Beyond Degrees: Why Employers Value Verified Professional Skills
A degree remains one of the strongest signals in the labour market, but it was never designed to show what a person can do today. Evidence from the OECD, LinkedIn, NACE, Gartner, HireRight and research on selection methods shows why employers increasingly look for skills that are not just claimed, but verified.
Introduction: A Strong Signal, but an Incomplete One
Degrees still matter. They show sustained effort, a foundation of knowledge and the endorsement of an institution. OECD data confirms that formal education is closely linked to adult skill levels. Yet employers face a practical problem that a degree alone cannot solve: they need to know which specific skills a candidate holds now, at what standard, and whether the claim is true.
That question has become harder to answer. Skills change during a career, applications are increasingly written with AI tools, and recruiters receive more polished CVs than ever. In this environment, the value of a skill depends more and more on the evidence behind it.
At CCSD Council, our view is simple: verified professional skills work beyond degrees, not instead of them. A qualification shows where someone learned. Verified skills show what they can do, and that it has been checked.
What a Degree Tells an Employer, and What It Does Not
Education is linked to skills, but the range is wide
The OECD’s Education at a Glance 2025, drawing on the 2023 Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), shows a clear link between education and literacy. On average across OECD countries, 60% of tertiary-educated adults score at Level 3 or above in literacy. However, 13% of tertiary-educated adults score at or below Level 1. Average literacy scores for tertiary-educated adults also vary widely between countries, from around 249 points in Chile to 314 in Finland.
The OECD also reports that, over the past decade, proficiency among tertiary-educated adults decreased or stagnated in most participating countries. In other words, the same qualification title can stand for quite different levels of skill, depending on where and when it was earned and how the holder has kept learning since.
A degree is a snapshot in time
A degree certifies learning at the point of graduation. It does not show which skills have been used, updated or lost since. For roles where tools, regulation and practice change quickly, employers need evidence that is both specific and current.
Why Employers Want Verifiable Evidence
Job-specific evidence predicts performance best
Research on selection methods supports the move towards direct evidence of skills. In a major 2022 re-analysis published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, Sackett, Zhang, Berry and Lievens revised long-standing estimates of how well common selection methods predict job performance. The methods that ranked highest were those tied closely to the job:
- Structured interviews: 0.42
- Job knowledge tests: 0.40
- Work sample tests: 0.33
- Years of job experience: 0.07
The authors note that job-specific measures tend to outperform more general indicators. McKinsey has also reported, drawing on earlier research, that hiring for skills is five times more predictive of job performance than hiring for education. Because that figure relies on older estimates, it is best read as directional. The broader conclusion holds: assessed, job-relevant evidence tells employers more than credentials or tenure alone.
Recruiters are putting skills assessment at the centre
LinkedIn’s Future of Recruiting 2025 report, based on a survey of 1,271 recruiting professionals in 23 countries, found that 93% of talent acquisition professionals believe accurately assessing candidates’ skills is crucial to improving quality of hire. LinkedIn’s platform data also shows that companies making the most skills-based searches are 12% more likely to make a quality hire.
The shift is visible at entry level too. In NACE’s Job Outlook 2025, 64.8% of employers reported using skills-based hiring practices for new entry-level hires, mostly at the interview and screening stages. Practices include competency-based job descriptions, interview rubrics and assessment tools.
The Trust Problem: When Claims Are Easy to Make
Interest in skills is growing at the same moment that self-reported claims are becoming harder to trust.
- AI-assisted applications are common. A Gartner survey of 3,290 job candidates (4Q24) found that 39% used AI during the application process. Of these, 54% used it to generate CV text and 29% to generate answers to assessment questions.
- Some candidates misrepresent themselves. In a 2Q25 Gartner survey of 3,000 candidates, 6% admitted to interview fraud, either posing as someone else or having someone else pose as them. Gartner predicts that by 2028, one in four candidate profiles worldwide will be fake.
- Screening regularly finds discrepancies. HireRight’s 2025 Global Benchmark Report found that more than three-quarters of respondents had uncovered candidate discrepancies in the previous 12 months. In EMEA, 47% said education credentials were among the areas where discrepancies were most often found.
None of this suggests most candidates are dishonest. It does show why employers place more value on skills that can be checked independently than on skills that are simply listed. When everyone’s CV looks strong, verification becomes the differentiator.
