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2026 Workforce Planning—Insights, Metrics, and Support from Green Key
Year in Review: Staffing & Market Insights
2025 Market Trends and Organizational Response
As we reflect on an outstanding 2025, we’re excited to share highlights and forward-looking insights from our team at Green Key Resources.
This year’s newsletter brings you market trends, staffing strategies, success stories, and actionable data—directly from our sales team and recruiting experts. Whether you’re planning for growth, navigating new challenges, or building your dream team in 2026, you’ll find guidance and expertise tailored to help your organization stay competitive and agile.
Year in Review: Staffing & Market Insights
2025 Market Trends and Organizational Response
Throughout 2025, hiring demand remained highly selective as organizations focused on roles that drive measurable impact and sought candidates with proven, specialized skill sets. Our clients prioritized strategic hires—those who could deliver immediate value and support long-term business objectives.
Decision-making cycles extended in several key verticals, influenced by tighter budgets and ongoing market volatility. Factors such as fluctuating interest rates, shifting tariffs, rising material costs, and the uncertainty of an election year prompted many organizations to adopt a more cautious approach to workforce planning and investment.
One clear outcome emerged: speed is a critical differentiator. Organizations that streamlined their hiring processes and provided timely, actionable feedback consistently secured top talent ahead of competitors.
By maintaining agility and reducing bottlenecks, these teams were able to adapt quickly to changing market conditions and capitalize on opportunities as they arose.
As industry experts, Green Key Resources partners with clients to navigate these complexities—leveraging market intelligence, technology, and best practices to deliver efficient, high-impact staffing solutions. Our consultative approach ensures that organizations remain competitive, resilient, and prepared for the challenges and opportunities ahead.
Candidate Selectivity & Relationship-Driven Results
In today’s unpredictable market, job seekers are taking a more intentional approach to career moves—prioritizing stability, meaningful work, and long‑term growth over quick changes. This heightened selectivity raises the bar for employers, but it also reinforces a core truth: top talent remains in high demand. Our long-standing candidate relationships give us an edge here. Because we understand individual motivations, career arcs, and preferred work environments, we can present opportunities with clarity and credibility—helping clients stand out and accelerating decisions. The result: better alignment, stronger offer acceptance, and placements that perform over the long term.
Success Stories: Delivering Results Across Industries
In 2025, Green Key Resources partnered with organizations across a range of sectors to solve complex hiring challenges and deliver high-impact talent:
- Healthcare: We expanded our physician recruitment focus and delivered high-impact results—filling two critical leadership roles in under 30 days after they sat vacant for months. Our speed and precision strengthened care teams and improved patient outcomes.
- Accounting & Finance: Persistence pays off! A long-term candidate relationship turned into two new client partnerships and multiple placements. From CFO searches to large-scale project staffing, our team delivered exceptional results with accuracy and speed.
- Professional Services: After nine months of strategic outreach, we secured a specialty practice contract and filled an Operations Manager role in just 14 days. Plus, we drove major temporary staffing success—providing flexible solutions that kept projects moving and clients agile.
- Human Resources: A standout moment: placing the Head of HR for a leading hedge fund—a strategic hire that elevated talent management and organizational culture.
- Information Technology: Talk about rapid response! We staffed 50+ IT professionals in just two weeks for a major project, proving our ability to mobilize quickly and meet urgent hiring needs.
- Architecture, Engineering & Construction: We partnered with organizations in key markets to stabilize teams and accelerate hiring for industrial and data center projects. Our streamlined processes moved candidates through offers fast—reducing delays and improving timelines.
- Marketing & Sales: We helped a client build a complete sales organization across SMB, mid-market, and enterprise segments—leveraging our multi-segment expertise to deliver scalable growth.
- Financial Services: Our team supported a division’s expansion by adding 10 new professionals, increasing bandwidth for sourcing top talent in a highly competitive market.
- Life Sciences: We filled Principal Investigator roles in two regions and delivered cross-team placements—including an Ultrasound Sonographer—helping clients meet critical staffing needs in challenging markets.
Across all verticals, Green Key’s partnerships delivered measurable impact through streamlined processes, strategic team builds, and long-term relationships—helping organizations secure the talent needed to achieve their goals for 2026.
Insights & Strategies: What Moved the Needle in 2025
These strategies helped our partners secure top talent and adapt to a dynamic hiring landscape throughout 2025:
- Efficiency in Process: Organizations that streamlined interview steps and clarified onsite or hybrid expectations early in the process saw faster hiring outcomes. Tight feedback loops kept top candidates engaged and accelerated decision-making.
- Highlighting Opportunity: In sectors like AEC, candidates responded strongly to employers who showcased a robust pipeline of projects and organizational stability. Visibility into future work proved to be a key differentiator for attracting high-caliber talent.
