​A Year in Polls: Uncovering 5 Talent Acquisition Truths With Freshminds Data 

By The Freshminds Team

At Freshminds, we’re committed to engaging in interesting conversations with our connections. Sometimes these conversations snowball into interesting nuances or insights about modern hiring and talent acquisition. 

Thanks to our amazing online and offline network, from experienced senior consultants to our extensive LinkedIn following, we can utilise all this knowledge to help us stay up-to-date with industry changes. 

Using indicators including our LinkedIn polling and other more comprehensive data, we’ve highlighted 5 interesting conversations happening in this space: 

1. Hiring with workforce cost pressures

2. AI and digital influence are top skills

3. Candidates frustrated with AI processes

4. Businesses at risk of losing graduate talent

5. Why businesses still love critical thinking in young talent

In this article, we’ll be diving deeper into each topic and dissecting the most interesting trends about the future of talent acquisition.

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1. Hiring when there are huge workforce cost pressures

It won’t come as a surprise when we say that many UK businesses are struggling with rising workforce cost pressures, everything from VAT mountains in the hospitality industry to AI tools creeping into consultancy. 

Of course, this has an impact on hiring. The British Chambers of Commerce says: 

“Less than a quarter of surveyed firms (23%) expect to increase the size of their workforce in the next three months, compared with 63% expecting no change, and 14% a decrease.”

We saw this reflected in our own poll data, when 37% of respondents said that "workforce cost pressures” were the biggest challenge in attracting and retaining top talent in 2026. 

Some of these ‘pressures’ have been highlighted by Jane Gratton, Deputy Director of Public Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce. She says, “High taxes and rising wage bills present huge barriers to investment and growth. On top of this, the cost burden of the Employment Rights Act - which the government continues to underestimate - will create further problems”.

It’s worth noting that retaining high performers is also a problem, with the increase in issues such as silent burnout and cost-of-living pressures becoming increasingly important to workers.

In practice, we're seeing this show up as slower approval chains for permanent hires, a growing appetite for interim or project-based talent, and more scrutiny on whether a role should be backfilled at all. For many of our clients, the question isn't just “can we afford to hire?” but 'is this the right shape of hire for the next 12 months?”

Find out more in our article, The Hidden Cost of Losing Senior High Performers. 

2. AI and digital fluency are top skills

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AI and digital fluency are the most sought-after skill sets in businesses right now - you’re probably drowning (and slightly tired) of hearing about it online. 

But it’s being talked about because it’s so pivotal to the new working landscape. 

While understanding AI knowledge feels a bit more explanatory, digital fluency is a developing skill set, with things like digital communication, critical evaluation, and security falling into this bucket. 

“AI and big data”, “networks and cybersecurity” and “technology literacy” were the top 3 fastest-growing skills in the 2025 Future of Jobs Report. However, soft skills like “curiosity and lifelong learning” were also sought-after, albeit growing at a slower rate - highlighting a real need for balance. 

Of course, this is a general trend; ultimately, the most in-demand skills are defined by the sector and role type. 

We're increasingly seeing this translate into hiring briefs that ask for 'AI-literate' candidates even in roles with no obvious technical requirement, marketing, ops, and client-facing functions included. The expectation isn't coding ability; it's comfort experimenting with tools alongside judgement about when (and when not) to use them.

3. Candidates frustrated with AI hiring processes

Many firms have embedded AI in their recruitment systems in one way or another, whether that’s to write job descriptions, for CV screening, or to provide candidate briefings. With increasing application numbers, talent teams can be overwhelmed with running a fair recruitment process and are selecting tools that they feel allow them to do a better job.

However, on the other side of the coin, candidates are expressing frustration with a process that feels to them to have been continually dehumanised. A Freshminds poll found that talent teams were perceived as the biggest “winners” from AI, with the candidate pool gaining far less advantage.

This is a highly competitive job market, in which many applicants feel like “just another brick in the wall,” and AI tools and levers aren’t always helping. But it’s not only this dispirited feeling causing a stir; fake roles, phishing emails and SMS messages are also being used as methods of scamming applicants desperate to break through the recruitment visibility wall. 

We will be watching to see whether these impressions change, and how candidates, businesses and recruiters adapt their processes to make the most of AI’s benefits.

For businesses, the lesson is straightforward: transparency about where and how AI is used in your process is no longer a nice-to-have. Firms that are upfront about it, even briefly in a job ad or confirmation email, may see less candidate drop-off at the later stages.

4. Businesses at risk of losing talent pipelines

Of course, there are concerns being raised with the swift adoption of AI. One larger worry growing is that businesses choosing to implement more AI processes are taking away agency from young workers. 

According to a recent Gov. uk report, nearly 1 million young people are not in education, employment or training.  

The reasons for this are numerous and unfortunately are all converging at the same time. AI is one reason, because these large language models are starting to do the tasks often given to graduate or young workers, including things like note-taking, data analysis, presentation creation, reporting, and so on. 

However, this doesn’t only affect the young workers themselves; it also causes quieter issues around internal talent pipelines in businesses and upskilling for the next generation. We might expect some resolution if we gain some better clarity around which skills can’t be filled with AI. 

If entry-level roles keep shrinking in scope, businesses may find themselves with a widening skills gap five years from now, having skipped over the very tasks that used to train the next generation of managers.

Read our article, The Risks of Underusing Graduate Talent, to learn more.

5. The skills that businesses look for in graduate talent

With so many factors young people are fighting against in this working economy, it’s important for them to know what qualities businesses are looking for when it comes to hiring. 

When businesses are looking to hire young talent, it’s even more important for graduates to know what skills help them stand out. 

Interestingly, out of almost 80 votes, not one respondent believed “Academic qualifications” were the most important attribute to look out for. That’s not to say they’re unimportant, only that some employers believe they’re less important than attributes like “critical thinking”, “communication skills, or “technical expertise”. 

This isn't necessarily new, but it does suggest a widening gap between what universities optimise for and what employers are actually screening for at the interview stage.

There’s plenty of other evidence that highlights the importance of soft skills; see a reflection on this topic in our article, Reflections on 2025: 25 years in and still focusing on the human.

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Thinking about the future

Taking these five things into consideration, the world of talent acquisition has a lot to manage. 

The function has become unpredictable with the development of AI, as well as strains on global economies with turbulent tariffing, conflicts disrupting supply chains, and an increasingly ‘switched on’ world. This shift isn't confined to hiring teams alone; it's also rewiring the C-suite as leadership roles adapt to an AI-native landscape.

But to be able to tackle these issues, we first have to understand them. 

For businesses, having someone on hand such as the experts at Freshminds who are plugged into these changes can be an invaluable resource. 

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