Most hiring trend articles focus on job titles, technical skills, or salary shifts. Useful, but incomplete. The more interesting signal is often hidden in what employers choose to measure. Not what they say they want, but what they actively assess at scale.
In the Q4/2025 Hiring Intelligence Report, based on 2.1 million candidate assessments across 2025, the “fastest-growing traits” section reveals a different story to the usual narrative about hiring for stability and resilience.
Yes, emotional steadiness remains central. But the fastest-rising traits show that organisations are also selecting for something else. Social connection, broader role scope, and renewed performance expectations.
If you recruit, support hiring managers, or lead teams, this is the section worth paying attention to. It hints at how work is being redesigned for 2026.
The fastest rising traits of 2025
Across all roles and industries, several traits climbed sharply in assessment popularity during 2025. These are the fastest movers in the report.
Humour: up 14 ranks (from #28 to #14)
This is one of the strongest year-on-year rises. It suggests employers are recognising the practical value of positivity and morale in pressured environments.
Humour, in this context, is less about being entertaining and more about emotional agility. Teams under strain often need people who can lift the mood, reduce tension, and keep collaboration constructive.
Gregarious: up 13 ranks (from #21 to #8)
Gregariousness rising strongly is a signal about collaboration friction. Organisations are measuring social ease and relationship-building more explicitly, which is particularly relevant in hybrid and cross-functional environments.
When handovers are frequent and communication is mostly digital, interpersonal ease becomes operational value. It reduces misunderstandings and speeds up alignment.
Variety: up 9 ranks (from #19 to #10)
Variety is a direct signal about job design. It indicates growing demand for people who thrive on switching between tasks, managing multiple priorities, and operating in less predictable workflows.
This aligns with how AI is changing work. As routine tasks become easier to automate, humans often inherit the exceptions, judgement calls, and context switching.
Competition: up 8 ranks (from #17 to #9)
Competition rising suggests a renewed emphasis on performance orientation, particularly in commercial and outcome-driven functions.
It also suggests a shift in how organisations are balancing culture and results. Performance is being prioritised more explicitly again, but it is rising alongside collaboration-related traits. That combination is meaningful.
What each trait suggests about organisational priorities
1) Humour signals a focus on morale and cohesion under pressure
A rising interest in humour suggests employers are acknowledging that team performance depends on more than process and capability. It depends on how people behave when pressure builds.
In distributed teams, where cues are missed and misunderstandings are easier, morale and tone matter. People who can keep interactions constructive often protect performance by reducing friction and stress.
2) Gregariousness signals that relationship-building is being treated as a core work skill
Many organisations have realised that hybrid work does not remove the need for connection. It makes it more important to build it intentionally.
When gregariousness rises, it implies employers want candidates who can form working relationships quickly, communicate easily, and keep collaboration moving without heavy managerial intervention.
3) Variety signals broader roles and less predictable work patterns
Variety rising is a clue about modern work structure. Roles are becoming wider, and the “clean handover” model is less common. People are expected to cover more ground, switch context, and adapt to shifting priorities.
AI contributes here. It speeds up parts of the workflow, but it also creates more moving parts. Different tools, faster iterations, and more rapid shifts in what “good” looks like.
4) Competition signals performance expectations tightening again
Competition rising suggests that some organisations are reasserting performance culture. They want people motivated by targets, comparisons, and winning outcomes.
The nuance. Competition appears alongside social traits like gregariousness. That implies employers are not only chasing aggressive individualism. They want drive that still functions inside a team.
Risks if these traits are assessed poorly
When traits like these rise in popularity, the risk is that organisations interpret them too loosely and hire based on style rather than substance.
Humour does not mean “banter culture”
Humour in hiring can become a dangerous proxy for “fits in” or “sounds like us”. That opens the door to bias.
Used properly, humour signals emotional agility, tone management, and the ability to keep collaboration healthy. It should never be assessed as “did I find them funny”.
If you assess humour poorly, you risk selecting for social similarity rather than performance contribution.
Competition needs guardrails
Competition without constraints can damage teamwork. It can drive short-termism, internal rivalry, knowledge hoarding, and unhealthy pressure.
The goal is not competition at any cost. The goal is drive paired with judgement and collaboration. Recruiters and hiring managers should define what “healthy competition” looks like in that role and how it is rewarded.
Variety needs clarity on workload expectations
Hiring for variety can become a cover for poor job design. If a role is vague, overloaded, and constantly changing, selecting someone who “likes variety” does not fix the structural issue.
Variety should reflect breadth and change, but within a defined operating model. Clarity on priorities, decision rights, and workload management is essential.
How Clevry supports consistent measurement
The challenge with traits like humour, variety, and competition is consistency. If one interviewer likes the candidate’s personality and another does not, decisions become inconsistent and biased.
Clevry helps by providing structured, evidence-based assessment and benchmarking. That means:
- clearer trait definitions tied to role outcomes
- consistent scoring across candidates
- benchmarks by role and function
- decisions based on comparable data rather than individual interviewer interpretation
This is especially valuable when hiring at scale, hiring across multiple locations, or hiring for roles where culture and performance both matter.
What this signals for 2026 hiring
The fastest-rising traits are a strong signal that the “ideal hire” profile is evolving.
Organisations still want emotional steadiness. That remains clear. But they also want:
- people who strengthen collaboration and reduce friction
- people who can handle broader, less predictable roles shaped by AI and changing workflows
- people with competitive drive, provided it is channelled properly
In 2026, many teams will be looking for candidates who can perform consistently without destabilising the environment around them.
If you want to see how Clevry helps you benchmark and assess these traits consistently across roles, so you can hire with confidence rather than gut feel, you can book a quick demo here.
