Purpose <p>The rapid growth of online education has extremely transformed higher education, generating concerns about its effectiveness in preparing students for the workforce when compared to traditional face-to-face (F2F) instruction. Online education offers flexibility and digital skills; F2F learning boosts networking, soft skills, and structured employability support.</p> Methods <p>A standardized questionnaire is distributed to the students from diverse academic disciplines. The survey assessed several factors including job placement confidence, skill acquisition, expected salary and networking opportunities. The data collected are analyzed quantitatively to identify trends in student opinions.</p> Results <p>The ratio of students who favored F2F education 56%, whereas the percentage of those who supported online learning is 44%. F2F students also reported much higher results concerning job placement (<i>p</i> = 0.039), starting salary (<i>p</i> = 0.017), and job-search confidence (<i>p</i> = 0.014). There is no difference between the two groups in regard to job preparedness (<i>p</i> = 0.017), implying that academic learning outcomes are similar. When compared to online learners, F2F students claimed to have greater support with regard to practical exposure (Mean = 3.50), development of soft skills, networking, and institutional support.</p> Conclusion <p>The findings highlighted better access to hands-on learning, institutional support and industry engagement through in-person education. Online education may be improved by institutions tying experiential learning, like virtual internships, collaboration with peers and industry mentoring, to increase its effectiveness. Digital tools and hybrid learning designs should be introduced to F2F programs to align students with hybrid workplaces.</p>