Top 5 Hiring Trends in 2025: New Data Insights

Whether you’re planning (or revising!) your talent acquisition goals or headcount forecasts, it helps to know the latest hiring trends. For instance, labor market dynamics shifted in employers’ favor in 2024, with workers more willing to remain in their current roles, strengthening talent retention.

But LHH’s research suggests this change in employee sentiment is fragile and conditional , which means organizations must strategize while familiar with the hiring and TA trends in 2025 and beyond.

LHH’s parent company, The Adecco Group, recently published the latest edition of its annual Global Workforce of the Future research including what it takes to build a future-ready workforce. To mark this occasion, we at LHH decided to look at five trends that may impact recruiting and hiring over the next 12 months.

Hiring Trend #1: Engaging passive talent will become a key talent-acquisition skill

Earlier this year, data shared in The Great Potential identified a large ‘passive talent pool’ of workers taking a wait-and-see approach to their careers, at least in the short term.

More recent survey data from The Adecco Group has confirmed this pool is growing, preferring the stability of their current role, but at risk for attrition as the market improves.

We continue to advise employers to meaningfully address these workers’ needs around progression and development, among other factors, to reignite their enthusiasm and support employee retention.

Additional research from LinkedIn suggests the results of this shift will play out in 2025 and beyond. When LinkedIn asked which recruitment skills will become more important in the next five years, the top answer was ‘engaging passive candidates,’ given by 83% of recruiting professionals.

Your organization’s passive talent pool represents a passive candidate pool for competitors and recruiters. Employers that fail to engage their passive, or not actively looking, employees should expect others to reach out to them next year and beyond.

How to engage passive talent to fill your roles now and later

VP of Strategy for LHH Recruitment Solutions Jamie Lupo suggests that “as the job market heats up, snagging passive talent will be a game-changer.”

“These folks often have the skills and experience needed but aren’t actually looking for a new job.”

Lupo gives the following advice for employers to engage passive talent:

• Proactive Outreach: Keep a talent pipeline warm with regular, personalized communication.
• Employer Branding: Make your company irresistible by showcasing your culture, values, and growth opportunities.
• Employee Referrals: Leverage your current team to tap into their networks for potential candidates. (Caution, over-reliance on employee referrals may create affinity bias or an overly homogeneous team.)

Related: Need support? LHH has consultants around the world to help you with recruitment solutions for short- and long-term needs, from seasonal staff to executive and C-Suite roles.

Hiring Trend #2: Salaries will be a vital recruiting tool

Resignations might be down, but workers are keeping their options open—and salaries are the main reason. When we asked participants in The Great Potential why they were considering changing jobs in the next 12 months, ‘I want a better salary’ was the most popular answer by far (the next most common answer was six percentage points behind).

The impact will be twofold. On the one hand, recruiters and hiring managers will use salaries to tempt top talent away from the competition. But to counteract this, employers will use raises as a retention tool. This could generate upward pressure on salaries that will be difficult for some organizations to address.

Related: New! Download LHH’s 2025 Salary Guide

Ultimately, though, they will have to. Research shows that 85% of upcoming and recent graduates won’t apply for a job without salary information. As this cohort becomes a bigger proportion of the workforce —Gen Z are forecast to comprise around 30% of the US workforce in 2030—successful employers will adapt to meet their needs and expectations.

Employers that fail to recognize this trend in preferences will become increasingly unattractive to this growing segment of workers.

In recognition of the positive impact salary transparency has on reducing wage inequality, a growing number of states, cities, and localities have enacted laws or are currently legislating it. Check with your legal counsel to determine requirements.

Hiring Trend #3: Organizations will be energized by ‘right-skilling’

Skills-based hiring has been growing in recent years as employers recognize that formal qualifications aren’t always the best way to assess whether someone has the skills for the job.

In short, employers are increasingly focusing on the human angle, on the person rather than their qualifications.

Needs for emerging skills drives layoffs

But hiring is only one part of this puzzle as organizations adapt to shifting skills needs. Our Outplacement & Career Mobility 2024 Trends Report revealed two new entrants in employers’ top five reasons for conducting layoffs.

