How can I recruit smart, fast, and sustainably in a cautious labor market shaped by economic and legislative change? This is the question that many HR leaders and managers are asking at the beginning of 2026 regarding recruitment.
After a year of adjustment in 2025 – with more cautious hiring, carefully managed budgets, and prudent decision-making – 2026 comes with a clear focus: productivity, retention, and strategic partnerships, not just hiring. Recruitment is no longer about volume, but about value – about people who truly deliver results and fit your company’s direction and goals.
This is exactly where the experience of the BIA HCS recruitment team makes the difference. For over 33 years, we have been a trusted consulting partner for companies in Romania, providing them with the right candidates for their teams, as well as guidance on labor relations and adapting to legislative changes.
👉 Find out from Cristina Scarlatescu, Recruitment Manager at BIA HCS, and Andreea Dumitrescu, Senior Recruitment Manager at BIA HCS:
-
What were the biggest achievements of the BIA HCS recruitment team in 2025, measured in projects, success rates, and delivery time
-
What BIA HCS is aiming for in 2026 and how the lessons learned in 2025 will be applied in a more cautious economic context
-
The advantages of working with BIA HCS in recruitment – what a true consultative partnership looks like in practice and the lesser-known services we provide
-
The biggest sources of satisfaction for our clients in 2025
-
Recommendations for HR leaders who are postponing hiring but still want to keep a strong and competitive employer brand
-
How to prepare in advance for the new salary transparency obligations
-
The role of AI in recruitment, the new legal limits coming into force in 2026, and why the human element remains essential
What were the biggest achievements of the recruitment team in 2025, measured in projects and success rates?
In 2025, the BIA HCS team managed 93 recruitment projects, most of them for specialist, middle-management, and management roles.
✅ 96% of recruitment projects were successfully completed using direct search and headhunting techniques. We recruited specialists, middle management, and top management.
✅ Most projects were delivered in the following industries:
-
Construction
-
Design & Architecture
-
Retail
-
Finance & Accounting
-
Medical
-
Consulting
-
Telecommunications
-
Automotive
✅ Our candiidate database grew by 12% compared to last year and now includes approximately 14,000 candidates.
What are your goals for 2026? What did you learn from 2025 that you want to apply going forward?
2025 was a year of adjustment rather than a boom: hiring slowed down, salary increases became more moderate, and restructuring became more visible in medium and large companies. Employers began hiring more selectively, focusing on productivity and efficiency rather than volume. Our goal is to meet this need by identifying candidates who can truly deliver value and results.
Our objective is to stay close to our partners and provide solutions tailored to their business, their recruitment challenges, and their budgets. We aim to be a consultative partner, not just a candidate supplier. We want to contribute to recruitment, training, and employee retention through communication and transparency, so that the impact is visible not only in the short term.
Companies that choose BIA Human Capital Solutions gain not only workforce flexibility but also a secure, efficient, and sustainable HR solution.
We also focus on building partnerships based on shared values between agency, candidate, and client.
We are grateful that many partners return to us for new roles, which confirms that we are the right teammates for them.
IF YOU PARTICIPATED IN A SALES PITCH WITH LEADERS OF COMPANIES, WHAT WOULD YOU TELL THEM ABOUT RECRUITMENT THROUGH BIA HCS? WHY SHOULD THEY choose the BIA HCS RECRUITMENT TEAM?
We believe in communication and mutual understanding, so we would invite them to an open conversation about our stable, experienced team, with strong results across multiple industries. We bring over 15 years of recruitment expertise.
Our values – passion, dedication, perseverance, and vocation – guide everything we do. In any partnership, alignment in vision, values, and goals is essential.
Our expertise, results, and client feedback (*which you will see below) make the decision easier when choosing a long-term recruitment partner.
ARE THERE ANY LESSER-KNOWN SERVICES THAT THE BIA HCS RECRUITMENT TEAM OFFERS TO COMPANIES?
One of them is Specialized Recruiting – hiring for highly specific and hard-to-fill roles in niche fields such as engineering, healthcare, or finance. This service uses a highly detailed, tailored search methodology focused on technical expertise and relevant experience.
What were the biggest sources of satisfaction for the clients you recruited for in 2025?
BIA clients had many reasons to be satisfied with their collaboration with the recruitment team:
Fast and efficient recruitment of candidates – A short recruitment and selection time that allows the client to quickly fill open positions can be a major source of satisfaction. Clients appreciate the efficiency of the recruitment process, especially during peak periods or when they urgently need staff.
Quality of selected candidates – Another aspect highly appreciated by clients is the quality of the candidates placed in the organization. When they are a good fit for the organizational culture and perform well, this leads to high client satisfaction.
Retention rate of new hires – Clients are often pleased when new employees stay with the organization long-term. A high retention rate indicates that the recruitment process was well executed and that employees are satisfied and well integrated.
Personalized services and consulting – Clients who receive customized solutions based on their specific needs (such as recruitment for niche roles or management positions) feel they gain added value through strategic consulting and tailored services.
Transparency and constant communication – Collaborations characterized by open and transparent communication throughout the recruitment process are highly appreciated. Clients feel more comfortable when they are kept continuously informed about progress.
