Hiring is already picking up again postelection, recruiters say

As any recent job-seeker can tell you, hiring has been sluggish for the better part of the year.

But good news could be on its way: After many organizations seemed to pause their hiring efforts ahead of the U.S. presidential election, recruiters say they're already seeing an upswing of activity that could extend into the new year.

The shift in hiring strategy happens with every general election, says Debra Boggs, founder and CEO of D&S Executive Career Management, but was even more extreme this year given the last-minute changes in the leading nominees, and the tight race between President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

"Now that there is a clear president-elect, we saw the hiring market, especially for the executive-level candidates, open up almost immediately," Boggs tells CNBC Make It.

In the week after the election, four of her clients signed offers for new jobs. Anecdotally, she's seeing more activity in health care and tech.

"Now that the market can be a little bit more predictable, people are willing to make an investment in new talent," Boggs says.

Job-seeking clients are also seeing an uptick in new roles being posted online, recruiter reach-outs and interviewing activity, she adds.

Changes in the C-suite could mean more movement for everyone else

Calls to resume hiring talks also came flooding in for Terry Petzold, managing partner at Fox Search Group, an executive recruiting firm that specializes in tech jobs.

"For instance, one of our top [chief information officer] candidates who is actively on the market received four calls last week, whereas he hadn't gotten any for the last three months," Petzold says.

Hiring is especially active for small- and medium-sized businesses, he add: "They have goals that they want to get finished, and they're thinking within the quarter."

Additionally, "certain sectors are already having aggressive discussions of moving forward," he says, including in oil and gas; manufacturing, transportation and logistics; tech; retail; and consumer packaged goods.

Though Petzold specializes in getting executives hired, he says movement at the C-suite level could mean more hiring across the business.

For instance, businesses tend to pause hiring for a team if they're waiting on making an executive hire. Once a new leader is in place, they could call for new positions on their team, or they may bring in people they've worked with before.

That could open up new opportunities for middle management and other staff. C-suite changes "will either open up opportunities for upward mobility into a promotion, or it will allow people to leave and then go follow their boss to the next place," Petzold says.

What hiring could look like in 2025 and beyond

Boggs says she expects a "strong hiring market" for the remainder of 2024 and into the new year.

"I'm advising my clients not to let up on the gas in their job search for the holidays," she says. "So many things had been put on hold during the fall season. There's a lot of jobs [employers] are still going to need on this year's budget, and they're going to make decisions before the first of January."

January is typically a big hiring month, and Boggs expects 2025 to remain the same.

In the tech space, Petzold predicts upswings in hiring demand for tech companies in the health care and financial services spaces.

In the longer-term, some experts are warning that President-elect Trump's policies, like his plans to increase tariffs on imported goods, could result in a "big negative shock" to the economy going into 2026, which could slow hiring again.

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