Top Tip 6: Avoid The "Spearheading" Epidemic!

Something has happened to CVs this last year.

Every applicant has, apparently, "spearheaded a project." Or "spearheaded the department." Or "spearheaded a strategic initiative across the organisation." 18 months ago, nobody was spearheading anything. This year, my inbox is a forest of spears.

You don't need a PhD in linguistics to work out what's going on. AI has muscled its way into every job application, every cover letter, every personal statement. Candidates are leaning on ChatGPT to make themselves sound impressive. And the algorithms have all settled on the same handful of corporate verbs. Spearheaded. Leveraged. Orchestrated. Pioneered.

It's funny on the surface. But it's also a sign of something bigger. The hiring landscape in 2026 looks nothing like it did even 18 months ago. The legal framework is shifting underneath everyone's feet. The economy is squeezing both employers and candidates. AI has changed both sides of the table. And candidates themselves have changed.

After five weeks of practical fixes (benefits, onboarding, job adverts, interviews, retention) this final post pulls back the lens. Where are we actually hiring right now, what's changed, and what should employers be doing about it? Strap in, because there's quite a lot.

The Legal Picture: Employment Rights Act 2025

If you haven't yet got your head around the Employment Rights Act 2025, now is the time. Royal Assent was given on 18 December 2025, and implementation is happening in phases between April 2026 and January 2027.

April 2026 already brought day-one rights for statutory sick pay, paternity leave, and unpaid parental leave. The collective redundancy protective award doubled from 90 to 180 days. The new Fair Work Agency went live. October 2026 will bring restrictions on fire-and-rehire practices and extended employment tribunal time limits from three to six months.

And then in 2027, the big one. Day-one unfair dismissal rights, with new statutory probation period rules.

If you currently rely on the two-year qualifying period to manage performance, that approach is over. The new framework will require employers to follow a proper, fair, documented process from day one. Your job adverts, your onboarding, your probation reviews, and your performance management all need to be tighter than they've ever been. The "let's just see how it goes" school of hiring is heading for the cliff edge.

If you've not started preparing, start now. By the time 2027 arrives, your line managers need to know how to run a proper probation conversation, not just sign a form.

The Economic Reality: The Market Is Tough

Let's talk about what the labour market actually looks like in mid-2026.

UK unemployment sits at 5%, up from 4.5% a year ago. Vacancies have fallen to 705,000, the lowest level since 2021. Payrolled employment dropped by 210,000 in the year to April. Real wage growth is essentially flat at 0.1%. Inflation is eating what little wage growth there is.

Regionally, it's even tougher in some pockets. The North East has unemployment at 7%, nearly two points above the national average, and an employment rate six points below it. Cumbria is faring better with a higher employment rate than the national average, but median pay sits at 96% of the UK average, meaning the cost of living squeeze bites harder here than elsewhere.

I'm seeing this play out in real time with my clients. Some recruitment freezes from last year are starting to lift, which is promising. But salary budgets are tighter than I've seen them in years. Clients are holding firm on what they'll offer, even when it means losing out on the candidate they wanted.

On the candidate side, I'm hearing something I rarely heard before. People who've been looking for the right move for 18 months are deciding to stay put for the rest of this year and look again in early 2027. Three candidates told me exactly this in the last fortnight alone. The reasoning is consistent. They're worried about going somewhere new and being "last in, first out" if things tighten further. Better the devil you know, for now.

What this means for employers? If you've got good people, the market is doing some of your retention work for you. Don't take that for granted. The minute confidence returns, the ones who've been quietly biding their time will start moving. And they'll move to the employers who treated them like adults during the squeeze.

The AI Invasion

AI is the new variable that's reshaping recruitment on both sides of the table, and nobody is entirely sure what they're doing with it.

