As 2025 draws to a close, I wanted to write personally to thank our clients, candidates and team for all their support in what has been a tough year for both our candidate network and the businesses we work with. In 2019, we received an average of 32 applications per role, while in 2025, it was above 372, and at the same time, we have seen some of our clients struggling with slow growth, cost pressures and some recent uncertain fiscal staging.
In the high-end white collar job market of consulting, banking and strategy, I have not seen market conditions this bad in 22 years. However, early indicators this autumn do indicate that demand is turning a corner – albeit slowly.
To address this challenging landscape, I’m reflecting on two key challenges and opportunities – the rise of AI and the importance of remaining human.
AI Applications
One of the questions I’m asked most often is how Freshminds expects AI to affect jobs and the consulting industry. While I won’t be able to answer that definitively, we have seen a few trends in the last couple of years which indicate we are heading towards a big shift. The importance of ‘being human’ will come to the fore even more.
The initial manifestation of AI in the jobs market is in the ease of application (and rejection). This is what I like to call ‘the Tinderfication’ of the jobs market, whereby people are applying for an ever-increasing volume of jobs in the hope that with a wide casting of the net, they will capture some exciting opportunities.
In reality, this approach can look automated, unresearched, poorly focused and unlikely to succeed. Candidates need to push for human contact, show personality in their CVs and explain true motivations for companies and roles. Maybe we should put a bit more emphasis on the power of human hustle rather than automated hassle?
Warmth and Competence Model
In a world of AI, where the basic competencies of analysis, coding, creating slide packs, drafting IMs, and even writing end-of-year newsletters can increasingly be done by a machine, it does call into question what the labour force of the future will look like.
I recently listened to a podcast, inspired by the thinking of Fiske & Cuddy, who developed the idea of the Stereotype Content Model in 2002. This essentially looks at the two core dimensions upon which we are judged, and how we judge others: warmth (intent/trustworthiness) and competence (ability/status). If we anticipate that a lot of competence will be honed by AI in the future, we need to place more emphasis on staying human and ensuring that we also focus on the warmth in relationships, from working with suppliers, being a colleague, a manager, a leader, a client or a salesperson.
Those people who can harness both warmth and competence in the coming years will stand out – using AI to augment the best parts of being human. We continue to try to seek out the warmest, most competent and adaptable people, whether they lie on the client or candidate side of our business.
2025 Freshminds Highlights
With all that said, 2025 has certainly been a year to remember, with plenty of highlights to make note of.
25 Years of Freshminds
This September marked the 25th anniversary of Freshminds, which was founded by two ambitious 22-year-olds straight out of university. We celebrated this with a series of special events for our team, alumni and clients, including a big Alumni Pub Quiz and a sponsored walk around London in aid of The Stroke Association. We welcomed some fantastic new colleagues, some very exciting new clients and delivered some great projects and searches in the UK and wider world.
Freshminds Events 2025
Freshminds has had a great year with our events: we hosted a couple of excellent breakfasts on the banking and consulting jobs market, we produced an event for our corporate clients on the rise of AI, and our final flourish of the year was the return of StratFest in October.
At StratFest, we were delighted to present an all-star panel of Sir Malcolm Rifkind, former UK Secretary of State for Defence, Parmy Olson, the author of the 2024 FT Business Book of the year, Supremacy, Anna Macdonald, fund manager and market commentator, and the ever-erudite Amol Rajan, BBC presenter of the Today programme, University Challenge and Amol Rajan Interviews. Whatever is happening out there in today’s economic climate, we never fail to raise the roof at StratFest, with some of Europe’s finest strategy brains in the room.
While it has been a tricky year to navigate, I do think there has been a lot to learn and a platform to build from.
Have a restful and restorative break with your friends and families, and we look forward to seeing you and connecting with you in 2026.
