Employers used to be more hesitant to consider hiring job applicants who earned their degrees online. But that perception has changed in the past few years, recruiters say.

“I think employers, generally speaking, are getting more inclined, more receptive to looking at people with online degrees — especially in experienced roles that they’re looking to fill. However, it’s still a mixed bag; it’s a broad range,” says Kip Harrell, vice president of client talent acquisition for Govig & Associates, an executive search firm.

“Schools got better at the delivery models, and hiring managers, particularly in the technology industries, became much more comfortable with it,” says Nicole Cox, chief recruitment officer at Decision Toolbox, a national recruitment firm.

[Understand what employers really think about your online bachelor’s degree.]

This increasing acceptance is good news for online students, especially as career preparation remains their primary motivation for turning to distance learning in the first place, according to the results of a 2015 survey conducted by Aslanian Market Research and the Learning House. Roughly three-quarters of survey respondents said they chose online learning to change or boost their careers, find a job or keep their skills up to date.

As with any hiring process, an employer will consider several other qualities beyond the type of degree an applicant earned. Still, employers who are aware that job candidates completed their degrees online will likely want to verify that the quality of their education is the same as they would have received in person.

Recruiters and experts say the following questions are regularly asked of online students during the job interview process. Prospective online students should keep these questions in mind when selecting a program to ensure that they are an appealing candidate to employers once they graduate.

1. Is the online program accredited? An employer will likely be most concerned with whether an online degree comes from a reputable institution with an established brand, says Susan Aldridge, president of Drexel University Online. A major part of a program’s legitimacy comes down to whether it’s either regionally or nationally accredited.

Accreditation entails an outside, legitimate authority verifying that an institution meets certain educational standards. The accrediting agency should be recognized by the U.S. Department of Education or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

“It provides a credibility to it,” Cox says. “And if you go on to continue your education after that, you don’t want to have to start over.”

Students should be aware that credits earned at schools without recognized accreditation may not transfer.

[Learn how to tell the good online degree program from the bad.]

2. Why did you choose to pursue a degree online? Some employers may wonder why a job candidate chose to pursue a degree online, says Charles Mitchell, co-founder and CEO of All About People, a recruiting and staffing firm based in Arizona. Answering that question can help reveal the candidate’s decision-making skills, he says.

“I think from an employer perspective, those are the kinds of things you’re looking for someone to share, to explain when it comes to going one route in a traditional setting versus an online setting versus another,” he says.

This question came up in job interviews for Billy Parsons, who recently completed the FlexPath MBA program with a specialization in human resources offered through Capella University, an online, for-profit school.

“I flat-out told them, ‘I don’t have the time to spend driving to these locations when I’m working full time, with a family, and I’m at the level in my organization that does not allow me to have that much free time,'” the 46-year-old Texas resident says.

3. Did you develop skills in teamwork and group collaboration through the program? One of the perks of taking a class in person is the ability to easily work with peers on group assignments. Many online programs also involve collaborative learning, experts say, but it may take a bit more effort to convince an employer that this was indeed the case.

“That is a huge part of what we see employers look for today — is that ability to work within a team, to be a good team player, to collaborate,” Mitchell says.

4. To what extent were you able to interact with the program’s other students? Just as important to employers is an online learner’s ability to understand and interpret a range of perspectives on different issues, says Cox, of Decision Toolbox.

“Employers, if they really understand online education, they can see that it’s a smart use of time and can bring a lot of exposure of global ideas, and help their employees develop solutions to problems that they might not have had any exposure to in the past,” she says.

[Discover ways your online classmates can teach you about different cultures.]

These qualities in an online program can help reassure potential employers about its legitimacy, says Harrell, of Govig & Associates.

“Those experiences that you get in a full-time, campus-based program, you hope will have been built into an online distance learning degree,” he says.

Trying to fund your online education? Get tips and more in the U.S. News Paying for Online Education center.

More from U.S. News

What Employers Really Think About Your Online Bachelor’s Degree

Try Convincing an Employer to Pay for an Online Degree

What Employers Think of Badges, Nanodegrees from Online Programs

4 Questions Employers Ask About Job Applicants With Online Degrees originally appeared on usnews.com