Skills Employers Value in Online Bachelor’s Degree Graduates

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• Online degrees are now wide­ly accept­ed by employ­ers, who pri­or­i­tize job-ready skills like dig­i­tal lit­er­a­cy, adapt­abil­i­ty, and com­mu­ni­ca­tion over the for­mat of education.
• Online pro­grams fos­ter in-demand soft and tech­ni­cal skills through hands-on expe­ri­ences such as cap­stone projects, intern­ships, and col­lab­o­ra­tive remote work.
• Stu­dents gain valu­able career readi­ness by devel­op­ing self-dis­ci­pline, crit­i­cal think­ing, and pro­fi­cien­cy in indus­try-rel­e­vant tools and plat­forms through­out their online education.
• Effec­tive­ly show­cas­ing skills—via tai­lored résumés, dig­i­tal port­fo­lios, and con­fi­dent storytelling—is essen­tial for online grad­u­ates to demon­strate their pro­fes­sion­al val­ue to employers.

Did you know that about 19 mil­lion stu­dents were enrolled in online pro­grams and cours­es? These stu­dents were enrolled in 422 insti­tu­tions across the Unit­ed States (Fall 2020).

But it isn’t only among stu­dents and fam­i­lies where online learn­ing is accept­ed. Employ­ers across diverse indus­tries also rec­og­nize the val­ue of online degrees.

In the past, online degree hold­ers weren’t looked on favor­ably. There was a myth that their vir­tu­al edu­ca­tion did­n’t equip them with real-world skills. But over time, it was debunked by exten­sive research and employ­er feedback.

Today, employ­ers appre­ci­ate online grad­u­ate employ­a­bil­i­ty skills that add val­ue to the work­place. Dig­i­tal lit­er­a­cy, crit­i­cal think­ing, time man­age­ment, and adapt­abil­i­ty are foremost.

Do you want to learn more about the skills employ­ers val­ue in online grad­u­ates? Read on because we’ll dis­cuss them here.

Relat­ed:

• The Role of Mobile Learn­ing in Online Education
• Lever­ag­ing Online Learn­ing: Flex­i­bil­i­ty for the Work­ing Adult Student
• Nav­i­gat­ing Dig­i­tal Plat­forms: Essen­tial Tech Skills for Online Learners
• The Best Online Bach­e­lor Degree Programs

Why Skills Matter More Than Format

Employ­ers today are more focused on what can­di­dates can do rather than where they stud­ied. Career readi­ness for online learn­ers then means a com­bi­na­tion of the following:

• Prac­ti­cal job-ready skills learned through hands-on learn­ing experiences
• Prob­lem-solv­ing skills
• Poten­tial for lead­er­ship roles

Online pro­grams fos­ter these real-world skills through remote col­lab­o­ra­tion, intern­ships, and cap­stone projects. As an online stu­dent, you’ll also be encour­aged to prac­tice self-dis­ci­pline. By the time you grad­u­ate, you’ll have gained the job mar­ket skills online grad­u­ates need.

NACE and LinkedIn sur­veys also sup­port the shift toward skills-based hir­ing. Accord­ing to the lat­est NACE sur­vey, almost two-thirds of employ­ers used skills-based hir­ing. Linked­In’s 2023 Work­place Learn­ing Report also high­light­ed a sim­i­lar trend.

Top Soft Skills Developed in Online Bachelor’s Degree Programs

Soft skills improve how you inter­act and work with oth­ers. You can bring soft skills to every work­place, too.

Time Management and Self-Motivation

Online stu­dents must man­age their sched­ules and bal­ance their work and stud­ies. Doing so means adopt­ing effec­tive time man­age­ment and orga­ni­za­tion skills. You must also be self-dis­ci­plined and self-moti­vat­ed to thrive in a self-paced environment.

Employ­ers seek these online degree soft skills because of their impact on pro­duc­tiv­i­ty. These are essen­tial in remote or hybrid work envi­ron­ments where auton­o­my is the norm.

Communication Skills

Active par­tic­i­pa­tion in email threads, dis­cus­sion forums, and video chats is a must. Doing so improves writ­ten and dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion. For­tu­nate­ly, it’s among the pro­fes­sion­al skills from online edu­ca­tion you’ll gain.

In mod­ern vir­tu­al work­places, these skills are cru­cial for effec­tive and time­ly communication.

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Accel­er­at­ed learn­ing envi­ron­ments demand think­ing on your feet. Online stu­dents devel­op the abil­i­ty to under­stand con­cepts and make deci­sions quick­ly. Crit­i­cal think­ing and prob­lem-solv­ing skills become sec­ond nature as a result.

