Share of Companies Recruiting From a Shortlist of Schools Rises From 17% to 26%, Survey Finds

The share of companies recruiting from a brief selection of schools climbed to 26% in a 2025 survey of more than 150 firms, up from 17% in 2022, according to recruiting intelligence firm Veris Insights. Even most companies not recruiting from a shortlist of universities said they were focusing on target schools while accepting applications from other schools.

Candidates from prestigious universities located close to a company’s headquarters are typically given priority, Chelsea Schein, Veris’s vice president of research strategy, told Fortune.

Employers are increasingly turning to degree and GPA in a hiring decision. “There’s an increasing recognition among employers that they can be more targeted in their approach,” Schein said. “Talent is everywhere” hiring has fallen out of style because it is expensive.

AI-generated résumés have made many applications appear identical, and DEI is no longer a priority for many companies. Today most firms recruit from about 30 colleges out of 4,000 universities. Firms look first at elite colleges and then schools nearby a company’s corporate offices.

GE Appliances has reduced recruiting to four or five events per semester at just 15 institutions, down from multiple passes through 45 to 50 schools per year. , and Draper, Utah. McKinsey is recommitting to a high-touch process, hosting in-person events with alumni at a shortlist of 20 universities, according to Blair Ciesil, a McKinsey recruiting partner.

Public sentiment toward higher education has cooled. U.S. said a college education was very important, down from 70% in 2013, according to NBC. Just one-third of American voters said a four-year degree was worth the cost.

6 million in 2010. Nearly half of millennials and Gen Z say college was a waste of money. Gen Z men’s unemployment rate now matches that of Gen Z men without degrees.

The college wage premium sits at roughly 90%, according to the Federal Reserve of Cleveland. That premium has plateaued over the past decade. “I’d rather be a student with a degree than without a degree,” Schein said.

Sander van ’t Noordende, CEO of recruitment agency Randstad, told Fortune that people must reflect on whether taking a student loan, going to college and being trained or educated for a profession that is rapidly changing is still the right path. com on Jan. 6, 2026.