Startup Hiring vs Departures by Industry in H1 2021 and 2025

Startup job candidates - it's not just you. Far fewer people are getting hired at startups these days.

Data below shows the ratio of new hires to departing employees for startups in 10 different industries.

Green means net headcount growth, orange means net headcount declines. So in Fintech, for example, 4.2 employees were hired for every 1 that left in H1 2021.

So what does this show, really?

𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗻, 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀.

At many startup companies, hiring new employees is a last resort and it often only happens if a current employee leaves. The days of doubling headcount every year are behind us.

Of course you can point to some high-flyers that are doing substantial recruitment right now. But the climate overall is quite chilly for new candidates.

And when that happens, people internalize the market and are more likely to stay put in their current roles. Which means fewer backfills are needed...which ironically lowers hiring even further.

Is this all AI? Maybe a part of it, but also just a new mode of company building where team size is no longer a badge of honor but the denominator in a equation investors scrutinize (ARR per FTE, or full-time employee).

Capital-efficient companies are great — but I hope there still remain opportunities for more people to get involved with startups as a career path.

#startups #startuphiring #startupjobs #founders