Getting a Job Will Be Tougher in 2026

David Morgan January 20206

Summary

The UK executive job market in 2026 will be tougher than ever, not just because of AI, but because the mandatory shift towards skills-based hiring means candidates must prove subjective soft skills like Emotional Intelligence and Critical Thinking quantitatively to automated screening systems, creating a difficult and controversial new barrier.

The Digital Gauntlet: AI and the ATS Barrier

The most controversial element of the 2026 hiring market is the manner in which soft skills are assessed. The vast majority of applications are filtered through Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and increasingly by AI-driven screening platforms. This presents a critical challenge: a skill that relies on human interaction and nuance must first be articulated and verified in a format legible to a machine.

Organisations are increasingly demanding formal proof of skills, with up to 53% requiring verified evidence depending on the role. This shift renders the traditional CV insufficient. Candidates must transition from simply claiming a soft skill to demonstrating its impact through quantitative achievements.

The inability of automation to assess deep human traits creates an inevitable barrier. While AI is adept at filtering keywords related to digital literacy, it struggles profoundly with subjective traits like ‘leadership’ or the outlier skill of humour. 

Humour, cited by some experts as vital for stress relief and connection, is inherently non-quantifiable and impossible for an ATS to verify, yet remains a desirable human attribute.

Effective assessment is now migrating toward structured, blended methods: practical situational tests, work samples, and competency-based interviews.

This means executives cannot rely on reputation alone; they must prepare to demonstrate precisely how they led, how they solved a problem, and how their soft skills translated into measurable ROI. The hiring process itself is becoming a strategic assessment of human capability, filtered by digital efficiency tools that are often poorly equipped to interpret the very qualities they seek to measure.

Addressing the Challenge: Navigating the 2026 Market

For senior professionals, navigating this challenging environment requires a proactive and strategic overhaul of their personal narrative. The solution lies in merging the human touch with the quantitative evidence that satisfies the algorithmic gatekeepers.

Firstly, candidates must meticulously audit their CV and professional profiles, using the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) method for every significant achievement. Instead of merely stating "Excellent communication skills," an applicant must demonstrate: "Led a cross-functional collaboration initiative to streamline quarterly reporting (S/T), resulting in a 40% reduction in scheduling conflicts and improved inter-departmental clarity (A/R)." This practice ensures that human attributes are linked to hard numbers, making them legible to both ATS filters and hiring managers.

Secondly, continuous professional development (CPD) must pivot towards high-value interactions. This includes proactively seeking out cross-functional assignments and formal mentorship to build perspective and strengthen adaptability. As digital tools handle routine tasks, the value-add of the human executive is increasingly defined by the ability to manage ambiguity and complexity.

Finally, executives must be ready to speak the language of both empathy and economics. When presenting human-centric initiatives, such as improving culture or wellbeing, the case must be made with hard metrics and projected ROI. 

The ability to articulate empathy and experience with productivity metrics is the new currency of the C-suite.

Conclusion

The 2026 job market, particularly at the executive level, is tightening not because of a lack of roles, but because of a heightened demand for a profoundly difficult combination of attributes: specialised digital expertise coupled with exquisitely demonstrated human skills. The increased difficulty for candidates stems from the need to traverse the 'digital gauntlet'—proving subjective, nuanced competencies to objective, keyword-driven systems.

Recruiters are struggling to find the perfect match, and applicants are struggling to articulate their innate human value in a machine readable format. For those prepared to upgrade their professional narrative, adopting a rigorous, evidence-based approach to showcasing their soft skills is non-negotiable. Only by linking human leadership directly to commercial performance can executives hope to successfully navigate the contradictions of the modern UK hiring landscape.

Contact me if you need help with a career move in 2026.