Around 30% of surveyed HR leaders named ‘releasing individuals for poor performance’ and ‘releasing employees who don’t have the right skill sets,’ as motivations for layoff decisions. This shows employers are open to using layoffs to right-skill their organization.

Internal skilling and redeployment opportunities

Most (59%) workers in the same research agreed that ‘I would like to develop new skills to propel my career, but I don’t know what to pursue.’

An even larger majority (82%) of HR leaders said they’d considered redeployments as an alternative to layoffs.

In 2025, employers will begin to see real benefits from right-skilling. The winners will:

1. Hire based on hard and soft skills;
2. View layoffs through a skills lens; and
3. Empower their people to develop new skills and seek related internal opportunities.

Hiring Trend #4: Development will be an increasingly key part of the hiring offer

We’ve written before about the key role of development in a sustainable talent strategy and even hosted a webinar about how to build one.

In 2025, we expect professional and personal development to be a core element of the hiring process on both sides.

Lupo adds “With tech changing so fast, companies need to decide whether to reskill current employees or hire new ones. This is a perfect opportunity to leverage the total talent solutions LHH offers, from recruitment, to skills and leadership development, to career transitions and mobility.”

How to make reskilling and development part of your employer brand

Lupo suggests:

• Reskilling Programs: Develop programs to help employees transition into new roles.
• Strategic Hiring: Focus on candidates with transferable skills who can adapt quickly.
• Blended Approach: Combine reskilling and external hiring for a balanced workforce.

What does this mean for hiring? The most promising candidates will increasingly want to know which skills they will be able to develop in the role and how the organization will help.

Recruiters and hiring managers will be more interested in a candidate’s potential to develop new skills than in their past achievements.

Trend #5: Recruiters will adopt augmented recruitment with transparency about AI

The Great Potential showed that candidates are pretty relaxed about the use of AI and other technologies in the hiring process. The majority said they expect companies to embrace AI to speed up recruitment (51%) and that they’re comfortable with automation if it speeds up the process (54%).

On the other hand, even larger majorities said they value the human expertise of a recruiter to see their true potential beyond skills and experience (64%) and that, as a candidate, they want to know whether they’re dealing with a human or AI (65%).

It’s already a few years since AI and automation became commonplace in hiring, and recruiters are aware of the potential pitfalls. In one case last year, an employer reached an expensive out-of-court settlement after its AI was accused of discriminating against older applicants.

As concern grows about potential bias and errors in automated tools, employers will become more transparent about their use of AI. An augmented recruiting model will emerge, where AI supports human recruiters.

After all, an AI cannot yet relate to a person’s individuality. It takes a human recruiter to make a meaningful connection with a candidate. It takes a meaningful connection to truly assess the vibrant mix of experiences, values, and unique human possibilities each candidate offers.

Lupo says, “AI in recruitment is on the rise, no doubt, and candidates should have the transparency and fairness they want. The key, incumbent on employers, is to balance efficiency with the human touch.”

How to address AI use in recruitment

Lupo recommends:

• Transparency: Be upfront about how AI is used in the hiring process. Explain which parts are automated and how decisions are made.
• Bias Mitigation: Regularly audit AI algorithms to reduce bias and ensure fairness.
• Human Oversight: Keep human recruiters involved in the final decision process.

So, What’s Next for 2025 Hiring and Recruitment?

These predicted trends are based on LHH and the Adecco Group’s research in the past 12 months. From the organizational need to right-skill to individuals’ desire to develop, skills have emerged as a common theme across our research, and we expect this to be felt in hiring during 2025 and beyond.

From the recruiter’s perspective, this means they must be prepared to talk confidently about skills throughout the recruitment process. Top candidates will expect nothing less.

Salaries (and benefits) will likely remain the most significant factor in a candidate’s decision to join an organization, but employers that present a compelling skills offer will find they have more space to negotiate.

To find out how your organization’s salary offers compare with others in your sector and region, see LHH's 2025 Salary Guide.

Ready to explore how LHH helps you engage your passive talent, right-skill your organization, and find the right mix of automation and people power in your hiring?

Let’s Go