The recruitment market in France is undergoing a phase of rebalancing. After several years of widespread tensions, the available data for 2024 shows a partial turnaround: companies report fewer difficulties in filling their executive positions, and artificial intelligence tools remain marginal in actual practices.
Sourcing strategies are refocusing on more traditional channels. This landscape contrasts with the prevailing discourse on the “war for talent” and the “AI revolution,” which is often relayed without usage data.
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Executive Recruitment in France: The Easing of Tensions Since 2024
The Apec study “Executive Recruitment Practices 2026” documents a fact that is rarely covered by trend articles: only half of the companies that hired an executive report difficulties, a decrease of 15 points compared to 2022. This decline puts into perspective the alarmist narratives about widespread talent shortages.
This figure does not mean that the market has become easy. Certain professions in digital, healthcare, or engineering remain under pressure. However, the overall trend points toward a rebalancing of power between employers and candidates, following the peak of difficulties post-pandemic.
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Several factors may explain this evolution, according to feedback published in the news on CCM Recruitment and recent sector analyses: a slowdown in job creation in certain sectors, an increase in the number of applications per job posting, and adjustments in requirements from recruiters.
Actual Use of AI in Recruitment: A Gap Between Discourse and Practices
2024 trend articles present artificial intelligence as a lever that is already mature for recruitment. Usage data tells a different story.
According to Apec, only 8% of companies use AI tools to recruit executives. Even when including ongoing projects, the adoption remains concentrated among mid-sized and large companies, where about a quarter report usage or a project. Small and medium-sized enterprises, which represent the majority of recruiters in France, have not yet made the leap.
Job Offer Writing: The Main Documented Use
The most common use of AI in recruitment concerns the writing of job offers. The perceived benefit for recruiters is primarily a time-saving on writing tasks, much more than advanced features like automated matching or predictive scoring of applications.
The promises of automatic CV sorting, algorithm-analyzed video interviews, or chatbot pre-selection exist in publisher catalogs. Field feedback diverges on this point: the actual adoption of these features remains marginal, and recruiters express reservations about the reliability of algorithmic recommendations for such sensitive decisions as hiring.
The Return of Traditional Job Offers as the Dominant Channel
One of the least commented lessons from the Apec study is the refocusing of companies on traditional job offers as the main channel for recruiting executives. After years of increasing reliance on direct approaches (headhunting, LinkedIn solicitations) and systematic use of recruitment agencies, the trend is reversing.
This movement logically accompanies the easing of recruitment difficulties. When the flow of spontaneous applications increases, offensive and costly strategies lose their justification. Companies are reducing their proactive sourcing budgets and favoring the posting of ads on job boards and their own career sites.
What This Means for Candidates
For job seekers, this refocusing has a direct consequence: responding to published offers is becoming an effective strategy again, whereas the dominant discourse of recent years emphasized almost exclusively the “hidden job market” and networking.
Candidates who invest time in targeted applications, with tailored cover letters and CVs calibrated to the position, regain an advantage over those who relied solely on their LinkedIn visibility.
Skills-Based Hiring: From Slogan to Recruitment Practices in 2024
Skills-based hiring has been a recurring concept in HR guides for several years. In 2024, this approach is starting to formalize in salary grids and job reference frameworks published by recruitment agencies.
The logic is as follows: rather than filtering applications by degree level or years of experience, the company evaluates what the person can actually do. This method theoretically opens positions to atypical profiles, career changers, or those with non-linear paths.
- The 2025-2026 salary guides from several agencies now include grids based on technical and behavioral skills, rather than solely by job title or seniority
- Job offers listing measurable skills rather than a minimum degree attract a broader pool of candidates, according to feedback from recruiters surveyed by Apec
- The available data does not allow for concluding that this approach reduces recruitment biases, despite the promises made by its proponents
The skills-based approach is gaining traction in HR discourse, but its real impact on hiring diversity remains to be documented. Companies adopting it do so mainly to broaden their talent pool in response to tensions in certain professions, not necessarily out of conviction regarding the fairness of the process.
Salary Transparency in Job Offers: A Norm in the Making
Displaying salary in recruitment ads is no longer a theoretical debate. The European directive on pay transparency, adopted in 2023, requires member states to transpose it by 2026. In France, practices are already evolving under pressure from candidates and job platforms.
A large majority of candidates state they want to know the salary before applying. However, recruiters remain divided on the systematic display of salary, fearing internal tensions or competitive bidding. This gap between candidate expectations and employer caution structures a significant part of the current market frictions.
The transposition of the European directive into French law will likely settle this debate in the coming years. Until then, companies that display a salary range in their ads continue to attract more qualified applications, providing a measurable competitive advantage in a market where the volume of applications is becoming a key issue.