Recruiting Market Report - June 2026

​Find out what we are hearing from candidates and clients and get our predictions for the future of the hiring market in the June 2026 edition of The ASP Team Market Report:

Quinn Finnigan - Recruiting Services Leader

Joss Stokke - Recruiting Services Leader

​What are we hearing from candidates?
"I'm very eager and excited."
I've spent the last month talking with a lot of candidates — and a lot of soccer fans. The two groups have more in common than you'd think: both are running on genuine excitement, and both share the same defining trait — a willingness to engage. Whether fans made the trip into the stadium or just showed up downtown for the atmosphere, they chose to spend the time and energy to be part of it, and the payoff was real positive energy. I'm seeing the same with candidates — the ones who engage come to our conversations genuinely excited, eager to hear about opportunities and talk through what they want next. It's easy to look at either from the outside and talk yourself out of it — too expensive, too crowded, not enough jobs, too many layoffs. But the people leaning in are having a different experience. Lean in. Embrace the moment.

What are we hearing from clients?
"I'm ready for the rush, I think."
Our active clients are excited and prepared for a rush of candidates, much like many restaurant and bar owners are for the deluge of fans attending the soccer tournament. I talked to a bar owner before a 12pm match last month who slept upstairs in his bar after a particularly rowdy night of fans who partied late into the night. Groggy and still cleaning up from the night before, at 10am he had a smile on his face and was happy to meet the next wave of fans; ready to do it again. This is the same sentiment I'm feeling from my clients; eager to see candidates who want to interview, ready to fit interviews into their busy schedules. Not every restaurant or bar is seeing heavy traffic this World Cup, but like companies that are actively hiring, if they're open and prepared, they will benefit from the situation.
  
What are we feeling about the market?
An Underwhelming Showing
Job market performance last month mirrored how the United States' Men's Soccer team performed in their knockout game against Belgium: very underwhelming. Anyone who's followed any of the USMNT's high-profile matches of the past 20 years can tell you that when the bright lights are on, we whittle under the pressure. After a strong month of job creation in May, everyone was hoping we'd continue on that trend. However, June's BLS Jobs Report was very underwhelming. Job additions were low, and while unemployment ticked down slightly, that number is misleading as there are still few openings to pursue -- "Hiring levels are nearly where they were 11 years ago, when the labor force was nearly 13 million people fewer than it is today." However, like our soccer team, there is a positive spin when you zoom out. The USMNT won their group and advanced to the round of 16 - overall a positive result. On the hiring side, it's true this is the fourth consecutive monthly increase in jobs, an impressive turnaround from the slowdown from 2025. There's enough here on both sides to remain optimistic in the long run.

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ASP Hiring Statistics
44 - Average Days to Place
$162,000 - Average Placed Controller Salary
27% - Percent of Diversity Hires
97% - Percent of time we get interviews for our clients

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Controller – Wholesale – Portland, OR
Controller - Manufacturing – Kent, WA 
Senior Accounting Manager – Manufacturing – Bellevue, WA

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