A degree gets your CV past the first filter. The skills required for jobs after graduation decide what happens in the interview, and you do not need to wait for your final result to start building them.
Students from B.Com, B.A. and B.Sc backgrounds ask our counsellors at Shashank Skills Academy the same question: is the degree enough on its own?
No. A B.Com, B.A. or B.Sc degree makes you eligible for graduate-level openings, but employers hire the freshers who show job skills. The technical side means Excel data entry, MIS reports, professional email and AI tools. The non-technical side means spoken English and confidence on client calls. Start learning during graduation if you have the time. If you have already graduated, start now.
Is a B.Com, B.A. or B.Sc degree enough to get a job?
The India Skills Report 2026, released by ETS with CII, AICTE and AIU, put India’s overall graduate employability at 56.35%, up from 54.81% a year earlier. By stream, commerce graduates scored 62.81%, science graduates about 61% and arts graduates about 55.55%.
Read those numbers the other way round. Between 37% and 45% of graduates in these three streams fell short of the report’s job-readiness bar.
Employers have noticed. TeamLease EdTech’s Career Outlook Report for January to June 2026, based on a survey of 1,051 employers, found fresher hiring moving away from degree-first screening toward skills-first recruitment, with proof of practical ability weighed alongside academic record.
The degree still matters as the entry ticket for graduate-level openings. The skills decide who gets hired from the shortlist.
Two groups of skills required for jobs after graduation
Internshala advises freshers to split the skills section of a CV into technical skills and soft skills. The same split works for planning what to learn.
Technical skills employers test at the desk
- Excel for data entry and MIS reports. Accurate data entry, formulas, sorting and filtering, and a summary report a manager reads without asking you to explain it.
- Professional email. A clear subject line, a short body, and the right tone for a client or a senior.
- AI tools in daily work. Using a tool such as ChatGPT to draft an email or summarise notes, then checking and editing the output before you send it. The India Skills Report 2026 found more than 90% of Indian employees already work with generative AI tools.
Technical skills to add for your stream
| Stream | Skills to add alongside your subject |
|---|---|
| B.Com | Excel formulas and pivot tables, MIS reports, accounting software such as Tally, GST basics |
| B.A. | MS Word and PowerPoint, Excel for data entry and reports, written English for email |
| B.Sc | Excel for data handling and charts, basic data analysis, MS Office |
| All streams | AI tools for drafting emails and handling routine tasks |
Non-technical skills that decide the interview
Spoken English comes first. You need to explain your work, answer interview questions and hold a work conversation in English without freezing.
Client calls come next. A fresher who picks up the phone, understands what the customer needs, notes it down and follows up is useful from the first week.
The TeamLease report also lists learning agility, problem framing and digital fluency among the top soft skills employers want from freshers in 2026. In plain terms, employers want someone who picks up a new tool quickly and thinks before asking.
What Kolkata employers ask freshers to do
Our counsellors and placement team at Shashank Skills Academy speak with employers who hire freshers from our Baguiati centre. Five requests come up again and again. Employers want freshers who:
- enter data in Excel and generate MIS reports
- write and reply to emails
- talk to clients on the phone
- use AI tools to draft emails and handle routine daily work
- speak English
These are tasks, not subjects. You learn them by doing them, so a certificate alone does not prove them. Show an employer a sample MIS report and a well-written email, and you have proved two items on the list before the interview starts. For students in Kolkata, these five tasks are the practical version of the skills required for jobs after graduation.
Should you learn these skills during graduation or after it?
You can build the skills required for jobs after graduation at either point. Starting during college puts you ahead.
| During graduation | After graduation | |
|---|---|---|
| When you are job-ready | By your final exams | After the course ends |
| Time needed | A few hours a week alongside classes | Full attention, finishes faster |
| Gap on your CV | None | A few months to explain |
| Link with your subject | Skills and syllabus support each other | Separate from college study |
| Main challenge | Balancing college, exams and the course | Pressure to take any job quickly |
Start during graduation if your college timetable leaves room. If you have already graduated, you have not missed anything that matters. Start now and treat the course like a job.
A year-by-year plan if you are still in college
- First year: computer basics, typing, MS Word and email etiquette. Speak English every day, even for ten minutes with a classmate.
- Second year: Excel beyond the basics. Learn formulas and pivot tables and build your first MIS report from sample data. Start using an AI tool to draft emails, then edit what it writes.
- Final year: build two or three sample reports you can show in an interview. Practise client calls with a friend playing the customer. Complete an internship and write your CV before campus placements begin.
A plan if you have already graduated
Keep it to one course and one sequence. Spreading yourself across five short courses adds lines to your CV without adding ability.
How to show these skills on your CV
A CV proves the skills required for jobs after graduation only when each line has evidence behind it. Writing “good communication skills” proves nothing. Writing “handled client calls during a two-month internship” does.
- Split the skills section into technical and non-technical.
- Name the software. Write “MS Excel (VLOOKUP, pivot tables, MIS reports)” instead of “computer knowledge”.
- Mention one sample report you built and bring a printout to the interview.
- List your course certificate and your internship with dates.
Frequently asked questions
Can I do a computer course along with my college classes?
Yes. Shashank Skills Academy runs its CCA and DCA courses in regular and weekend batches, so college students attend around their class timetable.
Is it too late to learn job skills after graduation?
No. Graduates who join a structured course and build sample work get interviews too. The skills required for jobs after graduation are the same whether you start in your second year or after your final result.
Do B.A. students need Excel?
Yes. Excel data entry and MIS reports top the list of what Kolkata employers ask freshers to do, and that list does not change by stream.
Do I need to learn coding?
Not for the roles described here. None of the five requests from Kolkata employers above involves coding.
Where to start: CCA or DCA
Shashank Skills Academy has run computer courses in Baguiati since 2001 and is ISO 9001:2015 certified. For structured training, start with the Certificate in Computer Applications (CCA) course or the Diploma in Computer Applications (DCA) course. Each course page lists the full syllabus. Both run in regular and weekend batches, and the DCA includes 100% placement assistance.
For an internship to add to your CV, see internship opportunities on Internship4You.
Pick one skill from the Kolkata employers’ list and start this week. Your degree arrives on schedule. The skills required for jobs after graduation arrive only when you begin.
