As autumn begins, it is once again a good time to reflect on the past year and identify the key themes shaping the recruitment market. Over the past year, we have witnessed several significant trends that directly impact both organizational hiring and the candidate experience. Below, we highlight current topics that have been at the forefront of HR discussions and that we believe organizations will continue to pay close attention to in the latter part of the year.
Labour Market Development in 2025
The year 2025 has been characterized by a divided labour market: recruitment volumes have remained clearly below the levels of recent years, while the number of active job seekers has been high. This creates a situation where employers continue to hold a negotiation advantage, yet delivering high-quality hires requires careful evaluation and increasingly thorough candidate assessment.
New Job Openings
In the first half of 2025, the number of open positions remained low compared to previous years. January saw a temporary peak (65,530 postings), but volumes declined during H1: in February there were 49,812 postings and in April 41,766. For comparison, at the beginning of 2023 there were over 110,000 open positions — meaning that volumes have halved in two years.
However, recent months have shown signs of recovery in the recruitment market. In June 2025, there were 30% more open positions compared to the previous year. In July 2025, there were 49,211 open positions — 96% more than in July 2024 (25,064). Additionally, although still a moderate signal, executive-level recruitment has increased during 2025. In H1/25, there were 13% more open leadership roles than during the corresponding period in 2024.
The same trend is visible across job advertising channels. Duunitori has maintained its position as the largest channel, although its volumes have declined significantly from the 2023 peak. Oikotie’s exit from the market at the beginning of 2025 is reflected in the overall reduction in volume. Jobly has clearly increased its market share this year. As a result, competition for visibility is becoming increasingly concentrated on a smaller number of channels. This requires organizations to adopt a more deliberate job advertising strategy and possess strong channel knowledge, as certain platforms may serve specific industries or roles better than others.
What Does This Mean for Organizations?
- An Employer-Driven Market: With a high number of active candidates and relatively fewer job openings, organizations are in a strong position to make successful long-term hires across all levels. The pool of potential candidates is likely larger, candidates are more open to discussing new opportunities, and reaching alignment in final-stage discussions may be easier.
- The Importance of Quality: High application volumes do not automatically result in high-quality hires. According to statistics from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, the average duration of open positions has increased over the past 12 months. This indicates that achieving high-quality hires can take time. Candidate suitability, competence, and motivation must be assessed carefully. Clearly defined criteria, structured interview processes, and objective assessment methods play a critical role. For key roles, executive search remains an effective way to ensure that the strongest candidates aligned with the search criteria are activated.
- Long-Term Outlook: Following the summer period, the recruitment market has shown clear signs of recovery. Many organizations carry a form of “recruitment debt” that requires a more strategic and forward-looking approach to workforce planning. Organizations should consider which key roles to prioritize over the next 12 months and how to identify and secure the most suitable talent for those positions.
Strengthening Employer Brand and Recruitment Processes
Over the next 12–18 months, recruitment volumes are expected to increase. This would intensify competition for talent and make it even more important for organizations to ensure their attractiveness in the labour market. Employer branding directly impacts the quality of candidates an organization can attract and successfully recruit.
Now is the right time to evaluate whether recruitment processes, systems, and metrics support organizational needs and future growth objectives. Key questions include: How do candidates perceive the candidate experience? How strong is the employer brand compared to competitors? What is the current level of key recruitment metrics such as time-to-hire?
Efficient processes and well-functioning systems are not merely efficiency matters — they directly affect candidate experience and ultimately determine how quickly and successfully the right talent is recruited and onboarded, influencing organizational competitiveness. A strong employer brand combined with an optimized recruitment process enables organizations to stand out and prepare sustainably for future growth.
Artificial Intelligence in Recruitment – Increasing Speed Without Compromising Quality
In 2025, artificial intelligence has become an established part of everyday recruitment. It is common for HR teams to utilize AI-based tools particularly in application processing and candidate communication. According to research, 87% of companies already use AI in recruitment, and 67% of HR leaders consider time savings to be the primary benefit (SightsIn Plus, 2025). In practice, this translates into faster and more streamlined processes.
However, alongside speed, the question of quality becomes increasingly important. Utilizing AI requires a careful balance between efficiency and human judgment. AI supports routine and repetitive tasks, but successful hiring decisions still require expert-level evaluation of competence and interpersonal dynamics.
The forthcoming EU Artificial Intelligence Act aims to ensure ethical and human-rights-respecting AI systems. In recruitment, candidates must be informed about how AI is used, and AI systems cannot independently make final hiring decisions.
