Recruiting Market Report - May

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

Quinn Finnigan - Recruiting Services Leader

Joss Stokke - Recruiting Services Leader

What are we hearing from candidates?
"What's the market like?"
We're always getting calls from active candidates asking about the market. Lately we've been getting increased numbers of inquiries from passive candidates and a group we don't frequently hear from, people who aren't looking at all. All three groups have been really curious about hiring conditions. "How's the market?" is the question on everyone's mind. Whether they're in need of a new job or just thinking about their long term career prospects, it's clear both broad economic conditions and possibly changes to accounting from the growing effect of AI have people curious about the job market's short and long term prospects.

What are we hearing from clients?
"I'm not finding what I need in the market."
Let's not mince words here, many hiring managers are looking to save on recruiting fees this year by going it alone at the outset of their search. However, we're hearing from a large number of companies who call us days or weeks into their search with a similar sentiment: "I'm not finding the quality of candidates I need on my own." Sometimes these hiring managers have a decent candidate or two in the pipeline, sometimes they have none, but in each case they call looking for help finding a few high-quality candidates to compare and contrast against each other.

What am I feeling about the market?
"Careful resilience"
Two months ago we were feeling "unphased" about general hiring market conditions, but that's shifted away from reacting to uncertainty to dealing with it. Quite a bit in the economy has changed ...or maybe vacillated is the right word (re: tariffs). Jobless claims hit a 6-month high, private hiring is the lowest it's been in 2 years and manufacturing PMI unsurprisingly continues it's contracting for multiple months in a row. Still, overall employment increased by 139,000, remaining fairly steady, and the economy is still expected to grow. Diving into the numbers you'll find expected reasons for all, and drilling further into the PNW hiring scene in accounting and finance, we're seeing resilience in hiring (those who need to hire are doing so) and experiencing carefulness in decision-making (you cannot afford to hire the wrong person).

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ASP Hiring Statistics - 2025
42 - Days to Place (avg.)
$146,875 - Avg. Placed Controller Salary
44% - Percent of Diversity Hires
78% - Percent of time we get interviews for our clients

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Recent Placements
Controller - Services - Tacoma, WA 
Accounting Supervisor - Real Estate - Seattle, WA
Senior Accountant - Nonprofit - Denver

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