What “Verified” Should Mean
The word “verified” is used loosely. For employers, a verified skill should meet three tests:
- It was assessed: the person demonstrated the skill through a task, examination, portfolio or observed practice, not only attendance.
- It was checked by someone independent: an accredited body, professional association or recognised assessor confirmed the standard, rather than relying only on self-declaration.
- It can be confirmed today: the record is genuine, traceable to its issuer and still current.
This is where accreditation and structured continuing professional development (CPD) matter. Accreditation gives an employer confidence in who checked the skill and against what standard. A CPD record shows that the skill has been maintained and applied, not just achieved once.
A Practical Framework: The CCSD Council Evidence Ladder
Not all skill evidence carries the same weight. The Evidence Ladder helps professionals and employers judge how much confidence a skill claim deserves.
Level 1: Claimed
The skill is listed on a CV or profile. This is useful as a starting point, but it is unverified.
Level 2: Documented
There is a record of learning, such as a course completion or training log. This shows exposure to the skill, not proven ability.
Level 3: Assessed
The skill has been demonstrated against defined criteria, for example through a work sample, practical test or reviewed portfolio.
Level 4: Independently verified
An accredited or recognised third party has confirmed the assessment, and the record can be checked with the issuer.
Level 5: Maintained
The verified skill is supported by an up-to-date CPD record and evidence of recent application at work.
For professionals:
- Keep your degree, and build on it. Identify the three to five skills most important to your next role and move each one up the ladder.
- Choose assessment-based, independently quality-assured routes over completion-only certificates.
- Keep a CPD log that links learning to applied outcomes, and make sure every credential can be verified by an employer.
For employers:
- Define the skills each role really needs, then decide what level of evidence is required for each one.
- Use job-specific methods, such as structured interviews, work samples and knowledge tests, alongside qualifications.
- Accept independently verified skills as valid evidence next to degrees, and verify credentials at source as part of screening.
- Recognise verified CPD in promotion and internal mobility decisions, not only in hiring.
Conclusion
The degree is not disappearing, and it should not. But in a labour market shaped by fast-changing skills, AI-written applications and rising concern about candidate fraud, a degree answers only part of an employer’s question. The rest is answered by evidence: skills that have been assessed, independently verified and kept current.
For professionals, the message is to treat verification as part of career development, not an afterthought. For employers, it is to ask for the right level of evidence for each skill and to give it proper weight. Moving beyond degrees means asking for proof, not lowering the bar.
Selected References
- OECD (2025). Education at a Glance 2025, “PIAAC: Proficiency in key information-processing skills among adults”. https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/education-at-a-glance-2025_1c0d9c79-en/full-report/piaac-proficiency-in-key-information-processing-skills-among-adults_3ccb98d6.html
- OECD (2024). Do Adults Have the Skills They Need to Thrive in a Changing World? Survey of Adult Skills 2023. https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/do-adults-have-the-skills-they-need-to-thrive-in-a-changing-world_b263dc5d-en.html
- Sackett, P. R., Zhang, C., Berry, C. M. and Lievens, F. (2022). “Revisiting meta-analytic estimates of validity in personnel selection: Addressing systematic overcorrection for restriction of range”. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(11). https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000994
- McKinsey & Company (2022). Taking a skills-based approach to building the future workforce. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organization/our-insights/taking-a-skills-based-approach-to-building-the-future-workforce
- LinkedIn (2025). The Future of Recruiting 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-acquisition/future-of-recruiting-2025
- National Association of Colleges and Employers (2024). Job Outlook 2025. https://naceweb.org/talent-acquisition/trends-and-predictions/nearly-two-thirds-of-employers-use-skills-based-hiring-practices-for-new-entry-level-hires
- Gartner (2025). “Gartner Survey Shows Just 26% of Job Applicants Trust AI Will Fairly Evaluate Them”, press release, 31 July 2025. https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-07-31-gartner-survey-shows-just-26-percent-of-job-applicants-trust-ai-will-fairly-evaluate-them
- HireRight (2025). 2025 Global Benchmark Report. https://www.hireright.com/company/newsroom/identity-fraud-and-candidate-discrepancies-remain-key-concerns-for-employers
