These 4 Sectors Are Still Recruiting as the Job Market Flattens

With evidence mounting that most companies are now limiting hiring to replacing departing employees, it’s little wonder many people are hugging their current jobs even more tightly. That leaves a growing number of jobseekers facing employment situation that looks daunting— if not worse. The good news for those people is new data shows some sectors continue recruiting energetically, but the bad news is that most available positions aren’t what the majority of job seekers are looking for.

That labor market mismatch was one of the main findings in job post platform Monster’s new report on hiring trends for the third quarter of 2025. Its research showed a majority of its employee-side users continue applying primarily for administrative, office support, software, data, and other information technology positions. But these have become increasingly rare as businesses replace those workers with artificial intelligence, and scale back hiring generally. But that famine of opportunity resembles something closer to a feast for people considering work with healthcare, sales, customer service, and logistics companies that continue increasing headcounts.

In case current job seekers were too depressed about their prolonged hunt for work to catch it, the message of Monster’s report that is that people may need to shift their searches from sectors they’d prefer to work in to those still hiring.

Healthcare companies regularly posted some of the biggest job creation numbers over the past year, so it’s little wonder Monster said they’re still offering six of the top 10 positions businesses are now filling. Those include registered nurses, physical therapists, radiology technicians or technologists, speech-language pathologists, respiratory therapists, and occupational therapists.

“Clinical roles lead posting volume and remain among the fastest-growing categories,” the report said, citing current staffing shortages and rising demand from aging Baby Boomers requiring more care as drivers of continued hiring.

Of course, not every programmer, data entry employee, accountant, or marketing writer can simply pivot from those low-hiring professions to more abundant healthcare jobs that often require training or degrees. Luckily there are other options for people willing to make an occupational change.

Also qualifying for Monster’s hit parade of hot jobs are truck and delivery drivers. With logistics companies both understaffed and trying to keep up with ever growing e-commerce sales by online retail clients, increasing headcount has become a priority.

For job seekers more inclined to commercial rather than transportation work, sales representatives and customer service employees finished fourth and 10th on Monster’s most-hired-jobs. The advantages of those position, the report said, is they’re “(r)evenue roles (that) stay funded even in slowdowns.” Companies hiring customer service reps, meanwhile, have a “(r)etention focus” and offer “many hybrid/remote” arrangements.

Other sectors whose hiring trends are on the rise include security services, community and social services, and education and training.

Frustrated job hunters unwilling to shift their work preference to the more available roles probably won’t be receptive to the other main lesson in Monster’s report, either. That involves moving to smaller urban zones where companies are hiring more, and leaving “high-volume hubs (that) cooled quarter-over-quarter” in the current analysis.

That means people in New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and other low-hiring big cities might want to at least consider a move to the spots posting the highest recent rates of hiring. Those are led by Tacoma, WA, Asheville, NC, Charleston, SC, Colorado Springs, CO, and Sacramento.

For everyone else, Monster’s report had a few other suggestions to assist their job hunting struggles.

The first was to cease doing mass-volume applications, and focus on fewer, high-priority openings. As part of that, candidates should make the effort to tailor applications and resumes to the exact skills companies have specified, and stress other transferrable experience that would be of use in those positions.

“It’s not about quantity; the key is not applying to hundreds of jobs and seeing what sticks,” Monster career expert Vicki Salemi told CNBC. “Actually, it’s the reverse. It’s having a specific job search.”

The second suggestion was to make peace with the high likelihood that it’s going to take considerably more time to strike employment paydirt than it has in recent years.

“The slower hiring life cycle doesn’t mean it’s not happening, it’s just delayed as employers do their due diligence,” the Monster report said. “It’s important for job seeker to be consistent with their job search efforts and to focus on what they can control. When they’re actively interviewing, candidates should continue to apply to new opportunities and expand their network.”

And if that doesn’t work, driving a truck in Albany might be more the most viable short-term employment option.