- Specialist Advantage: Deep expertise stood out—candidates with 10 to 20 years of specialized experience in fields like Accounting & Finance and Financial Services consistently drew interest and drove competitive offers.
- Competitive Benefits: Enhanced total rewards packages—including retirement plans, performance bonuses, and unique perks—helped organizations reduce turnover and attract in-demand talent. Matching or exceeding market standards made a measurable impact on candidate mobility.
- Precision in Sourcing: Success often came down to asking the right questions up front—distinguishing between must-have requirements and areas where flexibility was possible. This approach enabled more targeted searches and better alignment between candidates and organizational needs.
Our data reflects this momentum: In 2025, our sales team qualified nearly 10% more clients and secured almost 50% more successful placements compared to the previous year. This growth underscores the impact of targeted sourcing, market intelligence, and a consultative approach—helping organizations connect with the right talent and achieve their staffing goals.
Looking Ahead: Goals & Priorities for 2026
The year ahead points to continued selectivity in hiring, with notable growth in data center and industrial sectors, ongoing activity in credit, and rising investment in tech-adjacent finance, audit, tax, and robotics. Life sciences hiring remains highly specialized and urgent, with organizations seeking niche expertise.
Green Key Resources is prepared to support your hiring needs with a suite of solutions designed for today’s market:
- AI-driven screening tools to accelerate candidate matching and minimize fallout.
- AI-powered job postings to expand reach and target the right talent with greater precision.
- Weekly multi-channel marketing job advertising to amplify visibility for critical roles.
- Dedicated account managers and recruiting teams who provide personalized attention, proactive communication, and unwavering commitment to delivering the right talent for your organization.
Thank You & Looking forward to 2026
We’re excited to announce the launch of our new “Hire With Us” webpage on the Green Key Resources site – a client-centric hub that outlines our services and recruitment process, providing you all with a centralized location to see how we partner to build high-performing teams, and updates to our services in real time!
Whether you’re exploring working with us for the first time or already an active client with questions about additional services, we’d love to connect. Reply directly to this email or use the inquiry form on the new webpage to get started!
We look forward to supporting your hiring goals in 2026!
Staffing Industry Outlook: Adapting for 2026 with Technology and Expertise
Staffing Industry Outlook: Adapting for 2026 with Technology and Expertise
Human expertise + modern tools = a staffing partner that moves your goals forward
As 2025 comes to a close, the staffing industry is evolving rapidly. After two years of uncertainty, the market is stabilizing and showing strong signs of growth. Skills-based hiring, flexible workforce models, and technology-enabled recruiting are driving this momentum—especially in Healthcare, Engineering, and IT staffing.
The Current State of Staffing
- Demand is back, but priorities have shifted: Employers are focused on skills, adaptability, and proven experience—not just degrees.
- Flexibility is key: Contract staffing and temp-to-hire roles are on the rise as organizations seek agility in workforce planning.
- Technology is transforming staffing: AI-driven candidate sourcing, automated scheduling, and digital outreach are now standard, but human judgment remains essential for cultural fit and long-term success.
- Transparency matters: Pay disclosure and clear communication are now baseline expectations for both candidates and employers.
How Green Key Resources Is Adapting
At Green Key Resources, we’re always refining our recruiting approach by adopting new technologies and improving our processes. Our goal is to deliver faster, more efficient, and personalized service for candidates and clients. Enhanced support systems and streamlined workflows assisted by automation and AI allows our team to dedicate more time to building strong relationships and understanding the unique requirements of each search.
We combine targeted outreach with ongoing engagement to maintain a steady pipeline of candidates and business opportunities. Collaboration across our marketing, recruiting, and sales teams keeps us agile and responsive to changing market trends.
These efforts help us deliver high-quality results and exceptional value to every organization we work with by increasing and elevating touchpoints with our extensive candidate network and improving our time to fill, candidate quality, and go-to-market speed.
What This Means for Job Seekers and Employers
- For job seekers: You’ll benefit from more timely communication, increased access to job opportunities, and a streamlined application process—while still receiving the personal guidance and advocacy Green Key is known for.
- For employers: Our technology-driven approach means faster candidate sourcing, broader reach, and more efficient hiring cycles, all backed by our team’s deep industry expertise in staffing and recruitment.
Looking Ahead to 2026
The coming year will reward organizations and candidates who embrace technology, AI, and collaboration. At Green Key Resources, we’re combining human insight with modern recruiting tools to match the right talent to the right opportunities—quickly, efficiently, and responsibly.
Ready to navigate what’s next?
Partner with Green Key Resources and let us help you build your team or advance your career with the best in staffing technology, personability, and expertise.
Why Workers Are Holding Tight to Their Current Roles
For years, job-hopping was a common strategy for workers seeking higher pay and better opportunities. But a new trend is taking hold: job hugging—when employees stay put, not out of loyalty or satisfaction, but from fear of the unknown.
