Recruiting market Report - February 2025

​​Find out what we are hearing from candidates and clients and get our predictions for the future of the hiring market in the February 2025 edition of The ASP Team Market Report:

Quinn Finnigan - Recruiting Services Leader

Joss Stokke - Recruiting Services Leader

What are we hearing from candidates?
"It seems to be taking a lot longer to find a new position." Candidates are saying they aren’t hearing about very many opportunities and finding a job is taking longer with a more drawn-out process than before. People seem hesitant to leave their jobs as there is uncertainty about the economy. Contributing to this lack of confidence is the Department of Government Efficiency’s cutting of the federal workforce, spending freezes, and tariff plans. This has left some candidates sitting on their hands when it comes to making a change.

What are we hearing from clients?
"We want the perfect candidate." There seems to be hiring hesitancy among employers. As a result, they are being very particular. It could be that they aren’t in a major hurry to hire as they assess the economic climate ahead. We’ve heard instances where business owners and leaders are needing to spend their time reacting to certain external factors that are fast-changing leaving them little time to spend in operations and even less on hiring decisions. Others are delaying the hiring process in an attempt to be as economical as possible as they try to figure out other solutions versus making the hire.

What am I feeling about the market?
Frozen – temporarily? -  Both companies and candidates seem to have opted to take a little pause due to high uncertainty. The Atlantic’s recent article “The Job Market is Frozen” asks what’s going on as unemployment is low (February's rate is 4.1%), but workers aren’t quitting and businesses aren’t hiring. A key takeaway is that six months ago businesses hoped that early 2025 would see the labor market improving with inflation defeated and the election decided. Instead, the early weeks of the new administration has created uncertainty about tariffs and trade wars, moved inflation and bond yields higher, and cut federal programs. All of this is causing the hiring market to continue to be frozen. It seems that some of these initiatives may be dialed back like tariffs and DOGE’s cutting of federal workers. We will have to wait and see – hopefully, this will be just a temporary freeze.  

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ASP Hiring Statistics - 2025
40 - Days to Place (avg.)
$152,441 - Avg. Placed Controller Salary
32% - Percent of Diversity Hires
91% - Percent of time we get interviews for our clients

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Recent Placements
VP Finance - Healthcare - Metro Portland, OR 
Director of Finance - Manufacturing - Bothell, WA
Assistant Controller - Nonprofit - Remote

View Our Current Openings

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Hiring Smarter with The ASP Team
Check out the latest episode of our accounting and finance recruiting podcast!

How to Start Your Job Search as a Candidate

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Top Candidates
Take a look at some examples of accounting and finance candidates we are working with currently.

View Our Top Candidates