completely ignore academics.

CGPA can function as an entry filter.

Once students clear that filter, employers may evaluate other factors such as:

• Technical knowledge

• Problem-solving

• Communication

• Projects

• Internships

• Role-specific skills

• Aptitude

• Behavioural competencies

• Learning ability

Deloitte's 2026 research also identifies GPA as one of the campus shortlisting filters used by employers, alongside other recruitment considerations.

Therefore, saying that “CGPA has become useless” would be misleading.

Why Skills Are Becoming More Important

A degree and a good academic record tell an employer something about a candidate.

But they do not always show how effectively the candidate can perform a practical task.

Consider two students.

Student A has a high CGPA but has never built a project, completed an internship or worked with industry tools.

Student B has a decent CGPA but has completed relevant internships, built projects and can demonstrate practical knowledge.

Depending on the role and hiring process, the employer may want to evaluate both candidates beyond their academic scores.

This is one reason skills-based hiring is becoming more prominent.

Deloitte's 2026 research reports that AI and data skills attract hiring premiums of around 20–25%, while analytical thinking and problem-solving attract premiums of approximately 10–15%.

These figures should not be interpreted as guaranteed salary increases for individual students. They indicate how employers are valuing certain skill areas in the surveyed campus market.

What Companies Are Looking for in Freshers

There is no single checklist used by every company.

However, several capabilities are becoming increasingly relevant.

Technical Skills

Technical skills depend on the job.

For a software role, employers may look for:

• Programming

• Data structures

• Algorithms

• Databases

• Web development

• Software engineering

• Cloud technologies

• AI and machine learning

For a finance role, relevant skills may include:

• Financial analysis

• Accounting

• Excel

• Data analysis

• Financial modelling

For marketing roles, employers may value:

• Market research

• Digital marketing

• Analytics

• Content understanding

• Customer research

The important point is that skills should match the role.

Students do not need to learn every new technology.

They need to develop relevant capabilities for the career they are targeting.

Problem-Solving Can Matter More Than Memorisation

Academic examinations often reward students for understanding concepts and producing correct answers within a defined format.

Professional work can be different.

Employees may receive a problem without an obvious answer.

They may need to:

• Understand the situation

• Identify the actual problem

• Research possible solutions

• Test different approaches

• Analyse the results

• Explain their decision

This is why problem-solving and analytical thinking are becoming important employability skills.

Deloitte's 2026 research reports a 10–15% hiring premium associated with analytical thinking and problem-solving in the surveyed campus market.

Students can develop these abilities through projects, case studies, competitions, internships and practical assignments.

Communication Skills Still Matter

Technical knowledge alone may not be enough.

A fresher may need to explain a project to an interviewer, communicate with a manager, write professional emails or work with colleagues from another department.

Communication therefore remains an important part of employability.

Students should practise:

• Speaking clearly

• Writing professionally

• Presenting projects

• Explaining technical concepts

• Participating in discussions

• Listening and responding appropriately

Good communication does not mean speaking perfect English.

It means being able to express ideas clearly and understand what others are communicating.

Internships Are Becoming a Stronger Hiring Signal

Internships can provide evidence that a student has experienced a professional environment.

This can include exposure to:

• Real projects

• Workplace deadlines

• Team collaboration

• Professional communication

• Industry tools

• Client requirements

• Feedback

• Problem-solving

Deloitte India's 2026 research found that internship-to-offer conversion improved by approximately 6% year-on-year across the degree categories covered by the study. The report describes internships as an increasingly important pathway to full-time employment.

This means students should not treat internships simply as certificates to add to their resumes.

The real value comes from what they actually learned and contributed during the internship.

Projects Can Help Students Prove Their Skills

A resume that only lists a degree and CGPA gives an employer limited information about practical ability.

Projects can provide evidence.

For example, a Computer Science student could build:

• A web application

• A mobile application

• A data analysis project

• A machine-learning model

• An automation tool

• An open-source contribution

A commerce student could work on:

• Financial analysis

• Business dashboards

• Accounting projects

• Market research

• Financial modelling

A management student could create:

• Marketing campaigns

• Business research projects

• Market-entry analysis

• Consumer surveys

• Business plans

Students should be able to explain what problem they solved, what they contributed and what they learned.

