What recruiters want has changed; entrepreneurial mindset now ranks higher in campus hiring
HirePro’s State of College Hiring in India 2026 report highlights a shift in what employers value during campus hiring. Beyond technical proficiency and academic credentials, recruiters are increasingly prioritizing qualities such as learning agility, ownership, adaptability, and an entrepreneurial mindset as organizations prepare graduates for a rapidly evolving workplace.
The report also reveals that while 96% of colleges believe employers have embraced skills-first hiring, only 21% of corporates say they have fully moved beyond CGPA. Additionally, although 68% of students believe they are job-ready from Day 1, only 9% of employers share that view, underscoring the need for stronger alignment between academia and industry.
Pasupathi, Chief Operating Officer, HirePro, said, “There is a pattern we have watched play out across every hiring cycle for years now, and this report puts a number on it: this was never a gap in conviction. Every organisation we work with genuinely wants to hire on merit and potential, not just pedigree. What is hard is that intent alone does not rebuild a hiring system overnight. You can rewrite a job description in an afternoon, but redesigning how evaluation actually happens end to end, takes real work. That is the real story behind the 21% — not a lack of will, but the scale of the operational shift still ahead.”