Charity Recruitment in 2025: Our Areas of Focus

Happy New Year! With the ongoing effects of the cost of living crisis and a new government in power, 2024 saw plenty of ups and downs for charity recruitment, and the sector as a whole. Here at CharityJob, we saw a decrease in the number of jobs posted on our site, and we witnessed significantly more candidate activity. More candidates registered on our site, and there were increases in the average number of clicks on the ‘apply’ button, compared to both 2022 and 2023. This reflects how the market has shifted towards being much more recruiter-led, which has brought both benefits and challenges. As we move into 2025, charities face a complex landscape with new economic pressures and technological advancements. To help you navigate these, we’ve highlighted three key areas of focus for charity recruitment in 2025.

1.     AI

AI has become more prevalent and increasingly integrated into both our home and work lives. Although we’re still learning its full capabilities, we’re using it more actively and confidently than ever.

The impact of AI on charity recruitment has been mixed. Recruiters have seen the positives, especially with its role in the early stages of hiring. From drafting job descriptions and checking for biased language, to generating interview questions and streamlining the application process through applicant tracking systems, AI has the potential to enhance efficiency and fairness.

Candidates are using tools, such as ChatGPT, to help them tailor their job applications, whether this be adapting their current CV or cover letter or writing a new one. So, a common challenge recruiters are now facing is trying to identify the candidates who may have over-used AI and might not be painting a true picture of themselves.

Pychometric testing

As the above shows, in some ways AI can make it more difficult to find the right candidate. A recent study by the University of Washington revealed racial and gender biases in AI screening tools, with AI models favouring resumés associated with white male names. To mitigate these biases, it’s crucial to supplement AI with additional tools and human judgment. To support your charity recruitment in 2025, we offer psychometric assessments that can help you to understand how candidates will perform and behave in the workplace, to see if they’re a good fit for your role.

Look out for: our AI report

Coming later this month, we’ll be publishing our AI report, presenting our findings on the usage of and attitudes towards AI in the hiring process, from the perspective of both candidates and recruiters.

2. Inclusive hiring

2024 saw the recruitment market swing further back in favour of recruiters, with candidate numbers continuing to increase. With higher volumes of applications, it’s more important than ever for charities to make sure their hiring practices are inclusive, in order to build strong teams that truly reflect the diverse communities they represent.

Anonymous recruitment

A key element of inclusive hiring is reducing bias. When you post a job with us using Quick Apply, you’ll get free access to CharityJob Recruiter, our end-to-end hiring platform, and the option to receive your applications using anonymous recruitment. This means all applicants’ identifying details are hidden until you make first contact with them, reducing opportunities for introducing bias.

Equal opportunities reporting

Last year, we also added the option to ask candidates to anonymously complete an equal opportunities form when they apply for a role.  With this enabled, you’ll receive a report showing the diversity of your combined applications and hires. This information will help showcase your EDI successes, as well as highlight areas where there might be room for improvement.

Salary checker tool

Inclusive hiring also means offering the right salary. Our salary checker tool, which lists average salaries by job title and charity size/location within the sector, has been popular with charities to check they’re offering competitive packages for their roles. We improved and updated the tool at the end of last year, enhancing location filters, and increasing the number of job titles you can search for, with more accurate data available for each.

Look out for: our 2025 salary report

Pay has been a hot topic amidst the cost of living crisis and, unsurprisingly, our salary report was our most downloaded resource in 2024. Watch out for our fully updated 2025 report coming in April, including average salaries across the sector for different specialisms, levels of role and sizes of charity.

Look out for: improved inclusive hiring resources

We’re dedicated to helping charities build more inclusive workplaces. A diverse workforce can lead to improved performance, a more positive work environment and a stronger employer brand. This year, we’ll be expanding and updating our resources to support charities with inclusive hiring practices. We’ll also be updating our candidate demographic data so you’ll have a better understanding of the audience that your job ads are reaching for your charity recruitment in 2025.

3. Candidate quality

Recruiting the right talent is crucial for charities. High-quality hires are more likely to be productive, satisfied and stay in their roles for longer. This can help you to reduce hiring costs and improve overall performance.

We know that recruiters are receiving higher volume of applications, likely due to a combination of factors including increased candidate activity and the prevalence of AI-powered tools. This makes it easier for candidates to apply for multiple roles, but more challenging for recruiters to identify high-quality applications quickly and effectively.

Screening questions

An easy way to highlight quality candidates is to use screening questions, and this is something we offer for free when you post a job using Quick Apply. Add a few short questions into the application process to screen for eligibility or particular required skills and easily weed out the excess applications that don’t meet your criteria.

Look out for: enhanced search and match

This year, we’re committed to making it even easier and quicker for you to find the best candidates. We’ll be enhancing our search functionality to ensure candidates can find your job postings more easily and receive more timely alerts. Additionally, we’re improving our CV match add-on to help you connect with the most qualified candidates for your roles, making the hiring process smoother and more efficient.

As always, we’re here to support you with your charity recruitment in 2025, so if you need any advice on a role, just call your friendly account manager on 020 8939 8430. Or if there’s something else you’d like to see us doing, then please get in touch on [email protected]. Let’s work together to make 2025 a successful and productive year for the charity sector.