SignalHire's analysis of recruiter searches between January and April 2025 and the same period in 2026 reveals significant shifts in hiring demand. The data, based on tens of thousands of searches on the platform, highlights a crisis in physical therapy hiring and a fundamental change in how technical roles are being sourced.
Physical therapist searches grew 1,473% year over year, while physical therapist assistant searches increased by 5,717%. These figures indicate that the anticipated shortage of physical therapy professionals is already a reality, with recruiters actively sourcing candidates ahead of official projections. The competition for physical therapy talent in 2026 is intense, and early sourcing is critical for filling pipelines before the shortage becomes widely recognized.
Conversely, searches for software engineer dropped 68% globally, with a 75% decline in the UK. This does not reflect a reduction in technical hiring but rather a shift toward more specific titles. Searches for Java Developer surged 3,257% in the UK, while QA and Software Test Engineer searches rose 567%. Hiring managers are seeking specialized expertise rather than general coding skills, as AI tools have absorbed many generalist tasks.
The data also indicates that recruiters are proactively sourcing for roles that will be in high demand, rather than reacting to market trends. For talent acquisition teams, the window between now and when these trends become widely visible in public data is crucial for positioning sourcing operations effectively.
SignalHire, a B2B contact intelligence platform, provides access to over 850 million verified professional profiles with real-time email and phone verification. The platform serves sales, recruiting, and marketing teams globally through its database, browser extension, API, and data enrichment workflows.