CGPA Can Open the Door, but Skills Can Help You Move Forward

A useful way to understand the relationship is:

CGPA → Eligibility

Skills → Capability

Projects → Proof of application

Internships → Workplace exposure

Communication → Ability to explain and collaborate

These are not interchangeable.

A strong CGPA cannot replace practical ability.

But practical skills do not always compensate for failing to meet a company's minimum academic eligibility requirement.

This is why students should avoid both extremes:

“Only marks matter.”

and

“Marks do not matter at all.”

Neither represents the complete hiring picture.

What About Students With a Low CGPA?

A lower CGPA does not automatically mean that a student cannot build a successful career.

However, students with weaker academic records may face restrictions in some campus recruitment processes where minimum eligibility criteria apply.

The practical response is to strengthen the areas they can control.

Students can focus on:

• Relevant technical skills

• Strong projects

• Internships

• Certifications where genuinely useful

• Competitive coding or technical competitions

• Communication

• Portfolio development

• Interview preparation

• Off-campus opportunities

The goal should not be to hide academic performance.

Instead, students can build a stronger overall profile by demonstrating what they can actually do.

What About Students With a High CGPA but Few Skills?

A high CGPA is an achievement and can indicate academic discipline.

But students should not assume that it automatically proves job readiness.

A strong academic record should ideally be combined with practical exposure.

For example, a Computer Science student with a high CGPA can still benefit from learning programming deeply, completing projects and gaining internship experience.

Similarly, a commerce student can combine academic performance with practical finance, accounting or analytical skills.

A high CGPA is most useful when it forms part of a broader profile.

What Do Employers Mean by “Job-Ready”?

Job readiness does not mean that a fresher must already perform like an experienced employee.

Companies understand that fresh graduates need training.

Instead, job readiness can mean that a candidate has:

• Relevant foundational knowledge

• Basic professional skills

• Ability to learn

• Problem-solving ability

• Communication skills

• Some practical exposure

• Understanding of the role

• Willingness to adapt

Deloitte's 2026 research identifies learning agility, adaptability, collaboration and role-specific skills as increasingly important in campus hiring decisions.

This is particularly important in industries where technology changes quickly.

AI Is Changing Fresher Hiring

Artificial intelligence is also changing how companies evaluate candidates.

Deloitte's 2026 research found that 86% of surveyed organisations reported that AI or agentic AI was transforming recruitment processes.

The report also found that:

• 72% used AI for resume screening

• 48% used AI-based assessments

• 37% used AI for candidate engagement

• 33% used predictive hiring tools

This means students should increasingly think about how clearly their skills and experience appear on their resumes and how well they can demonstrate those skills during assessments.

Simply listing “Python,” “communication” or “leadership” is not enough.

Students should ideally have evidence to support those claims.

Degree Still Matters Too

The shift toward skills-based hiring should not be misunderstood as a rejection of degrees.

Educational qualifications remain important for many jobs and professions.

A degree can provide:

• Academic foundations

• Subject knowledge

• Formal qualification

• Access to campus recruitment

• Eligibility for higher education

• Professional pathways

NITI Aayog's 2026 working paper, Education and Skilling for Employment: From Credentials to Learning Outcomes, highlights the continuing connection between educational qualifications, skills and employability. Its 2026 table reports employability measures of 70.2% for B.E./B.Tech graduates, 68.3% for MCA graduates, 62.8% for B.Com graduates and 55.6% for B.A. graduates. These are employability measures from the cited Global Employability Report/GET data, not guaranteed employment rates.

The broader lesson is that education and skills should be viewed together rather than as competing alternatives.

The Importance of College and Institute Tier

Students sometimes assume that skills completely eliminate the importance of college reputation.

The current evidence does not support such a simple conclusion.

Deloitte's 2026 research found that institute tier continues to influence compensation outcomes. It reported substantial differences between compensation at top-tier and lower-tier institutes across the degree categories it studied.

This does not mean students from a particular tier cannot succeed elsewhere.

It means that the college ecosystem can influence access to opportunities, especially during the early stages of a career.

This makes college selection important.

