Q2 2025 State of the Market Q&A with Andrews & Cole President & Founder, Nicole DelToro
Kate Sonstein
Q2 2025 State of the Market Q&A with Andrews & Cole President & Founder, Nicole DelToro
The economic landscape of 2025 presents a unique mix of challenges and opportunities for hiring managers, job seekers, and business leaders. While economic uncertainty looms, marked by declining consumer sentiment, stock market volatility, and job losses in the government sector, unemployment remains low, with demand for premier talent continuing to outpace supply.
I sat down with Nicole DelToro, President & Founder of Andrews & Cole to discuss market conditions and hiring/retention strategies for organizations in an environment marked by economic uncertainty.
Kate Sonstein: What are you currently seeing in the market?
Nicole DelToro: The jobs data through the end of March is still very positive and inflation is coming down. That said, consumer sentiment is also negative, and we won’t see fallout from tariff policy for another few weeks.
As of today, professional hiring remains incredibly robust, with new searches at the executive to the staff level. Hiring in finance and accounting remains healthy, but also hiring in fields such as sales, construction services, and manufacturing.
Kate Sonstein: Are there certain industries that are doing better than others?
Nicole Deltoro: Hiring is broad-based and spans industries from real estate, construction, and homebuilding to technology, biotech, and life sciences, to private equity, energy, and professional services.
Kate Sonstein: What’s the greatest challenge for organizations right now?
Nicole DelToro: It’s really the high level of macroeconomic uncertainty. It may stifle hiring and investment in the near future.
Kate Sonstein: What impact have public-sector layoffs had on private sector hiring?
Nicole DelToro: Many displaced workers are looking for private-sector opportunities, increasing the talent pool for companies willing to hire government-experienced professionals. Private employers have an opportunity to tap into this new wave of talent. However, hiring professionals from the government sector may require significant training in fields like finance, accounting, human resources and operations. And there may be a need for both employers and employees to allow time for cultural adjustment.
Kate Sonstein: What’s your advice for companies trying to hire and retain high performers given current market conditions?
Nicole DelToro: Hiring high performers is challenging in any market, so your first priority should be retention. It’s especially important to support your A players: engage them in discussions around their professional development and try to avoid making assumptions about who may or may not want to take on additional responsibilities.
Turnover is costly, particularly in specialized roles. Employees are far more likely to stay in environments that prioritize collaboration, flexibility, and career advancement, and that starts with individual conversations.
Kate Sonstein: In a cost-cutting environment, how can leaders support their teams?
Nicole DelToro: When the amount of work isn’t decreasing, it’s important to not overwork your team because turnover can become a vicious cycle. When faced with uncertainty around long-term hiring, many of our clients are leveraging interim and fractional resources. This enables leaders to address workflow surges with just in time resources and not be overcommitted to headcount.
For example, if there is a potential sale coming up and a client doesn’t want to hire someone permanently, they can bring in an interim professional to make sure the work is getting done and the department has adequate resources to handle the workflow.
In situations where the team needs to make process improvements and system upgrades, it’s often more effective to bring someone in to manage that as a project. The company can then ultimately hire a different level of skill to maintain the work moving forward.
Kate Sonstein: How do current market conditions impact compensation expectations?
Nicole DelToro: There is always demand for top talent, and top talent will be able to command strong compensation packages. Economic uncertainty doesn’t necessarily mean that compensation packages are lower or even level out. Strong performers may be less likely to change jobs if there is economic uncertainty.
Kate Sonstein: How can organizations effectively partner with staffing firms even if they’re unsure about future hiring plans?
Nicole DelToro: We are a solutions-oriented provider; we don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach that can only advocate direct hire or interim solutions. We are here to understand what your goals and challenges are and offer solutions that can range from interim to fractional to direct hire to meet your needs.
We’re always happy to provide a market update based on hyper-localized data that’s relevant to your business, geographic locations, and specific challenges.
I sat down with Nicole DelToro, President & Founder of Andrews & Cole to discuss market conditions and hiring/retention strategies for organizations in an environment marked by economic uncertainty.
Kate Sonstein: What are you currently seeing in the market?
Nicole DelToro: The jobs data through the end of March is still very positive and inflation is coming down. That said, consumer sentiment is also negative, and we won’t see fallout from tariff policy for another few weeks.
As of today, professional hiring remains incredibly robust, with new searches at the executive to the staff level. Hiring in finance and accounting remains healthy, but also hiring in fields such as sales, construction services, and manufacturing.
Kate Sonstein: Are there certain industries that are doing better than others?
Nicole Deltoro: Hiring is broad-based and spans industries from real estate, construction, and homebuilding to technology, biotech, and life sciences, to private equity, energy, and professional services.
Kate Sonstein: What’s the greatest challenge for organizations right now?
Nicole DelToro: It’s really the high level of macroeconomic uncertainty. It may stifle hiring and investment in the near future.
Kate Sonstein: What impact have public-sector layoffs had on private sector hiring?
Nicole DelToro: Many displaced workers are looking for private-sector opportunities, increasing the talent pool for companies willing to hire government-experienced professionals. Private employers have an opportunity to tap into this new wave of talent. However, hiring professionals from the government sector may require significant training in fields like finance, accounting, human resources and operations. And there may be a need for both employers and employees to allow time for cultural adjustment.
Kate Sonstein: What’s your advice for companies trying to hire and retain high performers given current market conditions?
Nicole DelToro: Hiring high performers is challenging in any market, so your first priority should be retention. It’s especially important to support your A players: engage them in discussions around their professional development and try to avoid making assumptions about who may or may not want to take on additional responsibilities.
Turnover is costly, particularly in specialized roles. Employees are far more likely to stay in environments that prioritize collaboration, flexibility, and career advancement, and that starts with individual conversations.
Kate Sonstein: In a cost-cutting environment, how can leaders support their teams?
Nicole DelToro: When the amount of work isn’t decreasing, it’s important to not overwork your team because turnover can become a vicious cycle. When faced with uncertainty around long-term hiring, many of our clients are leveraging interim and fractional resources. This enables leaders to address workflow surges with just in time resources and not be overcommitted to headcount.
For example, if there is a potential sale coming up and a client doesn’t want to hire someone permanently, they can bring in an interim professional to make sure the work is getting done and the department has adequate resources to handle the workflow.
In situations where the team needs to make process improvements and system upgrades, it’s often more effective to bring someone in to manage that as a project. The company can then ultimately hire a different level of skill to maintain the work moving forward.
Kate Sonstein: How do current market conditions impact compensation expectations?
Nicole DelToro: There is always demand for top talent, and top talent will be able to command strong compensation packages. Economic uncertainty doesn’t necessarily mean that compensation packages are lower or even level out. Strong performers may be less likely to change jobs if there is economic uncertainty.
Kate Sonstein: How can organizations effectively partner with staffing firms even if they’re unsure about future hiring plans?
Nicole DelToro: We are a solutions-oriented provider; we don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach that can only advocate direct hire or interim solutions. We are here to understand what your goals and challenges are and offer solutions that can range from interim to fractional to direct hire to meet your needs.
We’re always happy to provide a market update based on hyper-localized data that’s relevant to your business, geographic locations, and specific challenges.
More by the Andrews & Cole Team
Andrews & Cole is a certified woman-owned boutique executive search and consulting firm with a focus on accounting and finance professionals. Clients range from start ups to Fortune 100 in nearly every industry.
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