For Lena-Josefin Miller it was 2023: no hiring, so no recruiter needed anymore. The company she worked for in Hanover even laid off employees after it got into trouble. Unlike colleagues in the “People & Culture” team who accompanied the restructuring, there was no longer a place for them at the proverbial table. A blessing in disguise: Miller was taken over by the parent company, where she was responsible for the employer branding from then on.
Many recruiters felt the same way as you did that year. Not just in Germany, but in many parts of the world. Especially in the US labor market. According to US media, Google also terminated a significant part of the recruiting team: “Unfortunately, we have to significantly reduce the size of the department,” Vice President of Recruiting Brian Ong said in an internal video meeting, according to CNBC. Given the hiring figures for the next quarters, it was the right decision, he explained to the assembled team.
While there is a lack of numbers for the profession in Germany, a Wall Street Journal analysis of the United States revealed a pretty clear picture: Companies that cut jobs reduced their recruiting and talent acquisition staff by an average of about 50 percent – a disproportionately high rate compared to other departments such as software development or product design. But in this country, too, the human resources industry already headlined in October 2023: “The rosy times are over (for now).”
The role of the recruiter has changed
Almost three years later, the situation has hardly changed. The job market has been “like a board” for months, Federal Agency boss Andrea Nahles told Web.de in December 2025. There is “no momentum” coming. Or to put it another way: German companies still hire cautiously – and when they do, they do so very specifically. Because, as with Lena-Josefin Miller’s old employer, many companies still have to keep an eye on the cost side. There is less experimentation with new positions and more navigation with existing ones.
A current survey by Linkedin confirms this. According to the “Jobs in Trend” ranking, specialists in personnel development are currently one of the most in-demand job profiles in Germany. They analyze which skills are needed in a company, strengthen these skills in the workforce and support employees in their professional development. The profession is growing particularly in credit brokerage, management consulting, IT services and IT consulting.
“This shows how strong the focus is now on internal development,” said Linkedin’s Germany boss Barbara Wittmann in an interview with HR. “In many companies, the role of the recruiter has therefore changed in recent years.” This is also visible in the skills. In addition to artificial intelligence and people analytics, the fastest-growing skills in HR include further training and career development. But you still don’t have to completely reinvent yourself.
One of the top challenges for companies remains demographic change and, not least, the shortage of skilled workers. According to Barbara Wittmann, “regardless of the current economic situation”. The core competencies are crucial and are even coming back to the fore: relationship management with candidates. “The only thing that changes is the focus: away from operational processing and towards classification, advice and quality.” She sees recruiters being strengthened in their role, particularly through AI.
According to the German Economic Institute, around 20 million working people in Germany will leave the workforce in the next ten years. The need for new specialists and managers can hardly be met with domestic potential alone. However, compared to other industrialized nations around the world, Germany is currently only able to compete to a limited extent when it comes to recruiting foreign skilled workers. The labor market is becoming more global for most German companies. The search for talent is therefore becoming significantly more complex.
A shortage of skilled workers requires capable recruiters
Lena-Josefin Miller didn’t stay in the parent company’s employer branding for long. After a phase of career transition, she took the proverbial helm and became self-employed as a recruiter. “Even if the party years seem to be over for the time being, it won’t work without new line-ups,” said the Hanoverian. She sees two trends in her industry: On the one hand, she confirms with Barbara Wittmann that the job market will lose many people, but on the other hand, she also sees that specific professions are already in enormous demand.
This includes, in particular, AI experts. “Hardly any industry can currently do without them, as all companies are transforming their business models.” The tech industry in particular, which laid off many people in 2023 and is still doing so today, is aggressively hiring for specific IT positions. But she also sees an increasing need for communication, as it supports the internal and external transformation. “Of course, a lot of staffing is done internally, but external input is also needed for this to be successful.”
As a freelance interim recruiter, she is benefiting from the wave of layoffs that previously disadvantaged her. Companies hire them because existing positions need to be filled and new positions need to be developed, but the internal recruiting teams are too thin to meet the challenges on their own. “I think to some extent the layoffs were short-sighted. The shortage of skilled workers and personnel restructuring are real and will remain one of the overarching issues in companies for the next ten years.”
A current survey by Linkedin, which is available exclusively to the human resources industry, shows what challenges exist in recruiting despite the market environment: 53 percent experience a significant shortage of qualified personnel. 39 percent report that suitable skilled workers are hesitant to give up their current job given the many waves of layoffs. This puts companies in a quandary: 37 percent speak of a loss of productivity. 34 percent even reported a delay in growth and expansion plans.
AI and skill-based hiring: What recruiters need to be able to do
But what does recruiting look like today? “It has to become more strategic and efficient,” explains Barbara Wittmann. “It’s less about managing as many applications as possible and more about recognizing potential and thinking more in terms of skills instead of job titles.” In order for this to succeed, AI is needed in a very targeted manner in the recruiting process and a commitment to skill-based hiring, which has still not arrived in many companies. “If you only recruit based on your CV, you miss out on real talent,” says Miller.
For them, AI is a tool in the process. She sees particularly great leverage in the evaluation of evaluation matrices, the design of the hiring process, and also in the optimization of job advertisements. In addition, she explains her personal added value in the discussions with the applicants. “With all my understanding for the optimization of repetitive tasks, the most important thing to me is personal contact.” It simply reveals more about your type and skills than a CV.
Not least because of this, she still sees rosy times for herself in the future if she is to stick with the title of human resources management mentioned at the beginning. “We see a high demand for skilled workers in the next ten years and have to focus much more on personality than in previous years. Who, if not experienced recruiters, should do that?” Barbara Wittmann also says: “Today’s recruiting specialists are strategic partners for the overall business.” The tenor: Without them it doesn’t work.
Andreas Weck
Andreas Weck works as a freelance journalist and writes about work, career and management topics. Before becoming self-employed, he worked for t3n, an online magazine for the digital economy.
