How employers can verify AI skills before making a hire

Opinions expressed by Digital Journal contributors are their own.

Picture two finalists for an analyst job who are equally skilled with AI tools. Then one of them opens a portfolio of credentialed projects and walks the panel through a client analysis the software produced, one she refused to send because two of its figures didn’t match the source data. She gets the offer.

Scenes like that are getting more common, mostly because almost every applicant now claims the skill. NACE, the National Association of Colleges and Employers, found AI skills listed in 16.5% of entry-level job descriptions in spring 2026, against 10.5% only a semester earlier. Hiring teams are left with a harder question than whether a candidate has used the tools. Can they tell good use from bad?

A resume line that no longer says much

Handshake says this year’s graduating seniors mention AI skills twice as often as the class of 2022 did. LinkedIn’s numbers point the same way from both ends of the funnel with 81% of job seekers having used AI in their search or plan to, and 66% of recruiters intend to use more of it for pre-screening. Machines help write the applications, then machines read them. Little wonder a phrase like “proficient in generative AI” barely registers with hiring managers anymore.

There’s a tension inside employer demand, too. ZipRecruiter’s 2026 research has 74% of employers calling these skills a strong advantage or an outright requirement for new hires. The World Economic Forum adds a twist. Its Future of Jobs Report 2025 does rank AI and big data as the fastest-growing skills, but analytical thinking is still the core skill seven in ten employers call essential, more than any other.

“In a world that seems increasingly transactional, we think it matters that we’re producing graduates who stand for something,” says Dr. Jim Burkee, president of Saint Leo University, which now requires AI certification for every graduate. He links the idea to the school’s Catholic values and sums it up in two short lines: “Skill plus character. Competence plus values.”

Hiring managers can read the formula as two separate tests. Skill and competence are what a resume tries to show, while judgment, which character shapes, tends to surface only when an output looks plausible and turns out to be wrong. PwC’s 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer suggests that second part is gaining value, reporting that new tasks in the most AI-exposed roles are 2.5 times more likely to lean on human skills like judgment, empathy and creativity than new tasks in the least exposed ones.

Proof worth asking for

That line can be tested without an elaborate assessment, starting with the credential. A professor can add a module on generative tools to almost any syllabus, which is why the issuer matters. A micro-credential from an outside organization tells a recruiter that someone with no stake in the school’s grades checked the work against its own standard.

Saint Leo University has started building that kind of evidence into its degrees. Beginning with students who enrolled in fall 2026, it requires IBM SkillsBuild training, with micro-credentials earned inside ordinary courses and a digital portfolio on data analytics, cybersecurity, AI fundamentals and digital collaboration; the number of micro-credentials hasn’t been made public. Still, the portfolio may be what a hiring manager uses most, because it can be opened in the room and questioned piece by piece.

Polished work has stopped meaning much on its own. Harvard Business Review published research in which about 40% of surveyed workers reported getting AI-generated “workslop” over the previous month, material they put at roughly 15% of their incoming work, and that is the reason the reject pile makes such good interview material: a candidate who can explain why they threw out an AI draft, what was wrong with it and who they told is demonstrating judgment directly.

The pressure lands hardest on junior hires. PwC found that the most AI-exposed junior jobs are seven times likelier than the least exposed to ask for skills that used to belong to senior staff, like strategic decision-making or stakeholder management. Among US entry-level postings in high-exposure occupations, the ones that picked up those skills grew 35% between 2019 and 2025; the rest fell 10%.

Judgment used to be something new hires developed over a few years. Now plenty of employers screen for it before the offer letter goes out. Whatever exercise a company designs should look like the job itself, and candidates who need accommodations must be able to complete it; the Americans with Disabilities Act reaches hiring technology as well. Strada’s May 2026 survey of nearly 1,500 executives and talent leaders backs this up, since it found work experience is the most valued indicator of career readiness. Most new graduates don’t have much of it yet, which is where a portfolio of applied projects earns its place.

Hire the judgment, verify the skill

There’s no cost to asking for the credential and the portfolio by name, so that’s where most employers can start. A judgment question belongs in every interview loop for AI-exposed roles as well, and the universities you recruit from should hear that the ethics side of AI training carries weight in your hiring decisions.

These graduates will start turning up at several levels, from analytics majors in new 93-credit programs to MBA students whose programs carry the same certification. The ones worth hiring will be able to show what they built with AI and explain what they chose not to send.