Group projects and case stud­ies also strength­en their ana­lyt­i­cal skills.

Technical Skills Gained Through Online Learning

Tech­ni­cal skills for online degree grad­u­ates are like sec­ond nature to them, too. Their years of using dig­i­tal tech­nolo­gies and tools make it so.

Digital Literacy and Tech Tools

Online degree hold­ers are com­fort­able with using learn­ing man­age­ment sys­tems (LMS). Their com­pe­tence extends to pop­u­lar plat­forms, includ­ing Zoom and Google Work­space. Indeed, dig­i­tal lit­er­a­cy is a com­pet­i­tive edge in the dig­i­tal age.

Plus, dig­i­tal lit­er­a­cy skills are trans­fer­able to most tech-inte­grat­ed and remote jobs.

Data Analysis and Research Skills

Online degree pro­grams empha­size tech­ni­cal skills relat­ed to:

• Dig­i­tal research
• Data analy­sis
• Eval­u­at­ing cred­i­ble sources
• Main­tain­ing aca­d­e­m­ic integri­ty (e.g., orig­i­nal­i­ty, not plagiarism)

Online stu­dents also devel­op pro­fi­cien­cy in using online libraries, Excel, and Google Sheets. Employ­ers val­ue their ana­lyt­i­cal abil­i­ties, espe­cial­ly for data-dri­ven jobs.

Industry-Specific Tools

Many pro­grams also enable stu­dents to acquire spe­cif­ic online bach­e­lor’s degree job skills. Nurs­ing stu­dents learn via vir­tu­al sim­u­la­tions (e.g., patient assess­ment and mon­i­tor­ing). Busi­ness stu­dents use data ana­lyt­ics soft­ware (e.g., Sales­force) and CRM tools.

Collaboration and Remote Teamwork Abilities

Being in a vir­tu­al learn­ing envi­ron­ment does­n’t mean being iso­lat­ed. Instead, online stu­dents work in vir­tu­al teams to com­plete group projects and assign­ments. Dis­cus­sion boards, forums, and feed­back ses­sions are also common.

As a result, online stu­dents devel­op col­lab­o­ra­tion skills across time zones. Being able to com­mu­ni­cate effec­tive­ly using asyn­chro­nous means is a skill in itself. These work­place skills for online bach­e­lor’s stu­dents are attrac­tive to employers.

But it isn’t only geo­graph­i­cal loca­tions and time zones involved here, either. Online stu­dents also work with peers from dif­fer­ent cul­tures and back­grounds. This encour­ages cross-cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ca­tion and com­pe­tence, as well as adapt­abil­i­ty. These are also cru­cial online skills for grad­u­ate employability.

In all these vir­tu­al col­lab­o­ra­tions, online stu­dents pre­pare for the remote and hybrid work­force expec­ta­tions. How? These mir­ror real-world sce­nar­ios. When you find your­self in sim­i­lar sit­u­a­tions, you’ll know the best ways to deal with them.

Adaptability and Lifelong Learning

Online learn­ers often jug­gle work, school, and per­son­al life com­mit­ments. While it isn’t easy-peasy, it builds adapt­abil­i­ty and flex­i­bil­i­ty. In fast-paced work­places, these are skills employ­ers val­ue in online grad­u­ates. This is par­tic­u­lar­ly true in the tech­nol­o­gy, health­care, and finance industries.

Expo­sure to asyn­chro­nous learn­ing is also a key com­po­nent of career readi­ness for online learn­ers. Being an inde­pen­dent learn­er is a must, and so is being self-moti­vat­ed. Online stu­dents devel­op self-reliance and resilience in the process. Not only are these skills that employ­ers seek, but they also sup­port career growth.

Employ­ers also val­ue learn­ing agili­ty and a growth mind­set. Learn­ing agili­ty is the capac­i­ty to obtain and apply new knowl­edge and skills quick­ly. You’re able to do so in unfa­mil­iar sit­u­a­tions or chang­ing environments.

Peo­ple with a growth mind­set believe that con­tin­u­ous learn­ing is a way to acquire new skills. Online stu­dents also devel­op it through inde­pen­dent learning.

Real-World Projects and Internships in Online Programs

Online bach­e­lor’s degree job skills employ­ers val­ue don’t come out of thin air. Online stu­dents must be active par­tic­i­pants in diverse hands-on learn­ing expe­ri­ences. In turn, these skills devel­op the job mar­ket needs of online grad­u­ates for suc­cess­ful careers.

