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Introduction
2025 in four words? Measured recovery, reserved optimism.
After the turbulence of 2024, the recruitment industry entered 2025 with a clearer head. But not one devoid of caution.
In 2024, many businesses saw hiring freezes and a greater use of contractors in lieu of permanent hiring. Overall numbers were somewhat below the hopeful forecasts recruitment businesses of all sizes projected.
In 2025 recruitment businesses saw balanced growth. Many companies spent 2025 refining how they hire, as much as when.
The result was a more intentional split between permanent and contract hiring. Permanent roles retained importance for long‑term capability, while contract hiring continued to surge, and help businesses tactically manage risk and labour costs, bringing greater flexibility and agility.
For recruitment agencies, this made performance less about volume and more about efficiency, conversion and revenue quality.
The age of the recruiter who can develop business is here. Truthfully, it’s been here for some time.
The post-pandemic struggle to find recruiters who can unearth, win and maximise new clients is still giving many in recruitment leadership a headache.
Of course, as ever, what worked last year doesn’t necessarily work this year. Yet reliable data can certainly help.
So hopefully this report will do just that.
In this year’s State of Recruitment report, we analyse jobs added, placements and booked revenue across small, mid‑sized, large and enterprise businesses, split by permanent and contract hiring.
This report is based on real performance data from over 280 agencies worldwide, and is designed to help you benchmark accurately and plan confidently for the year ahead.
Let’s dive in.
2025 Trends: Small Agencies (1–9 Consultants)
Jobs Added
Across 2025, small agencies added an average of 19 permanent jobs per month, compared to 11 contract roles. Which shows, despite the rise in contract hiring, permanent still holds the keys to the city for smaller agencies.
Permanent hiring remained the dominant focus throughout the year, with a notable spike in October (30 perm roles added per agency) suggesting a renewed push ahead of year‑end.
Contract job volumes, by contrast, remained relatively steady month‑to‑month, but rising as the year progressed, showing a generally improving market.
This consistency suggests an underlying, reliable demand for flexible resources, and a particularly valuable resource for smaller agencies managing cash flow and delivery capacity.
Placements
Small agencies averaged 7 permanent placements and 12 contract placements per month in 2025.
Despite fewer contract jobs being added than permanent roles, contract placements consistently outperformed perm placements, resulting in a much higher fill rate of 111%, compared to just 37% for permanent roles.
This nicely highlights how contract hiring can mean making multiple placements per role added to a database for official figures.
Whereas permanent hiring remains more selective, which is shown in the data.
Overall, contract placements remained steady across 2025, despite jobs added increasing. On the permanent side, you can see the line rise as the year progressed, showing the market continuing to react positively to steadily increasing economic confidence.
Revenue Booked
You’d think revenue booked and placements would follow a consistent pattern between the two, as the direct link between both metrics is inherent.
That said, you can clearly see contract revenue nicely rising toward the end of the year, showing against placements remaining flat.
Average monthly revenue was higher and more stable for permanent placements ($51k) than for contract placements ($35k).
However, contract revenue did show sharper peaks across the year, most notably in November, when contract revenue ($55.1k) briefly overtook permanent revenue.
This reinforces a familiar theme for small agencies, showing contract hiring can generate rapid revenue uplifts, but permanent roles provide greater predictability, even in an unpredictable market.
Key Takeaways
- Permanent hiring remains the backbone of small agency strategy, but contract placements deliver superior efficiency.
- Contract fill rates significantly outperform perm, making contract roles a powerful option for productivity in recruitment businesses.
- Perm revenue offers far greater stability, while contract revenue offers greater upside, especially when you consider shorter time to fill.
- The strongest small agencies balance both well.
"This data reinforces something we’ve seen repeatedly across TRN last year. Contract hiring has become a risk-management tool for clients, particularly in uncertain conditions. It provides flexibility and speed, but it is rarely a long-term workforce strategy.
Recruitment agencies should see contract as a stabiliser for cashflow and delivery, not a replacement for a strong permanent proposition. However, permanent recruitment is harder, but more valuable than ever. The contrast in fill rates here is telling.
Permanent recruitment is clearly more selective and more competitive, but that doesn’t make it less valuable. In fact, it reinforces the opposite. Perm placements require better qualification, stronger relationships and more credibility. That difficulty is precisely why they protect margin and differentiate agencies.
Overall, the smaller agencies don’t win by trying to behave like the bigger ones. More and more have we seen smaller agencies be true to what they really are, but still look to punch well above their weight!
What this data shows is that predictable perm revenue combined with efficient contract delivery is a powerful model at this size. Focus, specialism, consistency and discipline matter far more than scale in the early stages of growth."
- James Osborne, Chairman and CGO @ The Recruitment Network
2025 Trends: Mid-sized Agencies (10–49 Consultants)
Jobs Added
Mid-sized agencies added an average of 46 permanent jobs and 43 contract jobs per month, giving a near‑perfect balance across both functions. But it doesn’t take a data analyst to see the trend across the year.
Perm roles in particular finished 2025 at nearly half of the volume shown at the start of the year.
Contract roles also declined in overall number over the course of the year, and while they stayed close in variance to permanent roles, that difference became far closer towards December.
This might represent a structural shift away from the perm‑heavy approach seen in smaller firms. Or perhaps simply mirrors the market in companies looking for more temporary hires.
Interestingly, anyone suggesting August is “just another month” might want to look away now, as the very obvious dip in jobs added for that month is clear.
Hiring activity remained consistent across the rest of the year however, with only mild slowdowns in August and December, almost certainly reflecting seasonal patterns rather than structural weakness.
Placements
In conjunction with the graph above jobs added, this is perhaps one of the most interesting data points we have for mid-sized agencies.
As you can see, placements were skewed heavily in favour of contract roles, with agencies averaging 40 contract placements per month versus 10 permanent placements.
It’s interesting that while permanent jobs added in particular dipped in volume as the year progressed, placements stayed strong throughout the course of 2025.
Contract placements proved more volatile, peaking strongly in Q4, showing a stronger link to jobs added. Permanent placements, while lower in volume, remained notably consistent, indicating dependable delivery even during quieter periods.
Does the difference between the two show recruiters unable to match demand fluctuation? Or is demand itself the issue? Do clients show a lack of commitment? Or are there overly optimistic tendencies in determining what a ‘job added’ constitutes in reality?
Those are probably questions for you and your agency, but the volume of this study draws some interesting perspectives to consider.
Revenue Booked
Permanent revenue averaged $126k per month in 2025, while contract revenue edged slightly higher at $131k.
While perm revenue remained tightly clustered month‑to‑month, showing a strong link to data from jobs added and placements, contract revenue showed dramatic spikes in May and October.
Contract placements rising in September after the August lull, may have been the catalyst for the huge spike in revenue we see above.
But it’s interesting to see. While average revenue across both permanent and contract teams start and end on similar values, the path each takes to get there couldn’t be more different, probably representing seasonal fluctuation.
Key Takeaways
- Mid-sized agencies are operating with a genuinely blended perm/contract model.
- Contract placements drive volume and upside, while perm revenue creates stability.
- Agencies that actively manage contract volatility can outperform those that rely on it passively.
"Mid-sized agencies are at a strategic crossroads, we think.
At one end of the scale, some mid-sized agencies are in a bit of a danger zone where complexity increases but structure often lags behind. This is why so many mid-size agency owners have felt the strain last year of maintaining and growing their agencies.
This however is where the real opportunity sits for smart mid-size agencies looking to take market share right now.
The decline in jobs added, particularly on the perm side, suggests that accidental growth (often caused by a market spike or specific client demand) is no longer sustainable. At this stage, agencies must decide what they want to be known for and build for that deliberately. Better business. Better clients. Better profitability.
Similarly, the revenue spikes in contract are not inherently a problem, but unmanaged volatility is.
Agencies that understand their contract cycle and plan around it can outperform those that simply ride the highs and lows. Measuring lifetime values of candidates as much as clients, and having a clear strategy to develop both, is critical here."
- James Osborne, Chairman and CGO @ The Recruitment Network
2025 Trends: Large Agencies (50–99 Consultants)
Jobs Added
Mid‑sized agencies added an average of 90 permanent jobs and 82 contract jobs per month, with figures showing a greater drop off across the year than mid-sized agencies.
Permanent hiring volumes softened as the year progressed, while contract hiring remained comparatively resilient, perhaps suggesting clients leaned on flexibility even as confidence returned.
Contract volumes actually surpassed permanent by the end of the year, after a hefty hill to climb in January.
Interesting once again that August numbers for both dipped, showing seasonal fluctuation.
Placements
Contract placements dominated output for large agencies in 2025, averaging 179 per month, compared to a dramatically lower 25 permanent placements.
The seasonal dip in this graph is far greater than the lower jobs from above. And interestingly, permanent placements remained steady, despite there being continuously fewer to work on.
Despite there being fewer contract jobs added than permanent, the contract fill rate reached 218%, demonstrating the power of scalable contract delivery models at this size of agency.
It’s more than likely the increased financial weight of businesses of this size greatly aids their ability to make more contract placements.
Revenue Booked
Contract revenue averaged $273k per month across 2025 for large agencies, exceeding average permanent revenue ($268k).
However, perm placements delivered far higher value per hire ($11.8k vs $1.9k for contract), reinforcing the importance of maintaining a strong permanent desk alongside high‑volume contract operations.
You could argue, the rise in revenue for permanent hires towards the end of the year, against the backdrop of placements staying the same, shows higher seniority being prioritised in hiring.
Or, perhaps more likely, clients simply offering higher salaries to keep up with the rising cost of living.
Key Takeaways
- Contract hiring is the primary growth engine for large agencies.
- Meanwhile, permanent placements remain critical for margin quality and profit maximization.
- Agencies that optimize both volume and value outperform those chasing scale alone.
- Larger, financially more successful agencies benefit from greater contractor numbers.
"The reality is that many of the large agencies are winning based on their operating leverage.
Larger agencies benefit from far greater funding capability and delivery infrastructure than the other size agencies in the report, so the scale of contract placements at this level is no accident.
The data highlights that volume only becomes a strategic advantage when the operating model is built to support it. Without that, scale quickly becomes fragile as we saw with a number of businesses who have been unable to manage the scale of their contract growth.
However, despite contract driving the volume behind these numbers, it is the permanent placements that have continued to do the heavy lifting when it comes to margin.
The rise in perm revenue towards the end of the year, without an increase in placement numbers, suggests higher-value roles and more senior hiring. We would suggest this is a blend of market shift, something we refer to in our Pinnacle programme, and businesses looking to strategically protect margin better, working on better roles and build more embedded relationships with their clients mid 2025."
- James Osborne, Chairman and CGO @ The Recruitment Network
2025 Trends: Enterprise Agencies (100+ Consultants)
Jobs Added
Enterprise agencies added 249 permanent jobs and 518 contract jobs per month on average.
Contract hiring dominated activity, particularly in the second half of the year, possibly reflecting enterprise agencies’ clients’ preference for flexible workforce models at scale.
The gradual rise of contract roles is obvious from the graph, while permanent numbers stayed steady, with a gradual dip.
Placements
No major surprises in the placement data for Enterprise Agencies, which averaged 216 contract placements and 59 permanent placements per month, following closely on the jobs added data from above.
While contract volume remained high, fill rates were lower than mid‑sized agencies (42%), possibly suggesting operational complexity increases significantly at scale.
Is it likely Enterprise Agencies are more likely to follow different styles of recruiting to those down the chain? Do Account Management teams come into the conversation?
