What Actually Predicts Job Success? Skills Beat Study Hours

By shrijeetverma13 · August 7, 2026

We analyzed placement data from hundreds of students to uncover which factors matter most for landing jobs and earning higher salaries. Interview…

Artificial Intelligence stands out as the top-performing Major, with 86.62% of its students achieving placement success. The analysis also breaks down placement rates across all Majors and Career Fields, visualized in two charts showing which academic paths and career tracks lead to the best job placement outcomes.

The factors most strongly correlated with high Employability Score are Interview Score (r=0.845), Programming Skill (r=0.814), Resume Score (r=0.791), Internships (r=0.790), and Problem Solving (r=0.764). These skill and experience-based factors show the strongest positive relationships with employability outcomes. When looking across student segments, those with 'Excellent' academic performance had the highest average Employability Score at 247.7, clearly outperforming other academic performance groups.

Programming skill, internships, and certifications all show positive relationships with starting salary, but internships have the strongest impact. Students with 5 internships earn about $90,020 on average compared to just $37,983 for those with none — a huge jump. Programming skill also matters significantly, with top scorers (10/10) earning $89,979 versus $45,617 for lower scorers (2/10). Certifications have the weakest effect, with earners of 8 certifications averaging $104,842 versus $87,475 for those with none.

Both study hours and attendance are positively linked to CGPA, with attendance being the stronger predictor. Attendance percentage has a strong correlation (0.668) with CGPA, while study hours per week shows a moderate correlation (0.533). This suggests that consistently showing up to class may matter even more than the number of hours spent studying when it comes to academic success.

Students placed in Tier 1 companies stand out with strong averages across all three metrics: a CGPA of 3.16, a Resume Score of 98.47, and an Interview Score of 81.28. These numbers are notably high, suggesting that top-tier companies favor candidates who excel academically, present strong resumes, and perform well in interviews. Two charts were created to visualize these patterns: a grouped bar chart comparing average CGPA, Resume Score, and Interview Score across all company tiers, and a box plot showing how Interview Scores are distributed within each tier.

The analysis compared students based on whether they have no online profiles, one profile (GitHub or LinkedIn), or both profiles, looking at placement rates and starting salaries. Three charts were generated: one showing placement rate by profile group, one showing average starting salary by profile group, and one showing average salary specifically among students who were placed. These visualizations let you directly compare outcomes across the three groups to see whether having both a GitHub and LinkedIn profile is linked to better placement chances and higher pay.

Problem Solving has the strongest correlation with Interview Score (0.625), followed by Communication Skills (0.499) and English Proficiency (0.471). Teamwork (0.273) and Leadership Experience (0.253) show weaker but still positive relationships. A heatmap visualizes the full correlation matrix between all soft skills and interview performance.

Looking at how Placement Mode relates to Company Tier, the data shows remarkably consistent Tier 1 placement rates across nearly all placement methods. Campus Placement (95.2%), Internship Conversion (95.3%), Off-Campus (94.8%), and Referral (95.3%) all land students in Tier 1 companies at almost identical rates - roughly 95% each. The only standout category is 'Not Applicable,' which corresponds 100% to 'No Company,' meaning those students simply weren't placed. A heatmap visualization clearly displays this pattern, showing that once a student secures any placement through an active method, the odds of it being a Tier 1 company are very high and don't vary much by method used.

We analyzed starting salaries within each career field using the IQR method to flag students earning unusually high salaries compared to their peers in the same field. The analysis produced visualizations showing the distribution of high-salary outliers across career fields, along with tables comparing key characteristics like CGPA, programming skill, internships, and interview scores between outliers and typical earners.

Freshman students actually lead in all three career readiness metrics, with the highest average starting salary ($70,117), interview score (77.7), and placement rate (79.2%). Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors show very similar, slightly lower values across the board. This means career readiness does NOT improve consistently as students progress from Freshman to Senior year — in fact, the metrics stay roughly flat or dip slightly after Freshman year. A grouped bar chart was created comparing average salary, interview score, and placement rate across all four academic years.