The Specific Skills Employers Now Test in Entry-Level Interviews
Entry-level interviews have changed substantially over the past five years. A 2025 employer survey documents what is actually being tested and how college preparation has and has not kept up.
There has been a huge shift in the skills that are now tested in entry-level interviews. A survey of 1,800 hiring managers from National Association of Colleges and Employers from 2025 found several points of interest, including skills that were rarely tested in interviews five years ago are now common ground, live writing, case-based problem solving, live data analysis.
The Skills That Are Now Tested
There are now several key new skills that are rarely tested in interviews that were not even rarely tested five years ago. First of all, there are now live writing exercises where candidates are asked to write short professional documents such as part of a cover letter, part of a resume, a letter to customers, and so on, while in the interview in real time, and they are judged not only on what they wrote but also on how long it took them to write it. Second, case-based problem solving in interviews is no longer lasting and has spread to many sectors beyond consulting, including for example marketing, product management, and in operations within companies of all sizes. Live data analysis, in which candidates are shown a set of data, and then work in real time to analyze it, draw conclusions from it, and then make recommendations to the interviewer on the basis of it, is also a new skill that is now frequently tested. (Note that, as with any skill, it is good to practice staying flexible and having fun as you work to get better at each of these skills).
The AI-Era Adjustments
Recently the ways in which employers test skills have changed. For example, in addition to traditional skills such as the ability to communicate orally and in writing, Live writing exercises, Case-based problem solving and even Live data analysis are now common. Recently, however, there have been AI-Era Adjustments made to some of these skills tests, so that in addition to testing candidates’ ability to work with tools that assist with work that would otherwise be done by a human, some of the questions test the employer is testing, are in relation to how the candidate uses the AI, for example the candidate is given a prompt and asked to use AI to draft a proposal, and then to revise and improve that proposal. Thus, the skill that the employer is testing is the candidate’s judgment in relation to the work that has been produced by AI, rather than the work itself.
The Communication Test
In terms of what gets tested in an interview, many skills that weren’t usually tested in previous years of interviewing are now typical. This means live writing of short professional documents under time pressure, such as in a few minutes to write and deliver a 3-5 minute talk or to write and send a few pages of summary. The other common area for testing is case-based problem solving at the heart of work in areas like consulting and product, and in other fields like in marketing, operations. Live data analysis, with candidate interpreting given data and then producing written or oral recommendation as to what actions based on the data also commonly gets tested. (The above-mentioned Skills That Are Now Tested also includes a description of this one.)
What Universities Prepare For
We did some research here into typical formats of entry-level interviews, which university career services are rarely up to date on. All of these types of interview questions and tasks, that are rarely tested in interviews five years ago, now are quite commonly used. The hands-on practice in these formats is a key to succeeding in interviews of this sort. Students who have not gone through live writing exercises, typical case-based interview problems, tasks that test a candidate’s ability to work with data, such as spreadsheets, for example, or a database, and then analyze this data within a short time frame and come up with a number of recommendations — such students are at a disadvantage, in terms of interview preparation, compared to their peers from university career services that have been going through exactly these types of interview practices and receiving feedback on them from employers, which is also very important. If university career services run these types of interview practices and then also have structured feedback sessions with employers, that would be ideal. That is how universities can prepare their students better for entry-level interviews these days.
The Hands-On Practice Question
Of the various indicators for interview success, hands-on practice in formats analogous to interview formats was the most consistent predictor of a candidate’s performance in interviews. Hence, live writing exercises helped students who went through such practices to better perform in written live formats of interviews than those who went only through reading interview preparation guides. Case-based problems as well as data analysis also benefited candidates from hands-on practices in analogous formats.
What Career Services Can Do
Those Career Services Offices That Have Adapted to the Changes of the Interview Process for Recent Graduate Positions Have Invested in the Following Ways: (1) Run mock interviews in the formats being used in interviews for recent graduate positions; (2) Partner with key employers to get feedback on how students performed in interviews for recent graduate positions and give structured feedback to students; (3) Teach students how to work with AI as a collaborator in a professional setting.
What Students Should Do
As students preparing for entry-level interviews, we need to be aware of the following skills to develop: 1) Live writing in mock interviews in similar formats to actual job interviews. 2) Case studies related to the field that the student is trying to get into. 3) Practice working with AI as a collaborator. 4) Explanations of technical terms to non-technical audiences.
The Industry Variation
Various sectors within the industry also test different skills. Technical industries such as software development require candidates to solve problems technically as well as design systems. Finance cases focus on case-based analysis as well as quantitative reasoning. Lastly, marketing-based industries test students’ ability to complete creative briefs as well as brand strategy questions. Those interviewing for certain industries within the industry can expect to be tested in formats similar to those practiced previously for those types of industries.
I have been wrong about this point many times in the past. The current view is more correct.
The Broader Picture
The growing disparity between what employers expect from entry-level candidates in terms of skills, experience and performance in interviews, and what universities have traditionally taught in career services sessions has become a critical challenge in the transition of students to work.
The Practice Volume Question
In terms of practice volume, successful preparation for new forms of interview practice requires a number of repetitions of different types of test cases. This is because the skills being tested are not typically amongst those that are learned automatically, and thus candidates need to practice the relevant skill in order to be able to perform at their best. Of course, simply practicing a skill in a vacuum is not sufficient, and thus candidates benefit from repeat mock interviews in which they are able to apply the relevant skill in order to receive feedback from others and achieve a sense of their own capabilities. This is why, in general, career services that provide numerous repetitions of mock interviews in a variety of test cases tend to have better results than those that do not.
The Adaptation Cost
Institutions can reap significant benefits for the small investment a few structured mock interviews with current employers can make in preparing a cohort of students for career interviews. Indeed, the cost of a lack of current interview skills preparation falls largely on students; schools are typically never even aware of the situation and of its impacts on their graduating students after the fact when the impacts have manifested themselves in how a graduating student’s job search efforts pan out.
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