The Agenda:
Who is hiring?
Top HR and work-related articles
Tips for CV making, job search, interviews, and career progression
Industries trends
Leadership
Recruitment news
Freelancing news
Vocational guidance
Mindfulness
Psychological insert
Top stories from my clients
Blog recap
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Who is hiring?
Globally, the labour market in September 2026 looks stable on the surface but uneven underneath.
The ILO projects global unemployment to stay at 4.9% in 2026, yet it cautions that this should not be read as a return to healthy conditions, and the global jobs gap is expected to reach 408 million people.
The OECD sees similar signs of cooling: unemployment averaged 4.9% in May 2026, with about two-thirds of member countries seeing a slight increase, while real wage growth slowed to 2.2% in Q1 from 2.7% a year earlier.
On hiring intentions, ManpowerGroup’s Q4 survey of nearly 40,000 employers in 42 countries puts the global Net Employment Outlook at 29%, up two points on the quarter and six points on the year.
The more interesting finding is the motive: among employers planning to add staff, 62% cite changing roles and skills as the main driver.
Companies are reshaping their workforces more than simply backfilling.
Geographically, India has the strongest outlook in the world at 54%, followed by the UAE at 41%, while Japan is the most cautious in Asia Pacific at 7%.
In the Americas, Brazil (53%), Panama (49%), Mexico (41%) and the United States (36%) report some of the strongest hiring intentions.
The US shows how mixed the picture is.
August brought 162,000 new jobs, more than double what economists expected, with unemployment holding at 4.1%, but analysts describe it as payback after two very weak months rather than a sustainable shift to faster growth.
The share of unemployed people searching for 15 weeks or more rose to 43%, a five-year high.
The gains came mainly from leisure and hospitality, led by food service, and a rebound in local government education, while information and financial activities lost jobs.
Temporary help employment has increased every month in 2026, the longest growth streak for temp staffing in nearly five years, which often signals employers testing demand before committing to permanent hires.
Healthcare keeps growing but more slowly, and the Fed raised rates by 25 basis points on September 16, its first hike since 2023, so cheaper money is unlikely to boost hiring soon.
By sector, ManpowerGroup finds Construction & Real Estate and Finance & Insurance leading Q4 hiring intentions at 36%, followed by Information at 35%.
There is a gap worth noting between what employers say and what payrolls show, since finance and tech report strong intentions while US payrolls in those sectors are shrinking, partly linked to AI investment.
Europe is softer.
Euro area unemployment was 6.4% in July 2026, up from 6.3% a year earlier, and the highest national rates were in Finland (10.5%) and Spain (10.0%).
Youth unemployment stands at 15.1% in the EU.
In the UK, the ONS suggests that smaller firms may be pulling back on hiring because of a higher minimum wage and increased employer National Insurance contributions.
Early careers are holding up better than the headlines suggest.
45% of employers are increasing early-career hiring compared with 2025, while 20% are pulling back, and where entry-level hiring is reduced, cost pressures and lack of experience are cited more often than AI.
The ILO nonetheless warns that AI adoption could compound challenging conditions for young workers, especially those seeking high-skilled jobs.
For the rest of the year, the main risks are trade policy uncertainty, AI-driven restructuring, high sovereign debt, Middle East tensions and higher US rates.
Top 10 Multinationals Hiring Right Now:
Amazon (including AWS)
Johnson Controls
Boeing
Deloitte
Unilever
Accenture
Siemens
Schneider Electric
PepsiCo
Nestlé
Top HR and work-related articles
US employers added 162,000 jobs in August, well above expectations, and unemployment held at 4.1%.
Three-month average job growth rose to roughly 71,000 per month, up from just over 38,000 in July.
Growth was concentrated in Leisure and Hospitality (62,000 jobs, almost all in food service and drinking places) and in Local Government Education, which rebounded by nearly 42,000 after driving July’s decline.
Every sector grew except Information and Financial Activities, which lost a combined 34,000 jobs.
June and July were revised upward by 11,000 and 44,000, erasing July’s reported losses, and 2026 has now averaged about 80,000 jobs a month, better than the back half of 2025 but far from strong.
The author’s central point is that this rebound offers little real relief for job seekers.
Hires, quits and layoffs remain low, and the number may itself be revised.
It could also make the Federal Reserve more comfortable focusing on inflation and raising rates, which would further slow an already stagnant market.
Those already employed may feel stable, but recent graduates, people looking for work and those re-entering the labour force still face a real squeeze, with neither the economy nor monetary policy offering a way out.
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The UK government has tightened its flexible working regime, making it harder for employers to turn down requests.
Employees already have day-one rights to ask for different hours, remote setups or bespoke schedules, and employers must now show that any refusal is reasonable and backed by documented facts.
An employment tribunal will ask for evidence, and employers who cannot supply it may face penalties.
The article stresses that this is not a blanket right to work remotely.
The eight statutory grounds for refusal remain intact, so employers can still reject requests that would harm performance, revenue or customer service, but they cannot dismiss something like a four-day week request on a whim.
The practical risk lies with managers.
Untrained supervisors tend either to cave in to avoid a difficult conversation or to issue a refusal that breaks the statutory rules.
The advice is to audit every role, identify where physical presence is essential (for instance, where an absence would stop production), and where asynchronous work is feasible, and to define where cross-time zone collaboration breaks down.
With those boundaries set out in advance, responding to a request becomes a matter of operational fact rather than an emotional judgement about lifestyle.
Employers should also update their handbooks accordingly.
https://hiringlab.indeed.com/2026/09/04/august-2026-jobs-report-rebound-without-real-relief/
https://www.thehrdigest.com/what-the-new-flexible-working-mandate-means-for-uk-employers/
Tips for CV-making, job search, interviews, and career progression
A promotion interview is an internal interview for a current employee applying to a role with more responsibility.
Companies often run it like an external hiring process, usually with a manager who does not work with you daily, so even a long-serving, excellent employee needs to prepare.
Preparation starts with talking to your manager, so they hear about your ambitions from you, and so you can ask for feedback, learn what skills the new role requires, and possibly hear about other openings.
Research the role by reading the listing carefully, speaking to someone in that department and reviewing the company’s mission and current projects.
Anticipate criticism from past performance reviews and prepare a thoughtful reply, and write down your accomplishments and awards, especially those relevant to the new role.
Common questions include what you like about your current job, why you want the promotion, why you should be considered, what you know about the role and how your team would describe you.
Others ask how you would react to not getting the promotion, how it would affect your relationships with colleagues and who you would recommend as your replacement.
For each, the article advises staying positive, connecting your skills to the role, showing you would stay motivated and committed to the company, and avoiding criticism of coworkers.
On the team question, asking colleagues for feedback beforehand helps you give an answer that matches their view, since claiming everyone loves you or dwelling on your flaws can both backfire.
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In 2026, standing out on a resume takes more than listing job titles and dates, because employers receive hundreds of applications and most resumes are screened by Applicant Tracking Systems before a person sees them.
The article, from recruitment firm Approach Talent, advises using…