Many accred­it­ed online pro­grams offer a wide range of hands-on learn­ing experiences.

• Cap­stone projects
• In-per­son practicums and internships
• Vir­tu­al or remote internships
• Real-world projects (e.g., com­mu­ni­ty-based initiatives)
• Con­sult­ing projects

Online stu­dents get expo­sure to real-world work­place sit­u­a­tions and/or tack­le real-world chal­lenges. The more immer­sive the hands-on learn­ing expe­ri­ences, the stronger the skills. In turn, their applied learn­ing trans­lates to job-ready skills.

Here are a few exam­ples that demon­strate the appli­ca­tion of learn­ing among online students.

• A busi­ness stu­dent com­pletes a mar­ket­ing-relat­ed con­sult­ing project for a local business.
• A nurs­ing stu­dent becomes a clin­i­cal intern at a hospital. 
• An IT stu­dent works on a non­prof­it’s cyber­se­cu­ri­ty plan as a cap­stone project.

Many online schools also have robust part­ner­ships with employ­ers for this pur­pose. Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty Online and South­ern New Hamp­shire Uni­ver­si­ty come to mind.

How to Showcase These Skills to Employers

First, craft a skills-based résumé that high­lights your pro­fes­sion­al skills from online edu­ca­tion. You want to show­case your online achieve­ments and the tools with which you’re proficient.

• Cre­ate a skills sum­ma­ry sec­tion where your core com­pe­ten­cies are listed.
• List your hands-on learn­ing expe­ri­ences that result­ed in real-world outcomes.
• Cite the dig­i­tal plat­forms and tools that you’ve mastered.

Always sub­mit a tai­lored skills-based résumé for every job, too. Empha­size the skills that fit with the job description.

Sec­ond, frame your online learn­ing chal­lenges as strengths dur­ing the interview.

• Empha­size how you are able to quick­ly to learn and adapt to chal­leng­ing situations.
• Share a sto­ry of your resilience and resource­ful­ness, too.

Third, uti­lize your LinkedIn and dig­i­tal port­fo­lios to show­case the skills that employ­ers val­ue in online graduates.

• Cre­ate spe­cif­ic sec­tions to high­light your projects, cer­ti­fi­ca­tions, and presentations,
• Build a robust dig­i­tal port­fo­lio that show­cas­es your cap­stone project and oth­er notable works.

Don’t be shy about your achieve­ments, either.

Industry-Specific Skills Online Graduates Need

The in-demand skills for online stu­dents vary depend­ing on the indus­try and job.

Healthcare

The tech­ni­cal skills for online degree grad­u­ates in health­care pro­grams include: 

• Man­ag­ing elec­tron­ic med­ical records (EMR) software
• Using tele­health and patient com­mu­ni­ca­tion tools (e.g., patient portals)

Business

The tech­ni­cal skills that busi­ness grad­u­ates must prove in their job appli­ca­tions include:

• Using data visu­al­iza­tion tools (e.g., Tableau)
• Man­ag­ing CRM plat­forms (e.g., Microsoft Dynam­ics 365)
• Under­tak­ing mar­ket­ing analytics

Education

Grad­u­ates of edu­ca­tion pro­grams should high­light their skills in:

• Using LMS (e.g., Can­vas and Blackboard)
• Apply­ing remote teach­ing strategies

IT and Computer Science

Grad­u­ates of com­put­er sci­ence and IT pro­grams must prove their com­pe­tence in:

• Cod­ing languages
• Cloud com­put­ing
• Cyber­se­cu­ri­ty

Think of your under­grad­u­ate stud­ies as your train­ing ground for career success.

Conclusion: Proving Your Value as an Online Graduate

Career readi­ness for online learn­ers entails devel­op­ing both tech­ni­cal and trans­fer­able skills rel­e­vant to the work­place. Start by build­ing a strong the­o­ret­i­cal foun­da­tion. Then, strength­en your knowl­edge with hands-on learn­ing expe­ri­ences to build prac­ti­cal skills.

You’ll devel­op the skills employ­ers val­ue in online grad­u­ates in the process. Employ­ers val­ue tech­ni­cal skills, of course, but they also rec­og­nize trans­fer­able skills. You must then high­light your abil­i­ty to com­mu­ni­cate, lead, and adapt.

Again, don’t be shy about it. Instead, be con­fi­dent in demon­strat­ing your career readi­ness. Do so on your résumé and cov­er let­ter, dur­ing your inter­views, and at your job.