Global Employers Take Cautious Approach to Q4 Hiring
October 10, 2025 – Global employers are continuing a careful approach to hiring in the fourth quarter, with 45 percent planning to maintain current workforce levels—the highest since early 2022—as organizations balance capturing growth opportunities with mitigating economic uncertainty. This measured shift sees 38 percent of employers planning to add staff while 15 percent expect reductions, resulting in a Net Employment Outlook (NEO) of 23 percent, down one point from the third quarter and two points year-over-year, according to ManpowerGroup’s latest Employment Outlook Survey of more than 40,000 employers across 42 countries.
“We continue to see underlying stability with cautious outlooks into Q4 in many labor markets as employers hold onto their skilled workers and take a targeted approach to hiring the specialized skills that will give them the competitive edge in the months ahead,” said Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup chair and CEO. “This isn’t simply about hiring less, it’s about hiring more selectively, maintaining organizational resilience, and shaping workforces that can adapt to a changing environment.”
Employers continue to face talent challenges, with nearly half (46 percent) citing attracting qualified candidates as their biggest hurdle. However, the global talent shortage has shown gradual improvement, easing from a record-high of 77 percent in 2023 to 74 percent in 2025, suggesting a slight increase in talent availability.
Retention strategies are gaining prominence, with 39 percent pointing to improved work-life balance as the most effective approach. Among companies reducing staff, one-third (33 percent) attribute the decision to economic uncertainty. Yet, since ManpowerGroup began tracking this metric in the second quarter of 2025 to better understand workforce reduction drivers, the data shows a positive trend as economic concerns have eased somewhat moving from 35 percent to 33 percent.
Related: 2025 Hiring & Compensation at Mid-Year: What’s Evolving and What Remains the Same
The information technology (36 percent) sector reports the most optimistic hiring plans, followed by financials and real estate (29 percent), and transport, logistics and automotive (24 percent). Employers in communication services (19 percent), consumer goods & services (20 percent), energy & utilities (20 percent), and healthcare and life sciences (20 percent) report the most cautious hiring plans. Mid-sized organizations (+29 percent) report the most confident hiring intentions.
Top Search Consultants Weigh In
“2025 has been a tremendous year for our firm,” said Mark D. Magruder, founder of Magruder Executive Search. “Over the past 18 months, we have increasingly been asked to define the functional gaps in our clients’ businesses as they scale – to create positions that are highly specialized or hybrid roles. This is a strength and a real differentiator as a boutique retained executive search firm. We are consultative partners to our private equity and family office clients who are seeking innovative human capital solutions to their most pressing organizational challenges.”
The Conference Board Highlights a Strategic Slowdown in Hiring
As economic and policy uncertainty lingers, human capital leaders are recalibrating their strategies. The latest report from The Conference Board highlights how CHROs are slowing hiring, not out of lost confidence, but to strengthen current teams and position themselves for long-term flexibility. Evan Berta, an associate at Hunt Scanlon Ventures, unpacks the findings and explores what they mean for executive search and leadership strategy.
“The demand for truly strategic operational CFOs is at an all-time high across sectors,” Mr. Magruder said. “We’ve spent a tremendous amount of time assisting clients in identifying and attracting complementary financial talent that accelerates their growth. We introduce candidates who have the proven ability to synthesize trends and leverage analytics to make truly finance-based decisions.”
“We’re seeing a much broader demand for finance leaders with excellent communication skills coming out of FP&A and investment banking roles who can move into operational roles and apply a different level of financial sophistication to operating teams,” Mr. Magruder said.
Related: Executive Search 2025: Balancing AI Innovation with a Human Touch
“Nearly every private client we support has been actively hiring,” said Kelly Mooney, partner at Magruder Executive Search. “We’re seeing optimism among our private equity and family office clients. Professional services and infrastructure-focused clients have been particularly active. We anticipate continued activity and growth in these areas throughout 2026. We’re also seeing clients apply impressive aptitude screening tools that complement their hiring process.”
“The number of new Information Technology positions is the lowest we have seen in our 22 years in business, said Gary Erickson, managing partner of Executive Search Partners. This started in late 2022 and continues to this day. We expect that this trend will continue into early 2026. The initial slowdown in tech hiring came from inflation-related uncertainty in late 2022. By early 2025, that concern had shifted toward tariff volatility, introducing additional economic uncertainty for corporations. While some analysts suggest that it is AI that is diminishing the demand for programmers, we challenge that view.”
Mr. Erickson points to these numbers. “Unemployment rates for core technology roles—software developers (2.8 percent), systems analysts (1.8 percent), and cybersecurity analysts (2.3 percent)—remain well below the national average of 4.2 percent, underscoring persistent demand,” he said. “The potential to leverage IT tools and applications for operational gains is substantial. Moreover, each digital improvement tends to spark additional innovation, creating a compounding effect. The need for technical talent is clear—but in today’s climate, companies are favoring prudence over aggressive investment.”
“As we look ahead to Q4 2025 and into 2026, tariff uncertainty and renewed inflationary pressures are throttling corporate investments,” Mr. Erickson said. “Firms continue to have a more cautious stance on workforce expansion. We anticipate that hiring will remain subdued through the remainder of 2025, with organizations favoring precision over volume. In this environment, IT talent acquisition is becoming increasingly strategic. Companies are selectively investing in roles that directly support digital transformation and operational resilience. Priority areas include artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cybersecurity—domains that not only drive competitive advantage but also mitigate systemic risk.”
Related: How to Embrace AI Before It’s Too Late
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
