- Donald Trump’s victory is reducing uncertainty, boosting some employers’ confidence in posting jobs.
- Employment experts predict a “Trump bump” for now, despite worries about tariffs and immigration.
- Some employers had waited to post jobs until the outcome of the election was clear.
If you’ve been looking for a job and had no luck, that may change.
Donald Trump’s decisive victory ends some uncertainty about the broad direction of the US – and allays concerns that there will be a protracted fight over the outcome.
Hiring-focused executives told Business Insider that the newfound clarity is already making some employers more willing to post jobs.
“Our phone was basically ringing off the hook with companies looking to hire,” Lief Larson, CEO of Salesfolks, a staffing firm focused on sales roles, told BI. “Regardless of your political beliefs, there’s no doubt the market is anticipating a Trump crash.”
Knowing who will occupy the White House is a boon for employers, employment experts told BI, even as questions remain about the fallout from a potential tariff hike or a reduction in immigration.
“Having the uncertainty behind us will prompt many — and encourage many — to start looking at hiring growth,” Tim Glowa, founder and CEO of HRbrain, which develops artificial intelligence tools for human resources, told BI.
Demand in technology
It also helps that in the fourth quarter, some employers put off bringing people on before the end of the year. Others prepare job descriptions that will go up in January, said Michelle Volberg, a longtime recruiter who is the founder and CEO of Twill, a venture-backed startup that pays tech workers to recommend colleagues for the main jobs.
“We’re seeing a pretty healthy number of roles scheduled to be posted in January, probably more than we expected,” Volberg told BI. Volberg said she has seen an “uptrend” in the past 12 months that is now continuing.
“I don’t see anything currently on the horizon that will challenge the US economy in any way,” Volberg said.
She said some of the demand is in technology, particularly from AI-focused companies looking to hire in engineering, product, sales and marketing.
That’s welcome news, because while the overall U.S. unemployment rate remains low, some tech firms have cut some roles and slowed hiring in other areas — much to the dismay of job seekers.
Kathleen Lin Hurtubise, CEO and founder of Aloha Hospitality Professionals, a staffing firm focused on hospitality and light industry workers, told BI that uncertainty over tax and immigration policies had caused some of the company’s clients to wait out the policy. .
“We’ve had a handful of clients put us on hold until the election,” she said. Many employers, Hurtubise said, wanted to know how the business decisions they had already made would play out once it became clear who would take over the White House.
More employers may turn to automation
Jason Leverant, COO and president at AtWork Group, a staffing firm focused on areas including advanced manufacturing, logistics and warehousing, told BI that a focus on bringing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. — so-called renewal efforts that are already underway—you can help further increase the momentum in hiring workers without a college degree.
Still, Leverant said, reskilling can be more expensive for employers and, when combined with a talent shortage, could push more companies to automate where possible.
Reduced immigration could also hurt industries like construction and agriculture, where immigrants often fill many roles, he said.
“Do we start to see a skills gap or a talent gap there?” Leverant said. He said such a gap could eventually push wages higher in those areas if employers become desperate for workers.
Leverant said a focus by some in Trump’s inner circle, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, on areas such as workplace automation could mean that as some aspects of jobs go away, workers who receive the training properly can take on “more complex roles that even advanced robotics can’t touch right now.”
A post-election rush to hire
Aaron Cleavinger, a managing partner at Murdoch Mason Executive Search Group, told BI that he has been “inundated” with new search requests from clients since the election.
He said that likely reflected a mix of typical year-end growth and also months of demand from employers, particularly in areas such as manufacturing, that stopped posting jobs due to political uncertainty.
“Everything they’ve been delaying for the last couple of months, they’re finally releasing,” Cleavinger said, referring to employers and job postings.
Cleavinger said that in many cases, employers may have been agnostic about which candidate won and instead just wanted to know which way it would break.
“They say, ‘Hey, just tell me what I can count on, and then I can build a plan around that,'” he said.
Cleavinger said hiring demand will vary by industry, as it often does. However, he said for small and medium-sized companies, the optimism that there could be tax cuts could help boost employment budgets.
Obstacles may appear
Even as some employers seek to increase hiring, getting — and keeping — a job may become more difficult for some workers. Peter Rahbar, an employment attorney and founder of the boutique law firm The Rahbar Group, told BI that he expects to see an erosion of protections afforded to federal employees, including job seekers.
If enforcement of anti-discrimination laws wanes, Rahbar said, it could make it harder for some people, including women and minorities, to find and keep jobs.
Rahbar said reductions in immigration could hurt industries beyond agriculture and construction, including technology. That’s because some tech companies in need of workers rely on skilled immigrants to fill certain roles.
For now, though, Cleavinger, of Murdoch Mason Executive Search Group, expects demand for workers in general to pick up.
“I expect a pretty significant increase in hiring. We usually see that at the end of the year anyway, but I think it’s going to be a little bit more pronounced now,” Cleavinger said.