Nigel Frank’s eagerly anticipated 2025 Careers and Hiring Guide is now live! Over the last 15 years, it’s become the must-read guide to the latest workplace trends, sentiments, and developments across the Microsoft Cloud ecosystem—and this year’s edition is no different!
From expert analysis of the job and hiring markets across the Microsoft landscape to unique data on certifications, skills, and the latest salaries worldwide, the report is packed full of unmissable insights for Microsoft professionals and hiring managers alike.
This year, you’ll once again be able to access our full survey findings and commentary on our microsite, which is free to view right here!
And if you’re one of the many who look forward to our annual salary tables providing an unrivalled snapshot of salary benchmarks for a whole host of Microsoft roles across the globe—good news! Our salary report and key findings are available for download here (oh, and did we mention it’s entirely free?!).
And that’s not all! Our Careers and Hiring Guide also features actionable advice from some of the leading experts and thought leaders in the Microsoft Cloud space, offering limitless takeaways that you can start applying in your own career or organization today.
Our Career Spotlights also return this year, showcasing the most in-demand Microsoft roles and digging deeper to unearth the skills and certifications you need to succeed in them.
In short? Whether you’re seeking your next career move, aiming for a promotion, or looking to address a skills gap in your team, our 2025 Careers and Hiring Guide is guaranteed to help you on that journey.
Don’t believe us? Here’s a taster of just some of the unmissable insights on offer in this year’s comprehensive report:
Over half (51%) of hiring managers (down from 57%) recognize an IT skills gap within the Microsoft community. However, 41% believe the gap has widened over the past year.
A drop in hiring managers recognizing a Microsoft skills gap sure looks promising at face value.
But when scratching beneath the surface, we found that 41% of those hiring managers believe the gap has widened over the past year, while another 43% report no change. This suggests that, for many, the skills shortage hasn’t been tackled sufficiently or may be part of a broader issue.
Six in 10 (59%) respondents currently hold at least one Microsoft certification, with those having earned a certification reporting an average salary increase of 19%.
It’s encouraging to see a rise in certified Microsoft professionals compared to our last survey, with an impressive 73% of those respondents believing that accreditation made them a more valuable professional.
However, despite the 45% of those who received a post-certification pay raise boosting their salary an average of 19%, the remaining 55% didn’t notice a change in their pay. This suggests many employers could be doing more to recognize the new knowledge and skills being injected into teams, motivating and supporting employees by either funding their certification costs or offering a financial incentive for successful certifications.
Increased competition for talent (36%) and talent retention (33%) came out on top of the biggest tech staffing challenges IT hiring managers will face over the next 12 months.
With talent attraction and retention remaining a significant challenge for hiring managers this year, it’s perhaps unsurprising that it currently takes, on average, six months and two weeks to find a new Microsoft hire.
Organizations should reflect on this data and dig deeper into our Careers and Hiring Guide to uncover the steps they can take to overcome common attraction and retention hurdles by better understanding what candidates are really looking for from an employer. For example, 66% are actively investing in employee skill training to stay competitive in the market.
Soft skills (56%) ranked top of the qualities that contractors told us were vital to freelance success.
With over a third (35%) of full-time employees telling us that they would consider a switch to contract work in the coming year, it’s important to know the fundamental factors that set them up for success.
Soft skills like communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and conflict management were deemed the essential qualities to have in your arsenal by current Microsoft freelancers—a skill set any full-time professional eyeing up a move should build before taking the leap.
Just 42% of organizations have invested resources into EDI initiatives, a disappointing drop of 14% since last year.
A significant drop in the number of organizations investing resources in EDI initiatives is, of course, disheartening and highlights plenty of room for improvement.
Whether this trend is a result of complacency, budget restriction or reallocation, we can’t forget how important it is to keep conversations like these at the top of the agenda—not just to avoid missing out on potential talent, but also to ensure the Microsoft community still encapsulates the diverse, inclusive, and collaborative ethos it was built on.
A massive 90% of Microsoft professionals are offered some degree of remote working, with only one in ten working in-office five days a week and 41% working entirely remotely.
It’s pretty clear by now: remote working—in whatever capacity—is here to stay.
Just 13% of Microsoft professionals indicate they’d be happy to work in an office five days a week, marking a decline from the previous survey for the third consecutive year. But while the preference for flexibility is clear, employers should remain cautious about diving head-first into remote working—especially when a quarter (24%) of employers report managing remote employees as a top staffing challenge.
Instead, consider how 48% of respondents cited a flexible arrangement as their ideal approach to work. With this year’s results up 2% from 2023 and 3% from 2022, it’s evident that this best-of-both-worlds option is continuing to gain traction, providing employers with a strong indication of what candidates expect from them in today’s market.
Whether you’re looking to advance your career, attract top talent, or stay ahead of industry trends, our comprehensive Careers and Hiring Guide has everything you need to navigate the ever-changing Microsoft landscape in 2025. Don’t miss out—explore the full report and download the latest salary tables today!
