Is academia failing graduates? Why employers say they’re not job-ready

Every year, thousands of graduates cross the stage, diploma in hand, ready to take on the world of work. And yet, a growing number of employers are raising a difficult, uncomfortable truth: despite the education system’s best efforts, too many graduates are entering the workforce unprepared for its realities.

In India’s fast-changing economic landscape—shaped by the rise of Gen Z, AI, hybrid work, and globalisation—companies are not just hiring for knowledge; they are hiring for contextual problem-solving, agility, and readiness to adapt. And on these fronts, many graduates are falling short.

We spoke with senior business and HR leaders—Deepak Ahluwalia, Founder & CEO of CoHyre.AI; Anurag Aman, Partner, People Consulting at EY India; and Sushil Baveja, CHRO at Jindal Stainless—to unpack the growing gap between higher education and workforce expectations, and what radical changes are needed to close it.

One of the most immediate challenges employers face when onboarding fresh graduates is the absence of real-world readiness. Across industries, three critical gaps have emerged repeatedly: contextual problem-solving, communication clarity, and ownership mindset.

“Graduates often possess theoretical knowledge but struggle to apply it to practical, nuanced workplace challenges,” says Deepak Ahluwalia. “This not only impacts onboarding speed but drains team bandwidth and erodes the candidate’s own confidence.” 

Anurag Aman echoes this concern but frames it in a broader organisational context. “Creative thinking, resilience, and agility are the top competencies employers need today. Unfortunately, they are in short supply among new graduates. Gen Z is entering a workforce transformed by GenAI—and the bridge between education and enterprise needs urgent reconstruction.”

For Sushil Baveja, the issue is even more acute in technical fields like engineering and manufacturing. “Critical thinking, communication, and application of knowledge are non-negotiables. When these are missing, not only does onboarding get delayed, but productivity and integration suffer over the long term.”

Is the burden unfairly placed on universities? 

Historically, universities were seen as the final gatekeepers of workforce readiness. But that model is proving outdated. Employers are now asking a harder question: should they continue to wait for the perfect hire—or should they help shape them?

“The onus can’t be on universities alone,” argues Deepak Ahluwalia. “Employers must stop hiring reactively and start engaging upstream—co-creating curriculum, offering project-based internships, even building their own ‘finishing schools’. 

On the other hand, Partner, People Consulting at EY India, critiques the “degree distribution” culture that dominates many Indian institutions. “Only a handful of institutions provide leadership training or multidisciplinary exposure in a real-world context. Organisations must step up—using AI to align skills with business needs, enabling bias-free assessments, and designing meaningful internship programmes that embed students into real business problems.”

At Jindal Stainless, industry-academia collaboration is already yielding results. “We’ve introduced stainless steel as a compulsory module in select engineering colleges, organised plant visits, and run ‘Train the Trainer’ programmes,” says Baveja. “This gives students early exposure to industrial realities—and it pays off when they enter the workforce.”

One of the most radical shifts now underway is the move away from credential-based hiring.

“India’s workforce is too diverse to be filtered only by degrees,” says CEO of CoHyre.AI. At his firm, they use their AI agent to evaluate candidates for intent, voice, clarity, and trajectory—beyond just qualifications. “We must stop hiring for pedigree and start hiring for potential.”

That same principle is reshaping recruitment strategies at Jindal Stainless. “We use simulations, group assessments, and problem-solving tasks to identify agility and real-world decision-making,” says Baveja. “In many cases, how someone collaborates and adapts tells us more than any GPA ever could.”

What successful models look like

While the concept of industry-academia collaboration is not new, few models have scaled effectively across sectors. But when they work, they transform employability outcomes.

“ISB’s partnerships and NASSCOM’s FutureSkills programmes are solid examples,” says Ahluwalia. “The challenge is that education moves slowly—business doesn’t. We need modular, stackable credentials and faster iteration involving both public and private players.” Aman agrees, noting that industry advisory boards—comprising real practitioners—can make a dramatic difference to curriculum relevance. “From personal experience, these inputs are instrumental in reshaping course content to match what’s happening in the real world.”

At Jindal Stainless, collaboration is even more hands-on. “Beyond curriculum design, we engage with CII and government bodies for training, skilling, and research,” shares Baveja. “Our aim is to give students not just education, but employability.”

So what’s holding others back? Bureaucracy, inertia, and misaligned incentives. Until these are resolved, many partnerships will remain surface-level, ticking boxes rather than driving transformation.

“Decouple hiring from degrees entirely,” suggests Deepak Ahluwalia. “Build live, skill-based profiles—think LinkedIn meets GitHub meets Duolingo. At CoHyre, we’re already working on this with trajectory mapping and live assessments.”

Anurag Aman offers another radical idea: build corporate learning academies across sectors, particularly for MSMEs, and expand apprenticeship programmes aggressively. “Bridging qualification with capability needs a much stronger ecosystem. The government’s apprenticeship push is commendable—now we need business buy-in at scale.”

However, for CHRO at Jindal Stainless, the solution lies in restructuring education itself. “A competency-based system with flexible, real-time assessments and employer feedback would be revolutionary. The current semester model is outdated. Let’s replace it with mentorship, live projects, and applied learning.”

All three leaders agree: the future isn’t about static credentials. It’s about dynamic capabilities. “We need behavioural signals, feedback loops, and contextual application as readiness indicators—not just grades,” says Ahluwalia. “Readiness is not about knowing,” adds Aman. “It’s about doing. And doing well under ambiguity. That’s what modern organisations need.”

The question of graduate employability is no longer just a university problem. It’s a systemic challenge—one that demands collective ownership across education, industry, and government. As India aims to become a global talent powerhouse, its hiring models, educational paradigms, and talent pipelines must evolve. That evolution isn’t just about adding new skills to old degrees. It’s about reimagining the entire equation—from curriculum and assessment to recruitment and retention.