Recruiting Market Report - October 2024

​Find out what we are hearing from candidates and clients and get our predictions for the future of the hiring market in the September 2024 edition of The ASP Team Market Report:

Quinn Finnigan - Recruiting Services Leader

Joss Stokke - Recruiting Practice Leader

What are we hearing from candidates?
"How far away is the company?" Location, location, location. Everyone will forever remember circa 2020-2022 - the Covid-induced period where everyone was trying to figure out remote/hybrid/in-office work situations. The uncertainty around this issue in hiring has greatly settled down the last couple of years, until recently (esp. in the greater Seattle area). Amazon will begin enforcing it's 100% RTO mandate 1/1/2025. Starbucks just warned employees they're serious about their 2-year old order. Even the City of Seattle's ~14,000 employees will be required to work in-office at least 3 days/week beginning in November. All that leads to much more anticipated traffic on the roadways and candidates giving extra thought to commuting to an office for a new job that maybe they would have made with clearer roads the last 4 years.

What are we hearing from clients?
"We're waiting." September and October historically are months where companies lean heavily into hiring in Accounting & Finance. Summer vacations are over and kids are back in school, so many department leaders can focus time and energy on interviewing. Plus, many feel the urgency to fill important roles before the holiday season begins (typically mid-November at the latest) when energy gets shifted to budgeting/planning and year-end close. Many conversations we've had over the last two months with business owners and CFOs have concluded with identifying the need/opening, but waiting to act on it. In any other environment this may be more troubling, but as I discuss below, this feels like much more of a 'kick the can' response than a referendum on the state of the hiring market.

What am I feeling about the hiring market?
Really hopeful for a strong 2025 - it's been an up and down year in the full-time hiring space. Many global and national staffing firms recently reported decreased hiring volume in their Q3 earnings releases, which normally would be a concerning sign for the months to come. However, I am very hopeful that the broader hiring market will pick up as a symptom of companies spending and leaning into growth activities. Here are a few reasons why: October private sector job adds were hugely positive (even though total job adds were not), the economy grew 2.8% annualized rate in Q3, the unemployment rate remains low at 4.1%, inflation has leveled off dramatically, and probably most importantly the Fed cut the Federal Funds Rate 1/2% cut on 9/18. There are some rather large and significant world events happening concurrently that likely have caused hesitancy to act on recent good economic news, but I expect things to pick up post-election and am excited for 2025.

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ASP Hiring Statistics - 2024
37 - Days to Place (avg.)
$156,596 - Avg. Placed Controller Salary
30% - Percent of Diversity Hires
95% - Percent of time we get interviews for our clients

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Recent Placements
Director of Finance - Retail - Bothell
Controller - Construction - Auburn
Accountant - Nonprofit - Portland

View Our Current Openings

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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

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

Episode 6 - Lessons from The Trenches