What’s Trending: Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
February 24, 2026
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This post was originally published in December 2022 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.
As the first two months of 2026 are in the books, companies, candidates, and recruiters should define their course of action for the rest of the year. The ever-evolving labor market has many surprises in store; good thing you’re still in time to prepare and adapt to the workplace and hiring trends for 2026. So dive deep into this article and get ready for what’s coming.
Since 2023, we’ve witnessed speculation of recession and continuous layoffs; while at the start of 2025, the expectation was that the economy and inflation would cool down to more sustainable levels. The truth is that high-profile layoffs continued, although this time it was due to Artificial Intelligence.
However, reality is more complex. According to Gartner, less than 1% of last year’s layoffs were caused by AI boosting productivity without human talent; on top of this, Gartner predicts that during this and next year, half of the companies that let go of talent during the past years due to AI, will rehire staff to cover the same functions but with different job titles.
Similar to last year, the labor market will remain stable; despite some sectors still experiencing labor shortage, employers and hiring specialists can rest easy knowing their best talent won’t walk away as long as they maintain a competitive edge on pay, flexibility, and employee development.
Based on Indeed’s 2026 Jobs and Hiring Trends Report, during this year, job openings will stabilize compared to previous years, and despite the fact that unemployment will peak at 4.5% during the first half of the year, the outlook isn’t too frightening to turn up the alarm.
“The current “low-hire, low-fire” labor market, in which employers are unsettled enough about the economic outlook to punt hiring decisions but not concerned enough to make significant layoffs, is likely to continue.”
Indeed’s 2026 US Jobs & Hiring Trends Report
As you can see, 2026 will be marked by steadiness; GDP growth remains resilient, but with any significant growth, the speculation of economic recession will decrease, and so will the hopes of better hiring rates.
Speaking about the labor market, the last few years will be remembered for their many twists and turns. From employees’ standpoint, the focus on getting more transparent workplaces and healthier work environments led to workforce trends, such as quiet quitting, that reflect their discontent with jobs that don’t care about their well-being.
From the employers’ perspective, their efforts were focused on maximizing recruitment budgets and improving productivity by adopting new technologies, such as artificial intelligence. Despite many workplaces still adapting to the changes the job market has experienced over the past years, 2026 is already on course, and it’s better to be prepared for the ongoing trends.
Although some of these trends have been underway for a while, data and predictions suggest their real effects are yet to be seen. With this in mind, here are the six trends that will shape workplaces and hiring plans during 2026.
After the rise of talent wars in the first two post-pandemic years and the labor market slowdown we’ve experienced since early 2022, hiring demand has fallen in almost every industry since the end of last year.
Of course, there are some sectors with a high Job Posting Index (JPI), civil engineering (154), and personal care and home health (148.4); however, it’s noticeable that while last year started with a JPI 10% higher than pre-pandemic levels (a 100 on average) by October, it went down to less than 2% above the same reference, with media & communications (64.1), and scientific research & development (70.8) being the fields more hit.
On top of this, this year, entry-level positions will also experience some shrinkage; approximately 43% of employers plan to reduce 37% of these roles with AI. While the implications of this shift are highly debatable, it’s expected that a major hiring trend for 2026 is that employers will remain more strategic in filling their open positions, and job seekers may continue to notice fewer postings than in previous years.
Although in the past years, AI set a strong foundation in many industries such as legal and recruitment, and gave the impression that with generative AI, productivity would rise to the skies and improve outcomes, during 2025, the AI workslop and the lack of ROI in many high-stakes tech investments have raised many concerns.
The fact that many specialists shift the narrative of the AI revolution to be more of an AI Bubble is making companies realize that every automated process or task requires human critical thinking. While prompting and Gen-AI can be learned on the job, the attention to detail and analytical approach to identify unreliable data or flawed insights are innate and are becoming hard-to-find skills.
Companies must be careful not to become an AI-first organization, as this approach can harm productivity and lead to losses in meaningful human expertise. While some call for the right balance between human and machine, others point out that the focus should remain on human-centered decision-making.
First, it was the hustle culture, now the 996 work culture, despite the concept, the workforce is still on the lookout for better work conditions. Employee wellness continues to be at the top of the workplace trends for 2026, especially for those companies that seek to increase their retention rate.
Since the pandemic hit, the workforce has made it clear that although payment is a crucial aspect for them, there are other elements related to the work-life balance that matter immensely. Companies betting on this aspect have a clear advantage in retaining high performers or adding top talent to their teams.
Flexible work schemes, childcare support, financial advice, and mental health care are some perks that tip the balance for many candidates. In any case, if you can’t offer any of the above, team building and an environment where they feel empowered to speak up and grow is more than enough to keep your workforce happy.
However, it’s important to point out that this new mindset doesn’t mean talent expects to work less; moreover, instead of chasing busyness, they’re after experimenting with work styles that deliver big outcomes without the risk of burning out.
While the rise of return-to-office mandates happened in 2024, during the last year, the real battle between employers and employees took place; while both parties defended their interests, hybrid work policies became the middle ground for remote-capable roles and companies.
Nevertheless, it seems that with the hybrid creep trend, employers will try again to regain “control” over their workforce, more specifically, of the place where they perform their duties. While on paper, they’re still allowing their employees to work from home a few days a week, through in-office perks or bringing in people who’re willing to work on-site five days a week, they’re making their talent “voluntarily” go back into the office.
