Degrees vs. Certificates: What Do Employers Look For?

A degree, certificate, or certification can all demonstrate valuable qualifications, but employers do not universally prefer one over another.

The right credential depends on the work. Some roles require formal education, while others depend more heavily on specialized training, professional certifications, work experience, or demonstrated skills.

As skills-based hiring becomes more common, employers can take a broader approach: start with what someone needs to know or be able to do, then determine what evidence best demonstrates that capability.

Do Employers Prefer Degrees or Certificates?

Employers may value degrees, certificates, certifications, experience, and demonstrated skills differently depending on the role.

Skills-based hiring reflects this broader approach. NACE’s Job Outlook found that nearly two-thirds of surveyed employers used skills-based hiring for entry-level positions, including practices such as competency-based job descriptions, interview rubrics, and assessment tools.

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report similarly found that employers expect work experience and direct skills assessments to remain prominent ways of evaluating candidates through 2030.

That does not mean degrees no longer matter. It means employers have more ways to determine whether someone is qualified for the work.

What’s the Difference Between a Degree, Certificate, and Certification?

Although these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, they represent different types of qualifications.

	Degree	Certificate	Certification
What it is	Formal academic credential	Focused education or training program	Credential validating specific knowledge or competency
Typical scope	Broad and in-depth	Narrower and specialized	Role, skill, or technology-specific
Often demonstrates	Foundational knowledge	Targeted skill development	Verified competency
May be used for	Roles requiring formal education or broad expertise	Upskilling, specialization, or career transitions	Roles where recognized technical or professional competency matters

A certificate generally demonstrates that someone completed a particular course or educational program. A certification typically requires candidates to meet standards established by a professional or credentialing organization, which may include passing an exam, demonstrating experience, or periodically renewing the credential.

Employers should consider what each credential actually represents rather than treating all credentials as equivalent.

When Does a Degree Matter?

A degree may matter when the work requires broad foundational knowledge, specialized academic preparation, or a particular educational background.

Some professions also have formal education, licensing, or accreditation requirements that make specific degrees necessary.

For other roles, employers should consider whether requiring a degree meaningfully predicts someone’s ability to perform the work. If the required capabilities can be demonstrated through relevant experience, assessments, portfolios, or other credentials, a degree requirement may unnecessarily narrow the talent pool.

The shift away from degree requirements is not universal. NACE’s Spring Update found that about half of responding employers had some roles that offered degree equivalencies, reinforcing that employers are taking different approaches depending on the work.

When Does a Certificate or Certification Matter?

Certificates and certifications can be particularly valuable when employers need specific or current capabilities.

A certificate may demonstrate focused training in an area such as data analytics, digital marketing, software development, or project management. This can be useful for professionals building new skills, specializing, or transitioning into another field.

Professional and technical certifications can provide additional evidence of competency when they are recognized within an industry or tied directly to the technologies, standards, or practices used in a role.

The key question for employers is not simply whether a candidate has a credential. It is whether that credential provides meaningful evidence of a capability the job requires.

When Should Skills and Experience Matter More?

For many roles, previous work can provide stronger evidence of capability than a credential alone.

Depending on the position, employers can evaluate candidates through:

• relevant work experience
• portfolios or work samples
• skills assessments
• structured interviews
• projects or practical exercises
• certifications
• measurable results from previous work

This is especially useful when a role does not have one prescribed educational path.

A candidate who developed a capability through professional experience may be just as qualified as someone who learned it through formal education. Conversely, holding a certificate or degree does not automatically demonstrate that someone can apply what they learned to the work.

The goal is to identify the evidence that best predicts whether a candidate can perform successfully in the role.

How Should Employers Decide What Qualifications to Require?

Instead of beginning with a list of credentials, employers can work backward from what the role actually needs.

Start With the Work

Define what the person will be responsible for accomplishing and the problems they will need to solve.

Identify the Skills and Capabilities Required

Determine the technical skills, knowledge, judgment, experience, and other capabilities necessary to perform that work effectively.

Determine What Demonstrates Those Capabilities

For some capabilities, a degree or recognized certification may be the strongest evidence. Others may be better demonstrated through experience, a portfolio, work sample, assessment, or previous results.

Remove Requirements That Don’t

If a qualification does not meaningfully demonstrate someone’s ability to perform the work, consider whether it belongs in the job requirements.

Removing unnecessary requirements should not mean lowering the hiring standard. It means making the standard more relevant to the work.

Hiring for Capability, Not Credentials

The degree-versus-certificate question does not have a universal winner.

Degrees can demonstrate broad education and foundational knowledge. Certificates can provide targeted learning. Certifications can validate specialized competency. Experience and demonstrated skills can show that someone has already applied those capabilities in practice.

For employers, the better question is not “Which credential should we require?”

It is:

“What does someone need to be able to do this job successfully, and what is the best evidence that they can?”

Starting with the work allows employers to build job requirements around the capabilities they actually need while opening the talent pool to candidates who may have developed those capabilities through different paths.

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