The numbers are striking. 83% of UK recruiters now use AI in some form. 28% rely on it specifically for screening applications. Meanwhile, 79% of candidates are using AI to help them apply. And here's where it gets interesting. 35% of recruiters say AI is leading to missed talent. 53% of candidates believe they've been rejected by AI without a human ever reading their CV. 30% have walked away from a recruitment process because it involved an AI-led interview.

What I'm seeing in my inbox is a flood of suspiciously polished applications. Every CV now contains the word "spearheaded." Loads of people who have apparently "spearheaded a project" or "spearheaded the department." Last year, nobody was spearheading anything. This year, it's an epidemic.

Look, I'm not anti-AI. Used properly, it's a really useful tool. But used as a shortcut to "save time" in creating your CV (without refining) or in screening CV's, it's actively losing employers good candidates. And for candidates it's making it harder for real talent to stand out.

Here's my advice. If you're using AI to screen applications, audit what it's filtering out. You will be amazed at the calibre of people being rejected before a human ever sees them. And if you're a candidate reading this, the polish AI gives you also strips out the personality and detail that actually wins jobs. Be human in your applications. It stands out more than ever.

What Candidates Actually Expect Now

Candidate expectations have moved on, and most employers are still hiring for the world we lived in three years ago.

In 2026, candidates expect a salary or salary range on the advert. They expect flexibility to be a baseline, not a perk. They expect the process to move quickly. They expect honest communication at every stage. And they remember, vividly, when they don't get those things.

Just last Friday, a senior candidate told me he'd been through two rounds of interviews, including a meeting with the CEO. Everything looked promising. He left thinking he had it in the bag. And then nothing. For weeks. His exact words to me were, "I've heard of ghosting on those dating sites, but had no idea this was happening in the business world."

Yes, it's real. And no, he wasn't impressed. He will remember how that made him feel for years. He'll tell every contact he has in his industry. And the next time that employer comes to market, that candidate, and everyone he's spoken to about it, is gone.

What Smart Employers Will Do in 2026

Let me bring this together. If you want to hire well in the rest of 2026 and into 2027, here's what to focus on.

Be flexible. Offer hybrid working wherever it's feasible. Token gestures don't cut it any more. Genuine flexibility is now a baseline expectation.

Offer market rate as a minimum. Stop using the words "competitive salary." If you can't afford the market, be honest about it. Candidates respect honesty. They don't respect coyness.

Offer 25 days holiday as the minimum. The 20-day statutory minimum is a red flag in 2026. The good employers are at 25 or above, often with extra days for service.

Reassess your recruitment process and look for the leaks. Where are candidates dropping out? Where are decisions slowing down? Where are you ghosting people without realising it? Fix those things, urgently.

Create a great candidate experience and you've won half the battle. The companies that treat candidates like human beings throughout the process, even the ones they reject, will be the ones with talent pipelines next year. The ones who ghost senior people after CEO meetings won't.

Use AI carefully and consciously. It can speed things up. It can also lose you the people you wanted. Audit what it's doing on your behalf.

And finally, prepare for 2027. The Employment Rights Act changes coming next year will catch out the employers who treat probation as a tick-box exercise. Start tightening your process now.

Closing the Series

That's the series. Six weeks of practical, honest advice for UK employers about how to hire smarter, retain better, and stop making the same recruitment mistakes everyone else is making.

If you've got this far, thank you for reading. The Foxgroves Employer Toolkit (previous practical resources covering everything we've talked about is available to download from earlier blog posts here on Linked In or via our website link here). Use them, share them, and let me know what's working.

The hiring landscape in 2026 is harder than it's been for years. But the employers who get the basics right (clear adverts, structured interviews, proper onboarding, real retention conversations, honest feedback) will pull ahead. The ones still relying on luck and gut feel will keep losing.

If you'd like to talk through anything covered in this series, or your own hiring challenges, drop me a message.

Until next Sunday,

Lyndsey

P.S - We have some exciting business support vacancies currently so if you are looking for Customer Service, IT, Facilities or Health & Safety and Marketing roles then head over to our jobs page.