Improved working environment due to hiring the right talent – Satisfaction also comes from the positive impact new hires have on the work environment and the productivity of existing teams. Employees who contribute significantly to team success directly impact overall organizational performance.
How do you measure the success of collaboration with clients?
Success is not only about completing a recruitment project, but also about building a lasting relationship with the client, which can lead to repeated collaborations or to the expansion of the services provided.
A large part of the success of the BIA HCS team’s collaboration with clients can be evaluated through:
-
The percentage of placed candidates who are accepted during the selection process and actually hired by the client
-
The number of accepted job offers, which indicates the success of the recruitment process and a good match between candidate and client
-
The analysis of how long recruited employees stay with the company. A high retention rate reflects the quality of selection
-
Constant and transparent communication, which is essential for a successful collaboration
Some companies are currently postponing hiring due to economic changes. What guidance do you have for them?
For companies that are holding off on hiring due to economic uncertainty, our advice is to use this period for thorough internal analysis and to prepare future recruitment processes so they are ready to act when conditions stabilize. Here are a few useful guidelines:
-
Assess priorities: Identify the roles that are critical to business success and worth investing in when hiring resumes.
-
Temporary staff, freelancers, and consultants can be a flexible solution to support short-term or temporary projects.
-
Evaluate your employer brand: Employer branding is no longer just a nice message—it is a lived, coherent, and authentic experience, from the first contact to final feedback. The key differentiator will be authenticity: candidates will expect salary transparency, respectful processes, and social proof from inside the organization.
-
Networking and partnerships: Use this time to build long-term relationships with candidates and recruitment agencies. This will make hiring easier once economic stability returns.
-
Flexible onboarding: Prepare an onboarding program that can be quickly implemented, including for remote teams.
-
Work flexibility: When hiring resumes, consider flexible working options (remote, hybrid, flexible schedules). Flexibility can be a competitive advantage in attracting top talent even in uncertain times.
Maintaining an effective recruitment strategy should remain a priority, ensuring success when the time comes to grow.
Therefore, companies in waiting mode should review their recruitment strategies, remain flexible, and prepare their HR infrastructure to respond quickly to labor market demands and navigate economic challenges successfully.
Considering the new obligations related to pay transparency, how can companies prepare in advance?
Directive (EU) 2023/970 introduces concrete obligations that change the way companies recruit, set salaries, and communicate internally and externally. To avoid last-minute pressure and potential risks (complaints, litigation, reputational damage), companies can start preparing in advance in several key areas:
✅ Salary transparency from the recruitment stage, by displaying the salary or salary range in job ads. There must be no gaps larger than 5% for the same role within the same department.
✅ Employers must ensure that job advertisements and job titles are gender-neutral and that recruitment processes are conducted in a non-discriminatory manner, so that the right to equal pay for equal work or work of equal value is not affected.
✅ Interviewers should no longer ask: “What was your salary in your previous job?” – According to Directive 2023/970, employers are not allowed to request information about candidates’ salary history in their current or previous employment.
How can BIA HCS support companies in this context of pay transparency?
Our objective is to help our partners turn the requirements of Directive 2023/970 into clear and workable processes, without affecting recruitment efficiency. The BIA HCS recruitment team provides:
-
Consulting for defining salary ranges by role and seniority level, so that communication during recruitment is coherent and fair
-
A strong focus on equity in job ads, interview discussions, and offers
-
Support in defining criteria for evaluating roles of equal value (skills, effort, responsibility, working conditions), so that salary structures are easy to explain and sustainable
-
Recommendations for managers and HR teams on transparent negotiation and avoiding subjectivity
-
A consultative approach (together with the HR consulting team) for the reporting that companies must prepare. Under Directive 2023/970, employers will report indicators such as: average gender pay gap, median gender pay gap, differences in variable pay, and distribution across salary levels
What role do technology and AI play in recruitment, and how does BIA HCS maintain the balance between digital efficiency and the human approach?
AI can support the search and initial filtering of CVs, the organization of candidate information, and the structuring of recruitment processes, helping to reduce working time.
At the same time, the European Union has adopted the AI Act, the first comprehensive regulation dedicated to the use of artificial intelligence. It classifies AI tools used in recruitment as “high risk” and imposes strict legal requirements. These obligations are expected to come into force from August 2026, bringing increased responsibility for employers.
In this context, the BIA HCS team approaches recruitment in a human-centered way. Assessing motivation, team and cultural fit, communication, and final hiring decisions cannot be left solely to algorithms. At BIA HCS, technology is used to support efficiency, while professional judgment and direct human interaction remain the foundation of fair and sustainable recruitment.
Conclusion
2026 will not be about “hiring more,” but about hiring better. About clarity, balance, and accountable decisions. If you feel the pressure of economic change, new regulations, or the lack of suitable talent, you are not alone. Now is the time to see recruitment as a strategy, not as a short-term reaction.
Choose to work with partners who understand your business, communicate transparently, and build sustainable solutions—not just short-term results. Invest in people, in clear processes, and in relationships based on shared values.
READ ALSO: