In 2025, CEOs have set their sights on driving growth through transformation. At the same time, organizations are struggling with efficiency pressures, sustained talent shortages, and an unpredictable regulatory landscape.

With these pressures mounting, recruiting leaders must design strategies that ensure steady access to key talent, enable functional efficiency and scale, make the most of AI, and enhance hiring manager capabilities. In the context of all these challenges, we’ve identified eight key trends that will influence talent acquisition strategies in 2025.

Trend 1: More Roles Require “Buy, Then Build” Talent Strategies

The labor market is increasingly divided. Hiring has cooled for jobs in fields like marketing and software development. Meanwhile, demand for jobs in healthcare, home care and civil engineering remains well above prepandemic levels. Immigration policies and aging workforces in many countries are only exacerbating talent shortages. To succeed, recruiting leaders must partner with L&D and talent management to reimagine the organization’s talent strategies. Instead of hiring candidates with all the necessary skills, HR functions must prepare to “buy” talent with some of the skills needed, then develop or “build” the remaining skills internally.

‍

Trend 2: Organizations Rescope Early Career Recruiting Programs to Boost ROI

Organizations invest a lot of money in early career recruiting, but often struggle to convert interns and retain graduates. According to Gartner research, fewer recruiting leaders are planning to increase their investment in early career recruiting in 2025 relative to prior years. Progressive recruiting leaders are narrowing the scope of early career programs. They’re redesigning programs to target specific segments where talent the organization needs a stronger talent pipeline to the middle of the organization. They’re also continuously evaluating program impact and strategy alignment to avoid continuing a program for tradition’s sake. Taking a more targeted to early career programs approach boosts ROI and helps differentiate offerings for students.

‍

Read full article here