Did you know we can pretty much already tell you what 2027 has in store for hiring? Call it our version of “In the Year 2027,” minus the jokes. Here’s what we’re seeing.
Great candidates are still acting like free agents
The pool is thinner than we’ve seen in a while, and the people who are looking are serious, not window shopping. When a strong one shows up, they’re not waiting on your decision. They have options and they know it, so expect harder negotiating on PTO, 401(k) and schedule flexibility. Drag your feet through a second or third round and that candidate is gone in days, not weeks.
Many job descriptions still aren’t doing their job
Too many read like a checklist someone wrote five years ago and never touched again. There’s no sense of who the ideal candidate is, nothing that sounds like your company, nothing that makes a good applicant stop scrolling. If your description doesn’t sell the role, the right people never see it.
Ghosting hasn’t slowed down, and it goes both ways
Candidates vanish mid-process or after accepting an offer. But companies do it too: no follow-up after a great interview, or weeks of silence on an offer decision. Either way, you lose the hire and some trust you don’t easily get back.
Why you can’t wait until January
Some of these gaps take real time to close: rewriting job descriptions, adjusting what you offer, and building a process where candidates actually hear back. If you wait until January to start, you may not close them before the market picks back up.