Press Release
Rethinking recruitment: Three out of four employers value skills more than degrees

• 87% of HR professionals say they struggle to find candidates with the skills they need
• Stepstone survey shows: 77% of companies plan to evaluate applicants more by their actual skills than by formal qualifications
• Nevertheless, 43% of companies still require formal proof, while only 17% have completely dispensed with it

Düsseldorf, Oktober 21, 2025 – Three out of four employers in Germany plan to assess candidates more by their actual skills than by formal qualifications. This is the result of a recent Stepstone survey of more than 6,800 employees and over 1,000 recruiters. Despite the ongoing skills shortage, 87% of companies find it difficult to recruit people with the right competencies. One key reason: many employers still hire based on job titles or traditional resumes, which often fail to capture practical skills such as digital, communication, or analytical abilities.

Although formal degrees and certificates remain an important part of qualification assessments, the findings show that many companies continue to rely primarily on them. 43% of employers require formal qualifications for all positions, even though practical skills and work experience are often just as crucial.

“Many employers are beginning to realize that this approach causes them to overlook a lot of talent,” says Dr. Julius Probst, labor market expert at The Stepstone Group. “What matters is no longer what someone learned years ago, but what they can actually do today. That’s why we need new ways to make skills visible – through practical tests, project examples, or work samples.”

Untapped potential: employees feel misused in their roles

On the employee side, the consequences of this mismatch are already visible: 44% say they are dissatisfied with how their skills are used at work. 38% report that their tasks do not match their abilities or strengths. The result: 68% of employees think about changing jobs at least several times a month. The skills shortage is therefore not just a recruitment challenge but also a consequence of untapped potential in the labor market.

Skills are becoming the new currency in the job market

But companies’ attitudes appear to be shifting. 77% say they plan to focus their selection processes more strongly on candidates’ actual skills, and a similar share (76%) intend to assess soft skills such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving more deliberately. Digital and technological capabilities are also gaining importance, not least due to the growing influence of artificial intelligence in everyday work.

This shift is already particularly evident in the IT sector, where more than one-third (38%) of recruiters say they have stopped requiring formal qualifications for certain roles. In fields such as construction (10%) or education (11%), however, this share remains much lower.

“The move toward skills-based hiring is not a passing trend but an economic necessity,” says Probst. “In the future, skills will play an even greater role in determining whether companies stay innovative and whether employees can build long-term success.”

About the study
For its semi-annual “Hiring Trends Update,” Stepstone surveyed 1,067 recruiters and 6,857 employees in Germany between 10 and 22 September 2025. The study examined perceptions, challenges, and priorities in recruitment, as well as the assessment of skills, qualifications, and soft skills. The employee sample is representative of the German workforce by age, gender, and education.

About The Stepstone Group 
The Stepstone Group is a leading global digital recruitment platform that connects companies with the right talent and helps people find the right job. AI-driven job marketplaces and programmatic-powered marketing solutionsconnect about 140 million job applications with more than 130,000 employers every year. In 2024, The Stepstone Group generated revenue of over €900 million. The Stepstone Group operates in more than 30 countries - including Stepstone in Germany, Appcast in the USA and Totaljobs in the UK. The company is headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany and employs about 3,000 people worldwide. For more information: www.thestepstonegroup.com/english

Contact
The Stepstone Group Press
press@stepstone.com