Thanks to AI advancements and shifting generational priorities, fundamental aspects of hiring sales and marketing professionals have changed. To help you navigate this new landscape, we’ve identified six trends and strategies employers need to deploy in 2025 if you want to win the talent game.
How many do you already follow? Read on to find out if you’re poised to attract and retain top talent.
1. New High-Value Skills Emerge as AI Evolves
As AI tools become integral to workflows across industries, their impact extends to roles far beyond tech-focused positions. Jobs now demand skills that align with AI’s capabilities, redefining traditional expectations and opening new opportunities.
In-demand sales and marketing skills shaped by AI
AI-based sales skills
- Proficiency in AI-driven CRMs (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot) and prospecting tools
- Analyze customer buying patterns for personalized outreach
- Make data-driven decisions that optimize sales strategies
- Deploy AI-driven sales playbooks and email sequencing tools
- Personalize sales pitches using AI insights from customer sentiment analysis
- Apply empathy-based selling to humanize AI-driven sales interactions
- Generate accurate deal predictions with AI-driven pipeline visibility tools
- Set up up lead nurturing workflows with AI-generated customer insights
AI-based marketing skills
- Mastery of AI-powered marketing automation platforms and content generation tools
- Develop highly-tailored campaigns using customer data and segmentation
- Personalize website experiences and dynamic email content with AI
- Set up A/B tests with AI-generated recommendations
- Manage omnichannel marketing campaigns with AI tools like Google Ads and Facebook Ads
- Align AI-driven customer segmentation with marketing and sales efforts
- Use predictive modeling to anticipate customer engagement and conversion rates
- Build human-like interactions with AI-driven chatbots and live support tools
- Balance AI-based personalization with authentic human storytelling in campaigns
- Bring expert human oversight to AI-generated creative assets, like ad copy or design recommendations
AI isn’t confined to tools for workers, job seekers are leveraging the technology, too.
2. AI and Easy Apply Create an Onslaught of Applicants
Hiring on your own requires sorting through “easy apply” applications filled with AI-generated content. One study found that 58% of job seekers use AI tools to accelerate applications and enhance their appeal.
- 83% of users admit to falsifying skills or qualifications through AI
- 28% use AI to generate answers for interviews
- 26% rely on it for mass applications
Employers must evolve recruiting processes to detect and mitigate these issues while capitalizing on the insights AI tools provide. Alternatively, you can conduct your search through a partner, like ProActivate to open yourself up to more of the candidate market. We source passive candidates for our clients and follow a rigorous qualification process. Contact us to learn more.
3. Be Flexible to Attract Top Talent
The end of 2024 brought headlines about companies mandating employees return to the office. This kind of all-or-nothing approach alienates top talent. People do not want an all in-person work environment. Many want hybrid or fully remote options.
Flexibility is key, and you should not try to recreate what appears to work for another company. Your employees have their own perspective. Mandating policies that do not align with how they want to work will lead to talent attrition and make it harder to fill positions.
4. Provide Transparent Salary Data Upfront
At least ten states require salary disclosures, and more are likely to follow. Even if you don’t live in a state that requires transparency, it serves your best interests to start disclosing pay ranges because it attracts candidates aligned with compensation, saving time and building trust.
Will the salary you offer attract top candidates?
Knowing how your compensation compares in today’s market is critical to attracting top talent. Generic guides often fall short, leaving you guessing at fair salary ranges.
Setting a salary for a salesperson is particularly challenging due to the need to balance a competitive base pay with performance-based incentives like commissions or bonuses. Market rates for sales roles can vary significantly by industry, region, and experience, making it difficult to standardize pay.
Request your free customized compensation analysis
ProActivate’s experts deliver precise, tailored compensation data to help you create packages that stand out. With a 90% accepted offer rate, we know what it takes to secure top-tier talent. Request your free analysis here.
5. Create a Plan to Address Skills Gaps
As technologies like AI ethics, data analytics and automation reshape roles, workers need clear opportunities to adapt their skills.
Why upskilling and reskilling are essential, not optional
Employers who provide targeted training future-proof their teams and foster innovation. Without these initiatives, businesses risk falling behind as skill gaps widen. Organizations that embrace continuous learning will thrive, ensuring their people and processes stay aligned with the demands of the evolving workplace. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
Help your sales team:
- Adapt to AI-enhanced sales enablement platforms and tools
- Manage sales automation workflows via platforms like Outreach or Salesloft
- Use AI chatbots for lead qualification and support
- Integrate AI sales tools into daily operations
Show marketing how to:
- Build AI-driven customer journey maps to optimize lead nurturing
- Automate media buying and bidding with AI-driven platforms
- Synchronize AI-driven campaign schedules and launch sequences
- Comply with GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy laws when using AI-driven marketing tools
- Create transparent messaging about AI usage in personalized marketing campaigns
Plus, offering continuous learning opportunities is a way to attract younger generations, including Gen Z. The professionals at ProActivate hear from approximately 20% of candidates active in the market that they are considering new opportunities based on a lack of training, development or growth in the role.
6. Gen Z Influences Hiring and Workplaces
There are more members of Gen Z in the workforce than there are Baby Boomers. This younger generation has different values and priorities than their older counterparts. To attract, engage and retain Gen Z workers, employers must understand what motivates this cohort.
What Gen Z wants from their careers:
- Purpose-driven work
- Collaborative leadership and decision-making environments
- Boundaries that protect work-life balance
- Opportunities to develop new skills
- Colleagues and bosses they trust
For more information about what motivates Gen Z, read this analysis by Stanford researchers.
Hire Top Sales and Marketing Talent in 2025
The landscape for hiring top sales and marketing talent is evolving, but with ProActivate, you’re never behind. We tackle key challenges like AI-driven skills, pay transparency, and Gen Z motivations head-on. Our process uncovers candidates with the adaptability, drive, and insight to fuel your growth.
Don’t let hiring hurdles slow you down. Partner with ProActivate to build stronger teams, close skills gaps, and gain a competitive edge in 2025.
2025 Hiring FAQs
Q1: What skills will should I prioritize when hiring salespeople and marketers in 2025?
Sales and marketing professions who possess AI fluency, make data driven-decisions, are innovative problem solvers, and know how to align AI tools with their team workflows will provide outsize value to your organization. Their skills will help you gain productivity and put you closer to your revenue goals.
Q2: How should employers handle the surge of AI-generated applications?
Employers must evolve screening processes to detect falsified skills while leveraging tools like ProActivate’s rigorous candidate sourcing and evaluation.
Q3: Why is flexibility crucial for attracting top talent in 2025?
Candidates prioritize hybrid or remote work options over rigid office mandates. A flexible approach tailored to employee needs helps avoid attrition and boosts hiring success.
Q4: How does pay transparency influence hiring success?
Providing salary ranges upfront builds trust, attracts aligned candidates and saves time. Competitive, transparent packages also address pay gaps and enhance equity.
Q5: What motivates Gen Z in the workplace?
Gen Z seeks purpose-driven roles, collaborative environments, work-life balance and opportunities for skill development. Employers must align their strategies with these values to engage this workforce.