New Data: See What Your Candidates Want in 2025
When considering a new job, HR professionals are 25% more likely than other people to prioritize an inclusive workplace. That’s according to over 37,000 LinkedIn members surveyed in recent months about what matters most to them when they’re considering a new job opportunity.
And that’s just one example of how candidate priorities can vary dramatically depending on what role they’re currently in. While there are a few things that virtually everyone cares about (more on those in a moment), LinkedIn’s data also reveals what priorities are uniquely important to specific talent pools.
Learning what candidates want isn’t just interesting — it’s also crucial for attracting the right talent. Read on to discover which priorities matter most to all candidates; how priorities can differ across candidates in HR, engineering, and business development; and how you can find data on what your specific talent pool prioritizes.
Top priorities across all candidates — and what’s changing
Let’s start with the big picture: When LinkedIn asked members to select their most important factors when considering a new job, three priorities emerged as clear frontrunners.
Compensation leads the pack, with 62% of candidates ranking “excellent compensation and benefits” among their top priorities. Work-life balance follows at 49%, while flexible work arrangements round out the top three at 44%. These three priorities have dominated candidate preferences for years, dating back to the pandemic.
But while these top priorities have remained remarkably stable, there’s been more movement just beneath the surface. Recent LinkedIn data shows subtle but telling shifts in what candidates prioritize.
“Challenging, impactful work” saw the biggest increase (+2.5%) over the past quarter, followed by “collaborative culture” (+1.9%). Meanwhile, traditionally strong priorities like “opportunities to learn new skills” and “opportunities for career growth” both declined (-2.5% and -1.6%, respectively).
These shifts might reflect a broader trend: In times of economic uncertainty, candidates often prioritize immediate emotional benefits over longer-term potential gains. The increased emphasis on challenging work and collaboration suggests people want clear value and connection in their day-to-day work, while the declining focus on future opportunities might indicate a preference for certainty over possibility.
How candidate priorities differ across talent pools
While these broad trends offer valuable insights, the reality is that candidate priorities can vary dramatically by function, location, and skill set.
Using LinkedIn Talent Insights, you can easily find what matters to your custom talent pool, whether you’re hiring marine biologists in Boston or machine learning experts in Mumbai. Simply create a Talent Pool Report, search for the talent pool you’re interested in (via job title, location, skills, industries, or other advanced filters), and click into the Employer Brand tab. Then just scroll down to find the section called “What employer value propositions are most important for this talent?” to see the results for your own customized talent pool.
For now, let’s take a closer look at three major functions and how candidates within each stand out. While the top priorities (compensation, work-life balance, and flexibility) remain important across all groups, each function shows distinct preferences that often align with their core work.
Engineering candidates, for instance, are 25% more likely than other candidates to prioritize innovative projects and 22% more likely to value working with highly talented employees. This emphasis on innovation and peer talent likely reflects the technical nature of their work and the rapid pace of technological change.
Business development professionals show a notably different pattern: They’re 28% more likely to prioritize mission and values and 24% more likely to value talented colleagues. This suggests that biz dev talent particularly values organizational culture and the caliber of their potential collaborators — fitting for a role that revolves around relationship-building.
HR professionals’ priorities reflect their function’s increasing strategic importance: Beyond their heightened focus on inclusive workplaces (+25%), they’re also 20% more likely to value collaborative culture and 18% more likely to prioritize mission and values. This alignment between personal and organizational values seems particularly important for those responsible for shaping company culture.
Final thoughts
While compensation, work-life balance, and flexibility remain the top priorities, today’s data reveals two key insights about what candidates want in 2025.
First, in uncertain times, candidates seem to be prioritizing the definite present over the potential future. The rising interest in challenging work and collaborative culture, coupled with declining focus on learning and growth opportunities, suggests people are focusing more on the immediate value of their day-to-day work experience.
Second — and perhaps more importantly — there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to attracting talent. Engineers prioritize innovation and peer talent, business development professionals value mission alignment and collaboration, and HR candidates seek inclusive, value-driven workplaces. These distinct preferences often mirror the core aspects of their roles.
Understanding these nuances — both the broad priorities and the function-specific differences — can help you create more compelling job opportunities that resonate with your target talent pool. After all, the first step to attracting the right candidates is understanding what they truly value.
Methodology
Based on 76,723 responses from members around the world between July 1, 2024 – December 31, 2024. This analysis compares the employer value propositions for the current quarter against the previous quarter to generate quarter-over-quarter results. For quarter-over-quarter results in this analysis, the current quarter was compared against last quarter. “Last quarter” was (July 2024 – September 2024), with 39,705 survey responses. “Current quarter” was (October 2024 – December 2024), with 37,018 survey responses. To evaluate differences in personas, this analysis looks at key functions on LinkedIn and compares their responses to the survey against the responses of the global population.
