Early Reflections On The 2026 Recruitment Market

Bryony Gibson reflects on how the recruitment market is quietly recalibrating with more clarity, care, and purpose.

January often brings a natural pause for reflection. It’s still early, of course, but the first month of the year is usually enough to start spotting patterns and picking up signals about how the market is shaping up.

In the world of accountancy practice recruitment, the tone feels cautiously positive. Not loud. Not frantic. But thoughtful.

Clarity before action

One of the clearest themes so far has been a renewed focus on clarity before action. Firms are taking a little more time at the beginning of the hiring process to ask the right questions internally. What does this role really need to deliver, how does it fit into the wider team, and what does “success” look like in the first 12 to 18 months? This upfront thinking makes a noticeable difference to how smoothly the process runs once a role goes to market, and it helps to provide direction when onboarding new recruits.

More measured hiring decisions

Linked to clarity, we are seeing a shift towards more measured hiring decisions. With fewer speculative roles at all levels, firms aren’t putting recruitment on hold; they’re simply being more deliberate. Given the time and cost involved in getting recruitment wrong, this feels like a sensible recalibration rather than a slowdown.

Using market data as reassurance

Regularly speaking to business leaders, another early trend has been the increased appetite for market data and benchmarking. Employers want reassurance that they’re positioned competitively, while candidates are arriving at conversations far better informed than they were a few years ago. It’s one of the reasons our latest salary survey has been in particularly high demand already this year; not as a negotiating tool, but as a way of grounding conversations in reality.

Pace, clarity and communication

In a competitive, candidate-led job market, speed still matters, but it’s increasingly paired with a desire to get things right the first time. Businesses are under pressure, priorities change, and that’s totally understandable. But clarity around timelines, expectations and decision-making is becoming a real differentiator. Candidates can feel uncertainty very quickly, and firms that communicate well throughout the recruitment process tend to keep momentum, even when their actions aren’t lightning-fast.

Flexibility is a signal of a positive culture

Conversations around hybrid working arrangements have become less about policy and more about culture. Most people accept that flexibility looks different in different firms. What candidates are really tuning into now is how that flexibility shows up in practice.

What are the levels of trust and autonomy? How realistic are workloads? In many ways, flexibility has become a substitute or indicator of organisational culture, rather than a headline benefit.

Open conversations, selective moves

This phrase neatly sums up the current candidate mindset. People are amenable to conversations, but they’re being selective, especially in the accountancy sector. Moves aren’t being rushed.

Culture, job satisfaction, and sustainability are motivating themes that come through strongly, alongside progression and reward. It’s less about chasing the next role and more about making sure the next move genuinely makes sense and excites.

Picking up where 2025 left off

As we inch ever closer to seeing daylight at the end of our working day, conversations that paused towards the end of last year are resurfacing. Roles that didn’t quite make it to market are quietly reappearing, often with more focus and intent behind them.

Budgets feel cautiously unlocked, rather than on lockdown. The overall picture is of an encouraging start. Not a market of big change, but one of better questions, clearer thinking and more purposeful conversations. And for me, that points to genuinely positive progress.