Is it perhaps harder to build relationships with clients in Enterprise Agencies, impacting success rates for turning jobs added into placements?
It could of course just be an anomaly, but the data only tells one story.
Revenue Booked
Permanent revenue averaged $880k per month, comfortably exceeding contract revenue ($646k).
Despite lower volumes, permanent placements delivered the highest revenue per placement ($14.9k), underscoring their strategic importance even within contract‑heavy models.
Oddly, June shows the highest perm revenue of any point across the year, and perm as a whole takes over contract by December, despite contract enjoying a head start in January.
Key Takeaways
- Scale favours contract volume, but profit still favours permanent hiring.
- Operational efficiency may become a differentiator at enterprise level.
- The strongest enterprise agencies optimize both perm and contract extremely well.
"The lower fill rates reported across the enterprise level are a reminder that with scale comes more layers, more stakeholders and often diluted ownership which can all impact delivery.
This was reiterated for me when I was invited by a large global enterprise business last year to help evolve what was a very fractious and inefficient account management workflow.
The challenge for enterprise agencies is not demand, but in many cases operational efficiency and accountability which ultimately effects profitability and conversion.
As with all the businesses in this report, even in contract-heavy enterprise models, permanent hiring remains strategically critical. Fewer perm placements deliver disproportionately higher revenue, reinforcing their role in profitability and long-term client value, especially where the agency has clearly implemented a land and expand strategy, such as TRN’s Operation Goldmine framework.
The reality is that scale doesn’t remove the need for perm, but actually makes it more important in many cases."
- James Osborne, Chairman and CGO @ The Recruitment Network
Recruitment Trends by Agency Size
Jobs Added
Looking at the graph above, there’s a clear rise in contract jobs as the size of the agency increases. It’s hard not to assume this is due to the capability of larger recruitment agencies to handle more freelance payments.
Greater structure, financial prowess and branding capabilities might also enable enterprise agencies to be more strategic in working with larger clients, and ensuring they’re ahead of large projects on the horizon.
"One of the most interesting insights in OneUp’s report is how similar revenue mix becomes, regardless of agency size.
Yes, the enterprise agencies sway more towards contract than the others, and the smaller agencies are still more perm heavy, but whilst the routes to getting there differs, most agencies settle around a broadly even split between perm and contract.
This tells me that the debate shouldn’t be perm versus contract in this type of market, but how well both are executed together and how one can feed the other."
- James Osborne, Chairman and CGO @ The Recruitment Network
Placements
This graph shows far greater assimilation between agency sizes for placement numbers across the range.
Interestingly, it would appear contract recruitment teams at smaller agencies are more likely to fill contract placements than they are permanent, given the variance between the two data sets above.
In Small, Mid-sized and Large agency data, contract placements far outweigh permanent, despite the amount of jobs added showing the opposite opportunity.
Revenue Booked
There’s a much more stable story on show here as revenue booked across agency size is nicely split down the middle, or certainly very close.
There’s also very little variance between Enterprise, Large, Mid-sized and Small agencies, showing that no matter the size of your business, a 45/55 split is the norm.
Booked Revenue per Placement
As we discussed in the previous section above, despite contract placements dominating the field across agency size, this is in stark contrast to revenue per placement.
There’s just more bang for your buck in permanent recruitment.
Of course, permanent roles, typically, take far longer to fill than contract roles. There’s normally multiple interview stages and drawn out processes.
But even when permanent ‘jobs on’ dwindle, there’s value to be had in prioritising a strong permanent desk with a focus on consistent, high quality delivery.
Especially for those who can win exclusive and retained work, as this obviously projects the fee more than a contingent process. And despite a lengthier time to fill increases the chances of higher revenue for the business over 12 months.
Monthly Booked Revenue by size
This graph shows a continuation of the graphs above in analysing contract vs perm revenue by agency size. Only mid-sized and large agencies have contract business which eclipses that of permanent.
