Hiring in 2026 — what changed and what didn’t.

We surveyed 84 of our active clients in March and ran the numbers across 220 placements we made in 2025. Eight findings stood out. None are surprising on their own; the picture taken together is.

1. The senior market tightened.

Time-to-hire for VP-level + CXO roles has stretched from a 2024 median of 9 weeks to a 2025 median of 11. Counter-offers happened on 38% of senior placements (up from 26%). The capable senior pool isn’t leaving their seats unless something genuinely better is on the table.

2. The mid-level market didn’t.

Director-and-below time-to-hire stayed flat at 6–7 weeks. Counter-offers held around 19%. The stories you read about layoffs are real, but they don’t change the operating reality at this level: the talent that’s out there is fairly priced and moves at a normal cadence.

3. Comp inflation cooled, then split.

Cash-comp inflation across our placements averaged 3.8% in 2025 (down from 6.4% in 2024). But: equity packages at Series-B + private companies grew 14% YoY at the senior level, mostly because companies competed harder for the small senior pool with refresh grants instead of base.

4. Diverse slates work — when they’re built right.

Searches we ran with diverse-by-default shortlists had identical median time-to-hire to non-diverse shortlists. They had higher 24-month retention (94% vs 89%). Diversity sourcing is not a tax on speed; it’s a tax on lazy sourcing.

5. Remote-first held; hybrid won the new role openings.

71% of new senior roles we briefed in 2025 were hybrid. Pure-remote roles dropped from 28% (2024) to 19% (2025). Pure-in-office roles stayed flat at 10%. Hybrid is the operating default now, even at companies that publicly say they’re “remote-first.”

6. AI is in every brief — and almost no role.

83% of our 2025 briefs mentioned AI somewhere. 6% of placements were for AI-specific roles. Most companies want existing leaders who understand AI, not new AI-leadership headcount. Calibrate your AI ask accordingly.

7. Onboarding stalls killed more searches than offer rejections.

Of the 12 searches we re-ran in 2025, 8 of them were because the placed candidate left within 6 months. Of those 8, 6 cited unclear scope or unmet expectations on what the role actually was. Better briefs would’ve caught most of these. We’re tightening our briefing-stage diligence.

8. The companies winning are the ones that brief well.

The single biggest predictor of successful placement in our data is the quality of the briefing document. Companies that come in with a clear scorecard, owned by a single decision-maker, hire faster + retain better. The ones that don’t pay for it in cycle time. We’ll keep publishing scorecard templates.

What we’re telling clients to do

• For senior roles: assume 11 weeks, budget for counter-offers, prioritise the briefing document.
• For mid-level: business as usual; don’t panic-hire on the basis of senior-market signals.
• For comp: shift weight to refresh grants + meaningful equity at the senior level; cash inflation is calmer.
• For onboarding: the search isn’t over at signature. Plan the first 90 days; we’ll help.