“Workers are literally holding onto their jobs for dear life,” Korn Ferry noted in a recent analysis of shifting workforce behaviors. “It’s not about growth right now. It’s about stability.”
What Is Job Hugging?
Job hugging is the opposite of job-hopping. Instead of actively seeking new opportunities, employees stay in their current roles despite dissatisfaction or lack of growth.
According to Investopedia, this trend reflects heightened concerns about layoffs, automation, and an uncertain labor market. Many workers are reluctant to risk a move when the benefits of switching jobs have diminished.
In fact, Axios recently reported that the U.S. quits rate—a key measure of voluntary turnover—has dropped to 2%, one of the lowest levels outside of the pandemic. This suggests workers are more hesitant to leave, even when better roles may be available.
Why It’s Happening
Several factors are driving this shift toward job hugging:
Economic and Labor Market Uncertainty
With the economy in flux, employees are prioritizing job security. Korn Ferry’s report highlights a strong “flight to stability,” where workers are choosing to stay put rather than gamble on a new opportunity.
“People are choosing to stay where they are rather than take a risk,” the report states.
Read the full analysis here.
Diminished Rewards for Moving
Historically, switching jobs meant a pay bump. But according to HR Executive, pay gains for job switchers are now roughly equal to those for employees who stay put. Without a financial incentive, there’s less reason to leave.
Fear of AI and Automation
Automation anxiety is also influencing behavior. The Courier-Mail reports that Gen Z workers, in particular, are concerned about AI disrupting traditional career paths. Many are “clinging tightly to the security of their current roles.”
The Hidden Costs for Employers
While job hugging may seem like a positive sign for employers—low turnover and steady teams—it can also mask serious issues.
“Lower quits rates don’t necessarily mean higher engagement,” warns HR Executive. Employees may stay in their roles physically but disengage mentally, leading to stagnant cultures and reduced innovation.
The Wall Street Journal highlights another concern: limited internal mobility. When employees stay put for extended periods, upward movement slows, restricting opportunities for others to grow and advance.
What Employers Can Do
Experts recommend several strategies for addressing job hugging and supporting long-term employee satisfaction:
Focus on Engagement, Not Just Retention
According to Guusto, employers should ensure employees stay because they’re valued—not because they feel they have no choice. Recognition programs, transparent goals, and open communication can help re-engage “stuck” employees.
Create Clear Growth Pathways
Providing mentorship, skill-building programs, and internal mobility opportunities can help employees grow within the company rather than look elsewhere, notes HR Executive.
Measure More Than Turnover
Low turnover alone isn’t enough. Leaders should also track engagement metrics, employee sentiment, and productivity to understand the real health of their workforce.
Green Key’s Perspective
Job hugging isn’t just a workforce trend—it’s a signal. Employees are staying because of uncertainty, not necessarily because they’re thriving.
At Green Key, we help companies build stronger talent strategies, ensuring teams are engaged, growing, and motivated for the right reasons—not just holding on for security.
Learn more about how Green Key supports employers and job seekers at greenkeyllc.com.
Expert Series: How Green Key’s Accounting & Finance Team Made 4 Direct Hires for 1 Firm in Just 1 Month
We’re kicking off our Expert Series—a behind-the-scenes look at standout stories from our recruiting teams—with a conversation featuring Antonia Piazza, CPA, a seasoned recruiter on our Accounting & Finance team.
In this feature, Antonia shares how her team successfully placed four tax professionals at a single public accounting firm in just one month—and how deep expertise, market insight, and relationship-building made it all possible.
“The client later told us that within five minutes of our first call, he could tell we understood the space better than any other firm he’d worked with,” Antonia shared. “We both quickly realized how mutually beneficial this relationship would be.”
Meeting Demand with Market Insight
The client—a tax-only public accounting firm—was in search of tax generalists with experience across individual, corporate, and partnership returns. Their offering of fully remote flexibility allowed the Green Key team to widen the search and tap into qualified CPAs in lower-cost cities without sacrificing quality.
“Because they were open to remote candidates, we had access to a larger talent pool,” Antonia said. “We could focus on skillset and experience without a need to emphasize geographic logistics.”
Why These Roles Stood Out
Beyond remote work, the opportunity itself was a standout. The firm doesn’t impose billable hour requirements and offers work-life balance, which can be rare in the accounting space. Candidates also appreciated the chance to work on strategic consulting projects outside of busy season.
These factors, paired with Green Key’s deep understanding of the firm’s needs and vast network, allowed the team to present well-matched candidates quickly and effectively. Green Key had existing relationships with relevant candidates and also reached out to new prospective candidates to meet the client’s needs.
The Rise of the Tax Generalist
According to Antonia, demand for tax generalists is growing—especially among small to mid-sized firms.
