The recruitment market continuously evolves, especially in the IT, technology, and digital sectors. Everything from geopolitical events to the development of new technologies to changing attitudes toward work influences how companies recruit talent and how candidates secure their next job. 

With this in mind, what should we expect in the recruitment market in 2025? Keeping on top of the following trends and developments will help you achieve your recruitment objectives for the coming year. 

Continuing Focus on Skills 

We can expect a continuation of the trend where companies transition to prioritising skills rather than qualifications or long work histories. In other words, what can the candidate actually do, and does that match our requirements, regardless of what roles the candidate has had in the past or qualifications listed on their CV. 

An outworking of this focus is the widening of talent pools to potential candidates who might not have specific qualifications or experience. This wider pool of potential candidates could have the necessary skills, or they can be easily upskilled because of adjacent or complementary skills. 

Another outworking is likely to be companies looking to upskill or reskill existing employees as an alternative to recruiting new talent. 

AI Will Continue to Change Recruitment Processes 

AI arrived in recruitment like an unbroken horse, bucking and kicking its way around the sector, causing excitement, fear, and a fair amount of bruising. It is now more like a horse that is coming under control and starting to deliver on expectations. 

Areas where AI technologies are delivering significant gains include the automation of manual tasks, improving data analysis, and enhancing data-driven decision-making. This has the effect of freeing up recruitment professionals so they can focus on strategy development and implementation, as well as the essential personal aspects of recruitment. 

We can expect to see a continued evolution of AI technologies in the recruitment sector both on the employer and candidate sides of the equation.  

Another area that will increasingly come to the fore is the need to build trust around the use of AI technologies by ensuring there is openness and transparency. 

Flexibility 

There are regular news stories where CEOs of large companies announce decisions to return their employees to the office. That said, hybrid working, working-from-home, and flexible working arrangements continue to be common in companies of all sizes.  

This especially applies in industries where there is alignment between the requirements of companies and the realities of hybrid and flexible working. There were many technology companies, for example, that embraced hybrid and flexible working long before the COVID-19 pandemic ignited the current trend. 

In 2025 and beyond, we will continue to see business leaders balance the desire of employees for flexible working with both the downsides (such as the isolation often felt by younger workers) and the requirements of the business. 

Candidate Experience 

Improving the candidate experience is another trend that will gather momentum in 2025. It is also a trend that is not exclusive to industries with talent shortages, as all companies risk missing out on the best talent if they offer a sub-optimal candidate experience. 

Areas that companies and recruitment professionals are likely to prioritise include: 

• Mobile-friendly recruitment processes where candidates can apply for jobs and keep track of their applications using their phones. 

• Transparent job descriptions that give as much information as possible and don’t come across as corporate or opaque. 

• Frictionless application processes that don’t involve doing things in a certain way just because they have always been done that way. 

• Regular communication to keep candidates informed of the status of their application. 

• Removal of unnecessary delays to ensure the recruitment process progresses as fast as possible while also ensuring sufficient time is taken to select the right candidate. 

Employee Advocacy 

It is common for companies to look for candidates they think will be a good fit for the organisation. The flip side is also increasingly true, where candidates assess whether the organisation they are applying for is aligned with their values and creates a work environment where they can succeed. 

Explaining the company’s culture on websites, social media, and other platforms is important in this regard, but employee advocacy is even more powerful, especially when it is truly authentic. From employees positively engaging with their employer on LinkedIn to employee testimonials to recruitment referral programmes, we can expect to see employee advocacy becoming an increasingly important component in recruitment strategies. 

Flexibility and Adaptability 

Staying ahead in the recruitment market can be challenging, especially in situations where identifying and recruiting the right talent is crucial to achieving business objectives. The best advice includes partnering with a recruitment agency that has expertise in your industry, staying on top of recruitment trends such as those outlined in this blog, and keeping your recruitment processes and strategies as flexible and adaptable as possible.