July 2026..whats hot.. whats not!

What a month!

Heatwaves, new PrimeMinister, new No.10, football, tennis and a sense that the economy (for market research & insights) is on the up.

These are four things we’re seeing in market research & data hiring right now (not the generic LinkedIn take):

To AI or not to AI
In the industry itself AI adoption in research has basically saturated — it's no longer who's using it, it's who has a strategy for it. That's now a genuine differentiator in both for businesses and for people building their careers. Its a great question to ask at interview!

Hiring

𝟭. 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 & 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱
Permanent hiring is still cautious but you will see a greater number of roles advertised. Interim/contract analytics roles - that does seem to be picking up. You can have the capability without the headcount commitment.

𝟮. 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀
The big jumps are gone. Most rises are low single digits now, not the 8-10% we got used to. Definitely something to be aware of if you are job hunting.

Exception: niche technical skills (specialist tooling, sector-specific research expertise). Those candidates are still commanding larger salaries.

𝟯. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲
It's not salary. It's speed. Dont mistake the volume of job seekers as your guarantee of the right candidate.

Good candidates are off the market in 1-2 weeks. We’re watching clients lose their first choice to slow process, not to money.

𝟰. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 month
Cut a stage from your interview process. Have your offer approved before final interview, not after. A week's delay is now the difference between hiring your top choice and hiring your third.

If you're hiring in this space and want to talk strategy please get in touch.

Sinead@thehassonpartnership.com

catherine@thehassonpartnership.com

#MarketResearch #DataHiring #Recruitment #Analytics #mrx