European Talent Market 2025: Key Hiring Trends in Communications, Public Affairs, Marketing & Sales

European Talent Market 2025: Communications, Public Affairs, Marketing, and Sales Outlook

Across Europe, the talent market for communications, public affairs, marketing, and sales remains cautious in 2025, reflecting many of the challenges seen in the UK. Hiring conditions vary widely by sector and region, with many companies adopting a selective, strategic approach to recruitment.

Public affairs continues to be the most stable and active hiring area, particularly in Brussels. Demand is strong for professionals with deep expertise in EU regulation, defense, trade, and geopolitical affairs. Many consultancies are expanding or repositioning their public affairs teams to capture increased client interest in these topics. Versatility is key, with employers seeking candidates who can operate across multiple sectors while demonstrating strong policy knowledge, adaptability, and digital skills.

In contrast, marketing and communications hiring remains subdued in key markets such as Germany and France. Political instability and economic uncertainty are prolonging recruitment cycles in these regions. Employers are concentrating on fewer but highly impactful hires, particularly in digital, content, and data-driven roles that can deliver measurable business results.

Southern European markets, including Italy and Spain, are showing cautious signs of recovery. These regions are seeing demand in financial services, technology, and digital marketing roles. Milan, in particular, is emerging as a leading hub for tech and finance hiring. Switzerland also continues to show stable demand, particularly in corporate communications and financial marketing functions.

Sales hiring remains one of the most challenging areas across Europe. Companies are seeking highly specialized “unicorn” profiles for B2B-focused roles—candidates who can combine strategic leadership, hands-on execution, and in-depth international market experience. However, limited flexibility in compensation and benefits is slowing hiring momentum in this space.

ESG-related roles, once a key growth area, are seeing a clear slowdown. Companies are scaling back on aggressive sustainability hiring, instead focusing on roles with direct commercial or regulatory value—especially in Germany’s Mittelstand sector and among growth-stage businesses.

Recruitment processes are becoming longer and more complex across Europe. Many employers are now bringing hiring in-house to control costs. Interim, freelance, and hybrid roles remain popular, offering both flexibility and budget control. Additionally, companies are increasingly adopting AI tools and programmatic advertising to automate parts of the recruitment process, although key hiring decisions remain human-led.

Candidate sentiment remains cautious across the region. Many professionals are reluctant to switch roles unless they are offered strong long-term prospects, meaningful work, and flexible arrangements. Hybrid and remote working are now baseline expectations for most candidates. Additionally, job security, purpose-driven work, and transparent corporate culture have become top priorities.

Key Hiring Trends Shaping the European Talent Market in 2025:

• High demand for cross-functional professionals across communications, marketing, public affairs, and sales roles.
• Increased focus on hybrid and flexible working models, now considered standard.
• Strong competition for senior positions, with many experienced candidates actively seeking new roles.
• Greater emphasis on soft skills such as adaptability, cultural sensitivity, leadership, and digital proficiency.
• Modest salary growth, with premium compensation reserved for digital, data, and strategic leadership positions.
• Rising demand for recruiters who can act as strategic advisors, supporting employer branding and talent positioning.

While market conditions remain mixed, several regions—particularly Brussels, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain—are beginning to show more consistent hiring activity. Candidates who can demonstrate clear commercial impact, regional market fluency, and a multi-skilled, proactive approach will be well positioned as opportunities emerge in the second half of the year.

Hanson Search is a globally recognised, award-winning talent advisory and headhunting consultancy. We have consultants based across the UK, Europe, UAE, and USA. Our expertise lies in building successful ventures worldwide through our recruitment, interim, and executive search services for business-critical roles. We help clients hire inspirational C-suite leaders and functional heads across communications, sustainability, public affairs and policy, digital marketing, sales, andinvestments.