By Olga Fragis, Founder & CEO, Live Assets IT Staffing Solutions
Most hiring plans for next year are being written right now, in budget meetings, as a number of headcount and a salary band. I want to make a case for writing yours differently, because the thing that will decide your 2027 is no longer the budget. It is whether the person you need will say yes.
There is a line from this year’s research that I have not been able to shake. In Experis’s 2026 tech talent outlook, built on more than 4,000 employers, the conclusion was blunt: talent has become the limiting factor in technology transformation. Not capital. Not strategy. People.
That changes what a hiring plan is for. If talent is the constraint, then planning headcount in a spreadsheet is planning the easy part. Here are the five moves I would make before January, based on what we are seeing place, and not place, every week.
1. Treat AI Literacy as a Baseline, Not a Specialism
The demand signal is impossible to miss. AI and machine-learning job postings rose 88% year over year this autumn, roughly five times the growth rate of tech roles overall. But the more useful shift is quieter: employers are no longer only hunting for AI specialists. They want AI literacy across the team, from the developer to the analyst to the project lead.
For 2027, stop treating AI as one role you hire once. Ask of every role you plan: does this person need to work fluently alongside AI tools? Increasingly the answer is yes, and that belongs in the brief from the start.
2. Hire for the Human Skills AI Makes Scarcer, Not Cheaper
Here is the part that surprises people. In that same research, the skills employers ranked hardest to find were not all technical. Communication, collaboration and teamwork topped the list at 41%, ahead of every specific technical skill.
That is not soft. As AI absorbs more of the routine technical work, the human parts, judgement, communication, the ability to bring people along, become the differentiators. We made this case about what a great recruiter does that an AI agent never will, and the same logic applies to the people you hire. Write these into your 2027 scorecards deliberately, because they are the first things a keyword filter drops.
3. Build the Pipeline Before You Have the Vacancy
The market is tight and getting tighter. Demand for tech talent is at a three-year high, and it is spreading well beyond tech companies into banks, hospitals, and utilities. When everyone is hiring the same profile, the role you post in February is already behind.
The employers who win in a tight market are the ones who treat talent as a relationship, not a transaction. Know who is out there before you need them. That is slow work, and it is exactly the work a good recruiter does on your behalf between your searches, so the shortlist exists the day the role is approved.
4. Make Upskilling Part of the Hiring Plan
Not every gap is a hire. In the research, 95% of employers said they are using a mix of strategies to deal with talent scarcity, and the single most common one was upskilling and reskilling the people they already have.
For 2027, look hard at your current team before you open a requisition. The person who can grow into the role is often a safer bet than a stranger who looks perfect on paper, and far cheaper than the cost of a senior hire that does not work out. We have written about the real cost of getting AI hiring wrong, and the cheapest version of that mistake is the one you avoid by promoting from within.
5. Replace Credential Screens with Capability
The old filters, degree, years of experience, brand-name employers, are getting less reliable every year, especially as AI reshapes what a given role even requires. Skills-based hiring is not a trend any more. It is how a tight market forces you to find people the credential screens would have buried.
Going into 2027, audit your own filters. Every “minimum five years” and “degree required” is a gate, and some of those gates are keeping out exactly the person you need. Decide which ones measure capability, and quietly retire the rest.
Common Questions About 2027 Tech Hiring
What will tech hiring look like in 2027?
Demand is expected to stay strong but selective. Employers are prioritising AI literacy across roles and the human skills, communication, collaboration, adaptability, that AI does not replace. With talent cited as the limiting factor in technology transformation, availability, not budget, is the main constraint heading into 2027.
What tech skills are most in demand for 2027?
AI and machine-learning skills are growing fastest, with postings up 88% year over year, and AI literacy is becoming a baseline expectation across many roles. Alongside them, employers rank communication, collaboration and teamwork as the hardest skills to find, ahead of any single technical skill.
Should we upskill our current team or hire externally for 2027?
Most employers are doing both. In recent research, 95% use a mix of strategies, and upskilling or reskilling existing staff was the most common response to talent scarcity. The practical answer is to check whether a current team member can grow into the role before opening an external search.
How early should we start hiring for 2027 roles?
Earlier than feels necessary. In a market at a three-year high for demand, the strongest candidates are rarely available on the timeline of a posted vacancy. Building relationships with potential hires before the role opens is what gets you a shortlist on day one.
The Plan Behind the Plan
A headcount number is not a hiring plan. It is a wish. The plan is everything underneath it: the skills you will actually screen for, the pipeline you build before you need it, the people you grow instead of replace, and the filters you are honest enough to retire.
Talent is the limiting factor now. The employers who plan for that, rather than for the budget, are the ones who will have the team they need when 2027 actually arrives.
Planning your 2027 hiring and want a head start on the talent?
We place IT and technology professionals across Toronto, the GTA, and beyond, and we build the relationships long before the role opens. If you want a straight conversation about what your 2027 team should look like, we would be glad to have it.
Get in touch today, here.
Sources: Experis / ManpowerGroup 2026 Tech Talent Outlook, and the Dice and CompTIA tech jobs reporting for autumn 2026.
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