The ‘trust hiring economy’ is changing how companies choose talent

Wohl has spent 16 years in recruitment and five years in career coaching. He is the CEO and founder of Outplacer, an AI-powered platform that helps recruiters and career coaches build tailored resumes and interview prep for candidates, and a partner at The Wohl Group, a recruitment firm based in Ontario that serves clients across the U.S. and Canada.

Why hiring has gotten more cautious

To explain why employers have become more cautious in their hiring, Wohl offered an example to illustrate the stakes.

“If I hire you to do a job for $100,000, and you come in and make one mistake that costs my company a million dollars, well, you were an expensive hire,” Wohl said.

“Now I’ve got to replace you, and I’m not just going to hire the next person with a similar skill set. I’m going to be very cautious, because I don’t want to lose a million dollars again.”

That caution shows up in the data, too. A 2025 industry report found that rushed, poor-quality hires drive up turnover and retraining costs, with more than half of employers citing higher costs tied to replacing or retraining someone who wasn’t the right fit.