As talent acquisition continues to evolve in 2025, a recent research of distribution leaders that GRN Coastal conducted with the support of Channel Marketing Group, sheds light on emerging recruitment trends, ongoing pain points, and areas for strategic improvement. With 92% of respondents identifying talent scarcity as their top challenge, it’s clear that while demand for skilled workers remains strong, companies are still navigating how best to find, attract, and retain them.
Who Responded?
The survey gathered insights from a broad spectrum of professionals, with 47% in senior or executive management roles and 21% representing HR. Over 90% of respondents came from the distribution sector, with the electrical (25%) and plumbing/PVF (21%) industries being the most represented.
The Talent Crunch
The overwhelming concern among respondents was clear: finding talent is the #1 challenge, cited by 92% of those surveyed. Although more than half of companies expect headcounts to stay relatively stable in 2025, they are still experiencing pressure to fill key roles. The most in-demand positions are:
· Outside sales (58%)
· Inside sales
· Product specialists
· Operations professionals
Additionally, there is growing demand for warehouse staff and drivers, although most companies hire fewer than 10 individuals for these roles annually.
While some roles are driven by company growth strategies, others are driven by the need to back-fill roles, typically due to retirements, promotions, or departures. For inside and product specialist roles, companies most frequently seek people with industry experience believing that product knowledge leads to individuals becoming more productive sooner. GRN Coastal’s experience is that finding for skill and cultural fit can be more important than product knowledge in many cases, especially if the company has a strong support network.
Attracting New Talent: Still a Struggle
One of the more striking insights is that nearly 80% of respondents have no formal college recruitment program, suggesting a major missed opportunity to connect with emerging talent. Recruitment is further constrained by limited staffing resources—60% of companies have just one person focused solely on recruitment, and another 30% have only 2–3 recruitment-focused
employees. With an industry where “talent” is aging, “growing your own” is a strategy that national chains have embraced to with college recruitment programs and leadership or management training programs. We’re also seeing more mid-market distributors offering internship programs.
What’s Working (and What’s Not)
When it comes to sourcing candidates, companies say their most effective channels are:
1. Employee networking
2. Outside recruiters
3. Internal recruiters
Despite the widespread use of platforms like Indeed and LinkedIn, almost 80% of companies are not using AI tools in their recruitment processes. Additionally, candidate testing is on the decline, with 70% stating they no longer conduct it.
Why?
The Time Crunch
Time-to-fill remains a critical issue:
· Almost 50% report it takes 1–2 months to fill an open position.
· Another 27% say the process takes 2–4 months.
This lag highlights the need for faster, more streamlined recruitment strategies. Speed is important and having a streamlined process is becoming critical.
Workplace Flexibility and Retention
Interestingly, 45% of companies do not currently offer remote or hybrid work, even though many acknowledge that hybrid flexibility can help attract talent. On the retention front, organizations are relying heavily on performance reviews and additional training to keep talent engaged.
One surprising gap: 58% of companies do not offer employee referral programs, despite employee networking being one of their most effective recruitment channels.
Remote and hybrid roles were the “expectation” during and after Covid. With many technology companies, and the federal government, now recalling employees, distributors who offered remote / hybrid roles are also seeking to bring employees back to the office whenever possible.
Depending upon the role, the flexibility of allowing remote / hybrid can increase the candidate pool, especially when specialized capabilities (i.e. product expertise) is desired / required.
Much also depends upon the candidate’s work ethic, access to technology tools, the role, desired interaction with others in the company and with customers, management’s style, and performance metrics.
HR Performance and Onboarding
When asked to rate their HR department’s ability to recruit top talent, respondents gave an average score of 3 out of 5—a clear sign that there is room for improvement. Onboarding processes remain traditional, relying primarily on benefits orientations, product training, and internal mentoring or shadowing days.
Our experience is that HR departments are primarily focused on HR policies, HR administration, and benefit management. When it comes to recruitment, their initial focus is on “line” roles – warehouse, drivers, counter personnel, and support roles. These are viewed as “generalist” roles and may be able to be sourced locally and through more “traditional” techniques. In these instances, HR is qualifying individuals based upon prior experience and/or individual characteristics. For sales-related roles and higher-level management roles, a deeper understanding of the role, and the business, is frequently needed to find “the right candidate.” Since many of these individuals are employed, it is difficult for HR to uncover them.
Key Takeaways for 2025 Recruitment Strategy
· Invest in early talent pipelines by partnering with colleges and trade schools.
· Speed up hiring processes to avoid losing candidates in a tight labor market.
· Reconsider remote/hybrid work options to broaden your talent pool.
· Leverage technology, including AI and candidate testing, to enhance decision-making.
· Enhance employee referral programs to tap into trusted networks.
· Support HR teams with more resources to improve recruitment effectiveness.
As 2025 unfolds, organizations that proactively address these issues will be better positioned to attract and retain the skilled talent they need to thrive.
