THE TAX JOB MARKET IS MOVING. SLOWLY.

Another summer has flown by. The 9/15 deadline is behind us, and most of you are focused on getting through 10/15. Last week marked 25 years since 9/11. It made me wonder how the tax community was affected by the tragedy. I wasn’t recruiting at the time, and I’d be interested to hear what firms and their clients experienced, including how filing deadlines were handled. If any of you seasoned pros have stories from that period, I’d love to hear them. So, what’s happening in the job market for tax professionals now? The short answer is that it’s moving, but damn it’s moving slowly.

Hiring continues in public accounting, corporate tax departments and the roles that fall somewhere in between. But nobody seems to be in a rush to get people hired and on board. Honestly, I can’t blame them. The economic data I read is a mix of somewhat good, okay and not so good. Nothing great and nothing terrible. Yet. Uncertainty makes people cautious. Employers drag out hiring decisions while they wait for clearer information and hope the right choice will become obvious. Eventually, the pain of being short-staffed outweighs the uncertainty, and a hiring decision gets made. That’s some Eastern philosophy-level patience right there.

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On the supply side, candidates are being just as cautious. The people most in demand, usually the two-to-eight-year worker bees, are hesitant to make a move without confidence in the new employer’s long-term stability. The big pay increases we saw in the past have also slowed way down. That makes it even harder to leave a place where you might be a superstar and walk into something that may not be your jam. For the foreseeable future, I expect more of the same. Unless we get significant economic news pointing clearly up or down, the safe bet for employers and candidates is to proceed with caution.

My self-serving plug is that the bigger your network, recruiters included, the more opportunities you can consider. Looking for a new job is a job in itself. If you’re not working, it’s an emotional job. If you are working, it’s just a pain in the butt. I’ve often compared job seeking to having a wisdom tooth removed. That frustration also brings me to something many people call age discrimination. As someone who has moved from the prime of my career into the more seasoned category, meaning older, I have a few thoughts. Age discrimination is real, but not every rejection is about age. Hiring managers also make judgments about attitude, adaptability, comfort with technology and how someone might fit with the team. Experienced candidates can hurt themselves when their experience comes across as resistance to change, new systems, different management styles or learning something new.

If I had a penny for every time an older candidate told me they weren’t selected, or were let go, because their salary was too high, I’d have a lot of pennies. Sometimes salary really is the reason. Other times, that explanation is easier to accept than asking whether we came across as current, flexible and excited about the work.

My advice isn’t to act younger. It’s to show that you’re current. Bring energy. Be specific about the new tools you’ve learned, the changes you’ve handled and the ways you keep developing. Employers don’t need you to pretend you’re 35. They do need evidence that you’re willing and able to keep moving.

Workers Demanding Record Pay to Switch Jobs

In today’s uncertain labor market, reservation wages—the minimum salary workers say they’d accept for a new role—hit an all-time high of $88,387 in July 2026, up over $10,000 from March 2025. Despite a weak hiring environment, workers are holding firm on pay demands, driven by AI concerns, recent layoff waves, and the real risk of leaving stable employment. As Chris Martin, senior economist at Glassdoor, notes: “It’s harder to come by an offer, so the amount that I need to be paid or that I expect from a new role is higher than it would be otherwise.”

The good news for job switchers: the wage premium is real. Workers who successfully negotiate new positions are seeing better wage growth than those who stay put—and offer wages for switchers have been rising over the past year. This means candidates who are willing to make a move from a position of strength can command significantly higher compensation.

Long-Term Jobseekers Navigate a Unique Psychological Challenge

Over a million Americans have been unemployed for at least six months—without an economic recession to blame. Unlike previous periods of extended unemployment, this trend is unprecedented in a relatively healthy labor market, leaving jobseekers without a clear external explanation for their struggles. Many are pointing to AI, age discrimination, and ghost job listings as culprits, but without a recession to justify the difficulty, unemployed workers are increasingly turning inward, questioning whether something is wrong with them rather than the market.

According to sociologist Ofer Sharone at UMass Amherst, this self-blame has real consequences: when jobseekers lack a clear external explanation for rejection, it erodes mental health, confidence, and the psychological resilience needed to sustain a long search. The human cost is substantial. Workers like Jeremy Spiegel (40s, 2 years unemployed), Jon McCarty (60s, 18 months unemployed), and Kymberly McClain are navigating repeated rejections and eventually accepting positions below their previous pay or outside their fields entirely. For recruiters, this signals an opportunity: candidates currently employed are holding firm on wages and demanding compelling offers to move, while long-term unemployed candidates—however overqualified—may be more receptive and realistic about compensation.

JOB BOARD

State Indirect Tax Manager – CO (Hybrid), $125K–$140K + Bonus – Seeking a Tax Manager who will oversee a group of Indirect Tax professionals.

Senior Tax Associate – Denver (Hybrid) $80K–$110K + Bonus – A boutique tax practice – supports middle market businesses.

Whether you’re hiring or looking to get hired, please reach out if I can be a resource. Good or bad, right or wrong, tax is my world. I’m also happy to refer you to someone else if you need help outside of tax.
Good luck with the 10/15 deadline. As you wind down afterward, we’ll be heading into our busy season.

Jay McCauley,

Executive Recruiter

jay.mccauley@oxfordtaxrecruiting.com

303-730-0100