Students should consider:

• Course quality

• Faculty

• Industry exposure

• Internship opportunities

• Placement ecosystem

• Alumni network

• Total cost

• Location

Students and parents can use Find My College while researching and comparing college options.

Skills vs CGPA: A Practical Comparison

The table should not be interpreted as saying one is universally more important.

They measure different things.

What Should Students Do During College?

Students do not have to choose between studying for exams and developing skills.

They can build both gradually.

Maintain a Reasonable Academic Record

Avoid allowing your CGPA to fall below common campus eligibility requirements.

Develop One Strong Skill Area

Instead of learning ten technologies superficially, develop meaningful competence in one relevant area.

Build Projects

Use academic knowledge to create something practical.

Gain Internship Experience

Look for relevant internships that provide actual work exposure.

Improve Communication

Practise explaining your work clearly.

Build a Portfolio

Depending on your field, this could include GitHub projects, research, presentations, case studies, design work or other evidence of capability.

Prepare for Assessments

Many companies use aptitude tests, coding tests, case studies, interviews or other assessments.

The exact process varies by employer.

What Should Parents Tell Students About CGPA?

Parents should avoid treating CGPA as the only measure of a student's future.

At the same time, they should not tell students that marks are irrelevant.

A healthier approach is:

“Maintain your academics, but also learn how to apply what you study.”

Students should graduate with both:

• A recognised qualification

• Demonstrable capabilities

This approach also reduces the pressure of believing that one examination or one semester completely determines a career.

What Are Companies Really Looking for in Freshers?

There is no universal hiring formula.

Different companies and roles use different criteria.

However, current 2026 hiring research points toward a combination of:

Academic eligibility + role-specific skills + practical experience + problem-solving + communication + learning agility

Deloitte's research describes campus hiring as increasingly structured around role fit and demonstrable capabilities, while Aon's 2026–27 campus study, as reported by The Economic Times, also points to employers becoming more selective and concentrating demand on specialised skills, internships and job-ready graduates.

So the real question is not:

“Skills or CGPA?”

It is:

“How can I make my academic record and practical abilities work together?”

Final Thoughts

CGPA can help students qualify for opportunities, particularly when employers use academic cut-offs during campus recruitment.

Skills can help students demonstrate that they can perform relevant tasks.

Projects can provide evidence of those skills.

Internships can provide workplace exposure.

Communication and learning agility can influence how students perform during recruitment and after joining an organisation.

The 2026 hiring environment is increasingly skills-focused, but that does not mean academic performance has stopped mattering.

The safest approach for students is therefore not to abandon academics in favour of skills—or ignore skills in pursuit of marks.

FAQs

Do companies still care about CGPA in 2026?

Yes. Some companies continue to use CGPA or percentage as an eligibility criterion during campus recruitment. However, employers are also placing greater emphasis on practical skills, role-specific capabilities and job readiness.

Is CGPA more important than skills for getting a job?

Neither is universally more important. CGPA can determine eligibility for some opportunities, while skills can help demonstrate practical capability. Students should ideally maintain a reasonable academic record while developing relevant skills.

What CGPA is good for placements?

There is no universal CGPA requirement. Different companies and colleges can set different eligibility criteria. Students should check the recruitment rules applicable to their campus and target companies.

Can I get a job with a low CGPA?

Yes, depending on the employer and recruitment route. Some campus opportunities may have academic cut-offs, but students can strengthen their profiles through skills, projects, internships, portfolios and interview preparation.

Can a high CGPA guarantee a job?

No. A high CGPA does not guarantee employment. Hiring decisions can also involve technical assessments, interviews, communication, projects, internships and other role-specific criteria.

Which skills should freshers learn in 2026?

The right skills depend on the career. Technology students may focus on programming, data, AI, cybersecurity or cloud computing. Commerce and management students may develop finance, analytics, business or digital skills. Communication, analytical thinking and adaptability are broadly useful.

Are internships important for freshers?

Yes. Internships can provide practical experience and can sometimes lead to pre-placement offers or full-time employment. Deloitte's 2026 research reported improving internship-to-offer conversion rates across the degree categories it studied.

Should students focus on CGPA or internships?

Students should try to maintain their academic performance while gaining relevant practical experience. A strong combination of academic qualification, skills and internship experience can create a more complete fresher profile.