👋 Welcome to this 🔒 subscriber-only 🔒 edition of the Cultivate newsletter, where we curate resources to accelerate your career in social impact.
📩 Were you forwarded this email by a friend?
The job market shifted dramatically in 2025:
Employers were inundated with applications using AI, while candidates got fewer responses
The social impact sector experienced seismic changes to funding, with some issue areas scaling dramatically while others shrunk
The demand for functional roles shifted to meet the moment
Cultivate runs All Hands — the largest talent matchmaking program in social impact — so we have access to enormous amounts of data about the state of the job market. For the first time ever, we’re sharing our top findings directly with our community.
Keep reading for recommendations for how to navigate the changing market.
🔍 How to find a senior leadership role in 2026:
Cultivate will open up (4) 1:1 career coaching slots in January. These are specifically tailored for job-seekers at the executive level who need customized support to pivot their career search strategy.
📈 5 ways the social impact job market changed in 2025:
Functions focused on infrastructure and growth thrived: IT, Operations, Software Engineering, Marketing and Accounting had the most new jobs on the All Hands job board.
What this means ➡️ The more you can position your expertise to focus on critical infrastructure and growth, the more luck you might have finding roles.
Demand for data science roles decreased: While many job-seekers searched for roles in data, All Hands saw fewer data roles posted than in previous years. For the roles that were posted, a focus on AI and machine learning was more common than in years past.
What this means ➡️ Edit your resume and LinkedIn to highlight what you’ve learned about how to leverage new tools.
Q1 and Q4 remained busy hiring seasons: We consistently see significant hiring happen in Q1, when many organizations have refreshed budgets and strategic plans. All Hands saw a significant uptick in Q4 2025 as organizations prepared for the 2026 election, and stalled funding began moving in response to the Trump administration.
What this means ➡️ Prepare to hit the ground running with networking and applications in the new year.
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