Hiring Challenges HR Leaders Are Facing in H2
As we move through the second half of 2025, one thing is clear: hiring challenges continue to block business growth.
For many HR leaders and business decision-makers, recruitment has become a pressure point one that impacts everything from productivity to profit. Internal teams are stretched thin, agency models are falling short, and the talent market remains fiercely competitive.
Hiring Challenges Survey Insights
At Rent a Recruiter, we ran a poll across our LinkedIn network and webinar audience to understand what’s getting in the way. 309 HR professionals responded. Their biggest hiring challenges?
- 33% struggle to fill skill gaps
- 31% are stuck in reactive hiring cycles
- 21% report stalled or slow talent pipelines
- 15% cite high cost and inefficiency as top concerns
Let’s unpack each of these and explore practical solutions.
What Causes Skill Gaps in Hiring and How HR Teams Can Fix Them
When a third of HR leaders say they can’t fill key skill gaps, it’s not just a staffing issue it’s a strategic red flag.
Modern growth demands specialist skills in tech, operations, finance, and commercial functions. Yet, the best talent isn’t sitting on job boards. They’re busy, passive, and likely being headhunted by your competitors.
Recent labour force data from Australia shows a small stumble in job gains across key sectors, highlighting the increasing difficulty of filling roles with qualified talent.
What to Do Next: Build recruitment capacity before it becomes a bottleneck. If your internal team is maxed out, consider embedding a senior recruiter to work as an extension of your team. It’s faster, more strategic, delivers results and doesn’t compromise on quality.
“Too often, hiring becomes a scramble. When we help businesses bring recruitment into the planning phase not the panic phase everything changes. Time is saved, teams are stronger, and candidates actually feel the difference.”
How Reactive Hiring Hurts Growth (and What You Should Do Instead)
31% of respondents are stuck in a reactive cycle, hiring only when a crisis hits.
This approach drains time, frustrates managers, and leads to rushed decisions that rarely deliver long-term value. It also hurts candidate experience and employer brand.
What to do next: Start workforce planning early. Align hiring with quarterly goals and proactively build a pipeline of talent. Waiting until someone leaves is too late.
“When hiring gets reactive, everyone feels the strain HR, hiring managers, and candidates. Planning ahead gives space for better decisions and cost-effective results.”
Why Talent Pipelines Stall and How to Build One That Converts
21% reported slow or stalled recruitment pipelines usually caused by poor branding, inconsistent outreach, or outdated processes.
These blockages slow down teams, delay projects, and quietly erode growth momentum. Worse, they’re often invisible until it’s too late. Recent labour market updates from Ireland suggest a tighter talent market across several high-demand industries, which may be contributing to pipeline issues.
What to Do Next: Audit your full recruitment funnel. Where are you losing candidates? Is your employer brand strong enough to attract passive talent?
👉 Try Our Free HR Tool
Evaluate Your Hiring Process Across 4 Key Pillars
Why Hiring Is So Expensive and How to Cut Recruitment Costs
Despite new platforms and automation tools, 15% say hiring remains too costly and they’re right.
Traditional agency commissions, delayed processes, and mismatched hires eat up more budget than most realise. And the ROI? Questionable at best.
A recent US labour market update also notes signs of strain beneath headline figures, with underemployment and candidate hesitancy adding hidden complexity.
What to Do Next: Ask us for a direct cost comparison to your existing spend. We embed experienced recruiters on a flat monthly fee no commissions, no retainers. Just fast, flexible, and financially predictable support that delivers real ROI.
How to Overcome the Top Hiring Challenges in 2025
The hiring landscape is tough, but it’s not broken. It’s simply out of sync with how modern teams scale.
The real cost of hiring challenges shows up in:
- Wasted time
- Team burnout
- Poor candidate experience
- Missed growth targets
The solution isn’t spending more on job boards. It’s rethinking recruitment as a strategic function, not a reactive task.
If these hiring challenges sound familiar, let’s talk. We’ll show how embedded recruitment can:
- Save budget
- Speed up hiring
- Strengthen your pipeline
- Integrate seamlessly with your existing team
👉 Request a Price Comparison
Discover how embedded recruitment delivers measurable results.
About the data:
Survey conducted in July 2025 with 300+ respondents across LinkedIn HR communities. Respondents included HR professionals, C-Suite, talent acquisition leads.