For small and enterprise agencies permanent recruitment is far greater than contract, nearing 30% more.
This is interesting as contract roles are far more frequent across the board, and in theory, far easier to fill than permanent roles.
They have quicker timeframes, fewer interview stages and no immediate cost to the hiring business.
Clients also don’t have the same risk in hiring a contractor so are perhaps more trigger happy in hiring versus permanent roles, which have further-reaching ramifications for the company.
Permanent roles are far fewer in number, with a lower fill rate, but still bring in healthy revenue for recruitment businesses, regardless of size.
2025 Cross‑Agency TL;DR
- Contract placements increase exponentially with agency size, while permanent placements scale more gradually.
- Permanent revenue per placement rises consistently as agencies grow in size.
- Contract revenue per placement declines at scale, reflecting volume‑driven pricing models.
This explains why large agencies can place hundreds of contractors per month yet still rely on permanent hiring for margin protection.
Recruitment Benchmarks by Agency Size
Small agencies: contract vs. perm
Mid-sized agencies: contract vs. perm
Large agencies: contract vs. perm
Enterprise agencies: contract vs. perm
The most notable insight here is that large agencies make double the placements for every contract job added.
On the face of it, this obviously doesn’t make sense, unless clients take multiple hires for each role given to the agency, which happens far more in contract recruitment than permanent.
Regardless of size, permanent placements are worth far more than contract, though the ratio for average number of jobs added per placement is 4:1.
How do the numbers look compared to last year’s report?
Interestingly, placement values have gone down for small agencies (1-9 consultants) for both contract & perm.
Enterprise agencies took a small hit on perm placement values, but contract placements are now worth nearly double in booked revenue.
Mid-sized agencies have fared the best in terms of placement values as both perm & contract placements are worth more on average in booked revenue.
Yet large agencies have held steady in perm placement value, whereas contract placements seem to be worth nearly half of their total revenue.
In terms of success rate, the number of jobs needed to fill a perm placement have risen across the board. Is this the job-led market maturing, or simply saturation of the market as more agencies compete for live jobs?
These are questions for you and your agency in particular, and must take into account the specific industry operated, yet the data can tell you a lot about the state of the recruitment industry as a whole.
2026 Predictions
The message from the data is clear: 2025 is not about doing more, but better.
Agencies investing in automation, AI‑enabled CRM, and performance intelligence are converting faster, filling more efficiently and protecting margins.
As AI reduces admin and noise, human skill, consultant credibility, BD capability and relationship depth may become the differentiator for recruiters and agencies.
Those agencies that can protect permanent placement success, while propping up the business with regular contract roles are likely to see maintained progress.
The most successful through the remainder of 2026 will be agencies that:
- Use data to guide hiring mix decisions
- Balance contract scale with perm profitability
- Treat technology as leverage, not replacement
"Looking ahead, it is clear that the future recruiter of tomorrow is far more commercial, than they are just operational.
We refer to this as being a blend of both future fit and future relevant, in a market that is screaming out for more productivity (think net contribution pay out rates of your recruiters) and more applicability (think about the services and solutions we are offering as a casing point) than ever before.
The data supports what many leaders already feel instinctively and have been talking about all through 2025. Technology is creating an opportunity to drive up the productivity, efficiency, performance and therefore profitability of our recruiters, not replacing them.
This is as much about reducing admin and the distractions that prevent are recruiters doing the things that really matter, and more about freeing up our recruiters to do their best work. We have great people in our businesses – we just need to help them be even more productive than ever before.
The differentiator moving forward will be those commercial skills – building real market credibility and the ability to win and penetrate deeper with better clients.
I suppose this is nothing really new here, just accentuated by the evolution of the world of work, when the data suggest that those agencies that invest in their BD capability, their data literacy / technology stack and build real relationship depth with their markets will be the ones that continue to outperform the rest of the market in 2026."