On the other hand, employees who are still under the hybrid work norm are experimenting with different methods to get the most out of their time. By the end of last year, microshifting turned out to be an effective workaround to keep outcomes as a priority while they still get the time to dedicate to personal responsibilities; the common denominator now is seeing workers picking their most productive time frames to work, even if they’re out of their “regular” work schedule.
However, the impact of microshifting goes beyond hybrid and remote workers; on-site employees are realizing that the traditional 9-to-5 can eventually fade out. While businesses perceive this as a problem, it could be a workaround for professionals in roles that aren’t remote-friendly but still demand more flexibility. Companies where results matter more than hours will stand out over those that expect and ask more from their workforce without offering more in return.
Between talent shortages and an ever-evolving environment driven by AI and other tech advancements, roles within companies are less rigid in terms of tasks and scope.
While this is no encouragement for employers to overwork their employees, it is a sign that work is becoming more fluid; this means the businesses and workers that will thrive are those that aim to identify and develop necessary skills to achieve outcomes rather than those that focus on job descriptions and specifications.
This means, during 2026, the skills-based approach will not only consolidate as a hiring strategy, but also as an employee development method. By approaching this method, companies will be able to pull up and upskill their teams, as well as plan and execute projects based on their qualifications, ultimately improving agility and performance.
Ever since the pandemic, and more specifically, in the past couple of years, businesses have been betting on strengthening and promoting their organizational culture among their workforce. The goals of many employers with this were to improve productivity and results through performative culture initiatives; however, many employees aren’t exactly on board with their ideas as they perceive some sort of ambiguity in their companies’ culture.
More importantly, with the aggressive adoption of AI and subtle promotion of hard-edged culture, some workers are even distrustful of their employers as they don’t see themselves as a part of the company’s goals and strategies. The effects of this dissonance have been noticeable since last year: a major performance crisis, record-breaking disengagement levels, and decreased employer branding for many businesses.
The key to regaining trust? Transparency, both internal and external. The workforce wants a culture that’s clear and open about their expectations of their people. Of course, workplaces can (and should) be disciplined; however, professionals must know what they’re signing up for from the get-go and if they’re leaders are willing to also build psychological safety and trust to keep performance sustainable.
Not only have workplaces and decision makers been impacted by some of the future work trends of 2026, but they’ll still be experiencing them now, in 2026. Although recruiting practices became more efficient and specific, 2026 hiring trends introduced some recruitment challenges for in-house and third-party recruiters that trickled into 2026 as well.
Most of these trends are set by the workers’ demand and the technological developments involved in the recruitment process. Therefore, it is essential to be aware of any behavior or comments you receive from a candidate’s experience. Here are some of the top recruitment trends for 2025, and how they’ve adapted into the current year.
As AI technologies consolidate in companies’ processes, people analytics and data-driven practices have gained a bigger value throughout the recruitment process. Indeed reports that “87% of talent acquisition decision-makers rely on AI tools for core recruiting tasks.” But what’s interesting enough is that candidates are also beginning to trust AI over traditional recruitment services. It’s up to recruiters and TAs to best utilize tools that optimize their process and enhance the candidate experience to stay ahead of the curve.
A data-driven approach allows companies and hiring managers to make more informed decisions about their workforce and how they build it. In order to optimize time and resources, employers will start measuring candidates’ likelihood, productivity, turnover rate, and other metrics by using predictive tools and talent management tracking platforms.
Since the past couple of years, a company’s DEI initiatives have become relevant, not only as an attractive element of workplace and employer branding but also because, at the end of 2024, there was a fall in DEI jobs compared to the peak of 2023.
With the above scenario in mind, specialists pointed out that 2025 presented an opportunity to set a strong foundation so that in the following years, DEI practices become a standard rather than a requirement in the labor market. Leading 2026 teams, employee-driven cultures are becoming more pronounced, as workers have been echoing desires for trust and psychological safety.
Therefore, talent acquisition executives and recruiters can contribute to building diverse teams, creating spaces for different opinions and ways of thinking, fostering inclusive and supportive work cultures, and meeting the ever-evolving needs of candidates from untapped labor markets.
While Employee Value Proposition has become a powerful element for making your company appealing to the most qualified talent in the market, candidates are more aware that some employers are using captivating EVPs as bait, when in reality they come short of their promises.
Candidates and employees want employers to stand for something, but with integrity. 2026 has ushered in the ever-skeptical professionals, especially among Gen Z, who believe that companies communicate core values that purposefully mislead workers and potential new hires. With social media sources offering candid takes on a company’s culture, practices, and the overall employee experience at x,y, and z companies, business leaders may want to tread carefully on how they want to be perceived and reality.
Having a solid company culture, as well as being consistent and accurate with an organization’s Employee Value Proposition, is essential to draw in more talent, especially to attract high-performers, as they tend to be more self-aware of their value in the market. In addition, being true about what your company or client (in case you’re an external recruiter) can offer and honoring your EVP also increases retention and avoids harming an employer’s branding.
Despite the challenges and ongoing trends, this year still presents an outlook in which businesses and professionals can thrive. Nevertheless, to capitalize on any chances of success, it’s key to be aware of the above and any upcoming workplace and hiring trends in 2026.
Contributed by Luis Arellano
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