Key Considerations for AI in Recruitment
- Leverage efficiency wisely: AI frees HR teams from routine tasks and allows greater focus on planning, interaction, and decision-making.
- Combine technology with human evaluation: While AI can support screening, only humans can assess deeper motivational drivers, values, and cultural fit.
- Transparency builds trust: Candidates should be informed if AI is used in the process and how their data is handled. Transparency strengthens trust and employer brand perception. The candidate experience improves when applicants know what to expect throughout the process.
While artificial intelligence enhances many routine recruitment tasks, ensuring quality in executive search still requires tailored and comprehensive manual work. For example, defining the role profile and selection criteria demands deep industry expertise, and assessing competence, motivation, and interpersonal skills in interviews requires capabilities that algorithms cannot replace. We believe that in the future, AI can support background information gathering, but the critical evaluations and relationship-building will remain firmly in the hands of the recruiter.
Candidate Experience in the Age of AI
Personal communication alongside AI: Automated messages keep candidates informed about the progress of the process, but personal outreach—such as phone calls at critical stages—makes the experience more human and personalized.
Ensuring fairness: Candidates value a process that is fair and based on clearly defined criteria. AI can help reduce unconscious bias, but final evaluations still require human judgment. When fairness is visible throughout the process, candidates perceive it as just—regardless of the recruitment outcome.
Continuous evaluation and development of processes:
It is important to regularly assess and refine processes to identify potential errors or biases in AI-driven models early and to improve system accuracy. At the same time, it is essential to recognize that regulation related to AI is evolving rapidly at both EU and national levels. Organizations must ensure that the solutions they use comply with current legislative requirements and support ethical recruitment practices.
Strategic Workforce Planning for Growth Sectors
At present, the labour market clearly favors employers across many industries. Skilled candidates are widely available, offering organizations an exceptional opportunity to strengthen their teams and secure key hires. Now is an ideal time to capitalize on this situation and ensure that critical roles are filled before competition for talent intensifies again.
At the same time, it is essential to look further ahead: what roles and capabilities will the organization need in the next 1–3 years? Strategic workforce planning involves not only attracting new talent but also identifying and leveraging the potential within the existing organization. As the talent market tightens, internal mobility and the development of career paths become increasingly important. In addition, recruiting international talent and successfully integrating them into the organization is essential for maintaining competitiveness in many industries.
This is not only about short-term hiring needs, but also about long-term investment. Every recruitment decision is an opportunity to strengthen organizational adaptability and lay the foundation for sustainable growth.
Looking Forward the End of the Year
The past year has reinforced our view that successful recruitment combines efficiency, quality, and candidate experience. Artificial intelligence brings speed and scalability to processes, but ultimate quality and organizational success are still driven by human interaction and thoughtful judgment. Within our service concept, we have placed particular emphasis on a holistic, strategic approach that supports all stakeholders involved in the process and brings transparency to every stage of HR management.
We have actively monitored the development of our long-term client partnerships, and the results have been encouraging from a Talent Acquisition perspective. The data shows that high-quality recruitment has long-term impacts on organizational success.
- Employee turnover has decreased by an average of 14.9% across our long-term client relationships. This demonstrates that carefully selected talent shows stronger commitment to their organizations.
- 70.4% of leadership and managerial-level professionals recruited through Avila remain in their current roles after three years.
- In addition, 14.8% of those recruited have progressed internally within their organizations, reflecting both successful hiring decisions and the organization’s ability to offer growth opportunities.
These figures reinforce our view that recruitment quality delivers tangible long-term results.
This year, we have focused particularly on updating our psychological assessment service to provide a comprehensive yet informative experience for all stakeholders involved in the process. In the coming months, our clients will be introduced to our renewed assessment report, which includes the following enhancements:
- A new six-level recommendation scale
- A separate motivation questionnaire providing deeper insight into key motivational driver
- A new graphical summary of work personality factors, making candidate comparison easier
A fully redesigned and clarified layout, supporting report usability especially from the perspective of hiring managers
We move into the autumn with enthusiasm and a strong commitment to supporting our clients in all talent selection matters. If you would like to discuss these themes in more detail and explore how they impact your organization specifically, we would be happy to assist.
Avainsanat
- recruitment trends
Julkaistu
Ota yhteyttä
Mikko Savusalo
mikko.savusalo[at]avila.fi