“Most of our clients want candidates who have experience with a variety of tax forms, client industries, and revenues because of the nature of their books of business” she explained.
This versatility allows generalists to move between industries, client types, and even firm sizes more easily making them especially valuable in today’s job market.
Advice for Candidates and Clients
Antonia’s advice for job seekers in the tax realm:
- On your resume, list the specific tax forms you’ve worked on (1065, 1120, 1040, etc.) as well as the industries of clients you’ve worked on.
- Pursue the CPA! And once you have it, make sure you list it on your resume and after your name. As you’re pursuing it, list the parts you’ve passed to show your progress.
- Be intentional about your next step—employers value clarity in your goals.
For hiring managers, she says the key is differentiation. “Accounting firms know how to market their firm to clients—but are they doing the same with candidates? Whether it’s flexibility, engaging work, or great benefits, know what sets your firm apart from the other firms and lead with that.”
Stay tuned for more insights from our recruiting experts across Green Key. Next up: we’ll be diving into top trends in healthcare hiring and how our team is navigating evolving talent demands.
#WeAreGreenKey: Spotlight on Rob Kaatz
Welcome back to #WeAreGreenKey, where we shine a spotlight on our powerhouse recruiting teams.
With nearly 10 years of healthcare recruiting, Rob Kaatz has built a career on strong relationships, market knowledge, and a passion for helping people find the right fit. Six months ago, he brought that expertise to Green Key to launch and lead the Healthcare Portland division. Since then, he’s been focused on growing a high-performing team, earning trust in a new market, and delivering tailored hiring solutions to clients and candidates alike. In this feature, Rob shares his path to recruitment, what drives his leadership style, and how he’s building something meaningful for healthcare organizations across the country—one placement at a time.
What was your vision for the team when you first stepped into this role?
I wanted to bring together proven Recruiters and Account Managers that I trusted and felt confident in preparing for future leadership roles within Green Key.
What keeps you excited about your work every day?
I enjoy the candidate stories! Each candidate is unique and has their own story. Those stories are what I enjoy most while helping candidates find their next job in healthcare.
How has the healthcare leadership market responded to Green Key’s presence?
The response has been positive with some resistance, as we are a new face in a very competitive field. Each of our team members has been able to build key relationships within their territory in a short amount of time. We look forward to seeing those relationships grow in the future.
How would you describe the culture you’re building within the Portland division?
Our culture is based on accountability. We are refreshed to know that each of our team members is a proven performer—we truly have no weak links! We can confidently go to each other seeking feedback and support and know we are getting support from an experienced healthcare Recruiter or Sales Professional.
What qualities do you look for when building out your team?
I look for team members that focus on what they can control and have a positive outlook on life. Our job is difficult, and we can only control so much. It’s important to keep your attention on matters that we can influence and not get bogged down by what we cannot.
Where do you see the greatest opportunities for growth in the healthcare space?
Opportunities for growth continue to be seen in outpatient care areas. For our team, the focus will be on building relationships with ambulatory surgery centers and associated ASC management companies.
Are there any healthcare trends you’re seeing that are shaping client demands or hiring priorities?
The need continues to be strongest for staff level and middle management recruitment (Nurse Manager and Nurse Director level). As organizational charts are being reviewed, more healthcare companies are going to regional VP and C-Suite leadership models which reduces the number of high-level leadership openings; however, day-to-day management and direct patient care is still a need.
What advice would you give a healthcare organization considering a partnership with Green Key for the first time?
I recommend giving us a shot at tackling any niche, thorn in your side, opening. Our team is composed of experienced Recruiters with a combined 40+ years of experience in healthcare recruitment specifically. We are confident that you’ll be impressed with the quality of candidates you receive from our focused team!
Green Key Resources Awarded on the Forbes America’s Best Recruiting and Temporary Staffing Firms 2025 List
Green Key Resources has yet again been recognized on the Forbes list of America’s Best Recruiting and Temporary Staffing Firms. This prestigious award was presented in collaboration with Statista, the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider and can currently be viewed on the Forbes website.
The list is divided into three major categories:
· Executive Search – Recruiting firms that place managers in permanent positions with an annual gross income of more than $100,000.
· Professional and Specialist Search – Recruiting firms that place professionals in permanent positions with an annual gross income up to $100,000.
· Temp Staffing – Providers of temporary workers and contract positions, excluding interim management positions.
The award ranking is based on an independent survey of peers and clients. In total, more than 49,000 external recruiters and 20,000 HR managers/hiring managers, and candidates were invited to participate in this year’s survey. This prestigious award highlights the firm’s continued commitment to excellence, innovation, and unmatched client and candidate satisfaction in the recruitment industry.
We’re ecstatic to be recognized on the Forbes list of America’s Best Recruiting and Temporary Staffing Firms 2025.
As the job market continues to evolve, we remain committed to leading with integrity, agility, and a people-first mindset.