- James Osborne, Chairman and CGO @ The Recruitment Network
Here are some quotes from industry experts with their thoughts on where the industry will be headed for the remainder of the year.
"Recruiters will 'future proof' by going deeper with smaller networks. They'll become the go-to for a highly specialised field, and will be expected to know who the A-players are, and what they care about. AI looks after high-effort/low-impact tasks, and allow time for 'human skills' to become a sector expert/consultant. "
- Cameron Briggs, CEO @ Vente AI
"AI and automation will significantly shape recruitment in 2026, not by replacing recruiters, but by changing where they add value. Agencies that use automation to remove friction and reduce administrative burden will free consultants to focus on what technology cannot replace: relationships, judgement, and trust. AI will also deliver faster, more efficient sourcing and hiring processes, leading to improved outcomes and increased placements."
- Debra Bruce, Managing Director @ Texo Recruitment
"In 2026, engineering and technology recruitment will stop being a race for résumés and become a race for relevance. The winners won’t be the agencies that scale the fastest, but the ones that think the smartest, those that blend AI precision with human intuition to create meaningful talent outcomes.
Across the industry, the best recruitment organisations will hire for skills over pedigree, match and nurture talent, and focus on long‑term value rather than short‑term placements.
This is the year recruitment evolves from a service into an ecosystem, one where relationships, data, and continuous engagement matter more than transactions. Recruiters must shift from managing processes to managing communities, building connected networks that sustain talent pipelines over time."
- Adam Walker, Director @ Redline Group
"By 2026, competitive advantage in recruitment will be defined less by technology alone and more by the depth of client relationships combined with truly global integrated, multi-strategy talent solutions.
As AI and skills-based hiring become standard, clients will no longer differentiate recruiters on access to tools or size of databases. Instead, value will shift toward partners who deeply understand a client’s business model, workforce risks, growth ambitions, and regional nuances. Transactional recruitment will continue to decline, replaced by long-term advisory relationships where recruiters act as extensions of internal talent teams.
Globalisation will further reshape the market. Clients will increasingly expect recruiters to deliver borderless solutions—blending permanent, contract, project-based, nearshore, and offshore talent models. Firms with siloed, single-market approaches will struggle, while those offering coordinated global delivery and local market insight will scale faster and retain clients longer.
At the same time, no single recruitment strategy will dominate. The most successful firms will deploy multiple strategic approaches simultaneously: direct hiring, talent pooling, internal mobility consulting, workforce planning, employer branding, and managed services. The ability to flex between these models—often within the same client engagement—will be critical.
Ultimately, 2026 will reward recruitment businesses that have moved beyond “filling roles” to become trusted workforce partners—combining global reach, strategic agility, and deep client trust to solve complex, evolving talent challenges."
- Denis Spearman, Managing Director @ Danos Group
"'Adoption' of AI will continue to be a contradiction. Outside of core time saving tasks, like formatting CVs automatically, recruitment businesses will spend too much time trying, testing, and messing about with AI. The ROI won’t exist. And, what’s worse, errors made will outweigh time saved - in an almost impossible way to determine."
- Kieron Mayers, Head of Marketing @ Paiger
"AI won’t replace recruiters but it will make it obvious who’s actually good at the job.
By the end of 2026, AI and automation will be part of everyday recruitment. Sourcing candidates, screening CVs, booking interviews, updating CRMs and pulling market data will be quicker and far less manual than it is today. That doesn’t make recruiters redundant but it does remove the safety net that activity and process used to provide.
When technology takes care of the basics, performance won’t be judged on how busy someone looks, how many calls they make or how many CVs they send out. It will come down to the quality of their thinking, the conversations they have and the decisions they make. Recruiters who really understand their market, can challenge hiring managers when needed and confidently guide candidates through the process, will stand out very quickly.
AI will level the playing field. Most recruiters will have access to the same tools, data and automation. The difference will be in how well they use it. Those who can interpret the information, spot what actually matters and turn it into action will pull ahead. Those who rely on scripts, volume or outdated sales tactics will find it harder to justify their value when systems can already do that work faster and more consistently.
