The Truth About 2026 Jobs & Online Applications

Additional Resources

• Monster 2026 Job Market Outlook
• Glassdoor Economic Research

Transcript

Pete Newsome: 0:00

Welcome to Cornering the Job Market for Monday, January 12th. Today’s headlines include a new list of the hottest jobs for 2026 and how AI is impacting recruiting. Let’s jump right in. Monster just released their 2026 jobs outlook, which seems to have a couple of holes in it. They published a list of high-volume, high-growth jobs for the year ahead. As expected, healthcare leads the way. Registered nurses, therapists, counselors, and social workers all show strong year-over-year growth, driven by our aging population and increased demand for mental health services. Skilled trades are also highlighted automotive techs, electronics, and repair technicians, jobs that require hands-on skills and dexterity that can’t be easily automated.

0:43

Transportation and logistics roles are also up there. Truck drivers, delivery people, and logistics specialists. These are positions that are, of course, necessary to keep the economy moving, literally and figuratively. Sorry, I had to do it. Now, there are only a couple of IT jobs on there, which I found a little bit curious. QA and data engineers. But the biggest hole in this list is that there aren’t any sales jobs mentioned. LinkedIn just last week reported their jobs on the rise for 2026, and sales was all over it. Salespeople are always in high demand, but no mention of sales jobs and no mention of AI jobs. AI roles were four of the top five hot jobs on the LinkedIn list last week. So big disconnect there.

1:30

I’m not the biggest fan of LinkedIn for a couple of reasons, but they do have the data and the volume to back it up. So I’m going to say that their list is more reliable than what Monster is telling us in their report. I found it interesting they listed four industries in decline: office and administrative support, production roles, education and library jobs, and arts and media roles. So while they didn’t indicate that that’s specifically due to AI, you can connect those dots pretty easily when we look at repetitive tasks or things that can be automated or just prone to being replaced by AI. So interesting list. You can find a complete rundown, including what I do think is helpful for anyone in the job market, a list of 25 employers hiring at scale right now. So check it out on monster.com.

2:19

Next, Glassdoor says AI hasn’t killed online applications, but it has changed how recruiters behave. According to their research, online job applications are still the primary hiring channel. At their peak in 2023, online applications accounted for 76% of interviews, 73% of job offers, but by 2025, those numbers have declined to only be 66% of interviews and 60% of job offers. So that’s a meaningful drop, about 10 to 13 percentage points in just two years. But online applications still produce the majority of hiring outcomes. Over the same period, their data shows that recruiter source hiring has increased. Essentially, recruiters are initiating more conversations that drive a larger share of interviews and offers rather than relying solely on inbound applications.

3:08

Now, like this or not, we can thank one-click job applications for this. Technology has created an absolute mess in the job market. I think everyone agrees on that. If you don’t let me know, you’d be an outlier for sure. But here’s the thing: I expect AI to help solve this in the very near future, in the year ahead. Companies who are leveraging AI the right way, taking advantage of what it can do, are putting steps in place right now where it will create so much more efficiency in the hiring process, in the recruiting process, and the job application process. All of it is going to benefit by AI because it can just cut through the volume. And that’s what it really represents to me and my company and how we’re using AI is that it just brings qualified candidates with interested recruiters in a much better way than has ever existed before.

4:01

So I’m personally excited about what AI can do to combat the mess that the one-click apply application process has created. This report also indicates that although referrals remain a small share of the total hiring, they far outperform applications. I mean, to a huge degree. The direct quote is interviews stemming from a referral were 35% more likely to result in a job offer than those starting with an online application. It wouldn’t shock me if that number was even higher, because every good recruiting effort begins with a referral. You always want to start there if you can. And I say this is someone who recruited for many years, has owned a recruiting and staffing company for two decades. That is how recruiting happens when it works best.

4:49

So if you’re a candidate, this is really worth paying attention to. Use your network. Find a way to have someone reach out on your behalf, put in a good word for you, whatever it is. The goal is to get your resume pulled out from what can be a really large pile. So work for those referrals if at all possible. It’s a great uh way to spend your time when you apply to a job. Consider everyone that you may possibly know who’s connected with that role, that company, that whoever’s hiring, and see if they can put in a word for you. It goes such a long way. And I’m really glad to see Glassdoor backing up what I’ve always known to be true and put into practice with actual research and data. So those are your headlines for today.

5:32

But here’s a fun fact before we close Nine to five wasn’t always the standard. In the 1800s, 14-hour workdays were the norm. So if you’re not thrilled in your job, I know a lot of people aren’t. Before you complain about it, just know that it could be a lot worse. 14-hour workdays versus an eight-hour workday, what a difference. So thank the Fair Labor Standards Act. Whoever put that in place way back when, I should know, but I don’t know who uh actually brought that through Congress. But thank them for it. They did us all a favor. 14-hour workdays. Boy, glad that’s not the norm anymore. So thanks for listening today. Please like, subscribe, share with anyone who you think might be interested. And your feedback is always welcome. Either way, I look forward to talking to you tomorrow.