If anything, recruitment will become more about people, not less. Listening properly, influencing decisions, managing expectations and building trust will matter more than ever.
The best recruiters will spend less time on admin and more time doing what technology can’t: consulting, problem solving and building long term mutually beneficial relationships.
In 2026, success in recruitment won’t be about working harder. It will be about thinking better, communicating clearly and adding value in ways automation simply can’t."- Paul Eaton, Talent & Operations Director @ Navartis
"2026 will be the year recruitment agencies finally realise that AI isn't magic - it's a multiplier. And if you're multiplying bad data, you're just accelerating failure.
The agencies that thrive won't be those with the flashiest AI tools. They'll be the ones who did the unglamorous groundwork first: cleaning their databases, standardising their processes and actually understanding what's in their CRM before bolting AI onto it.
My prediction? By the end of 2026, the gap between data-mature agencies and the rest will be impossible to ignore. The winners won't be the ones who adopted AI fastest. They'll be the ones who were ready for it."
- Kamal Ladwa, Founder @ Syun Consulting
"In my view, recruitment in 2026 will finally stop pretending it is a people business first and admit what it really is: a decision-science business with a human consequence. The firms that survive will not be the loudest, the biggest, or the most “AI-enabled” on their websites. They will be the ones that understand judgement, risk, and accountability better than anyone else in the room.
Technology will be table stakes, not a differentiator. AI will handle sourcing, screening, scheduling, and large parts of assessment at a speed and accuracy humans simply cannot match. That will not eliminate recruiters, but it will ruthlessly eliminate average ones. The value of a recruiter in 2026 will not be access to talent, but the ability to interpret data, challenge hiring managers, and make defensible calls in complex, high-stakes environments.
Clients will demand outcomes, not activity. Time-to-fill and CV volume will matter less than quality of hire, retention, and workforce impact. Procurement-led buying will continue, but procurement itself will hopefully evolve. Cost will still matter, but poor hiring decisions will be recognised as the most expensive risk on the balance sheet.
The divide between transactional staffing and strategic workforce solutions will widen dramatically. Recruitment businesses that fail to specialise will struggle. Those that understand sectors deeply, integrate workforce planning with commercial strategy, and can operate across permanent, contingent, and project-based models will win.
Finally, credibility will replace charisma. The recruiter of 2026 will need to speak the language of CEOs, CFOs, and Boards, not just candidates. Recruitment will grow up, or it will be automated out. There will be no middle ground. In short, 2026 will not reward recruiters who work harder. It will reward those who think better."
- Georgina Barrick, Head of Sales & Marketing @ Resourgenix Limited
"The recruitment industry has been through multiple transitions. All we need are 3 things 1) a marginal improvement in confidence for companies to start hiring 2) confidence for natural attrition through people changing jobs 3) a stable economic policy backdrop.
In the absence of this... stick to this focus on "controlling the controllables""
- Kalpesh Baxi, Board Advisor/Chief Connector @ Baxfield
"I think that while more agencies and clients will lean on AI for automation, the real edge will belong to the people who still write their own emails, messages, and marketing copy.
Right now, so much content feels interchangeable. You can spot it instantly, same phrases, same tone, same structure. It all reads like it came from the same place.
The people who will actually stand out, get real engagement, and get replies from clients will be the ones who still sound like themselves. The ones who use automation for the boring, repetitive stuff, but still put time into being human."
- Josh Kelly, Director @ HartleyCo
Methodology
This report is based on performance data from 286 recruitment agencies between 01 Jan 2025 and 31 Dec 2025.
Financial figures have been normalised to USD using monthly average exchange rates.
Outliers exceeding three standard deviations were excluded.
Thanks for reading and we hope you enjoyed this content!
If you’d like help turning insight into execution or building a sales operation powered by real performance data, get in touch with the OneUp team.
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