Demand for independent consultants and interim talent across PE and Corporates drives the market to its highest level in over two and a half years
The Hiring Index closed Q2 2026 at 39, its tightest reading since October 2023, after a soft April and May, as new freelance demand and rising job supply drove a sharp June tightening. Freelance and permanent demand are now converging, Private Equity remains the strongest company type on every measure, Corporates and Advisory are building real momentum of their own, and Scale-ups remain the one company type still finding its footing.
Engagement is holding - the story is in the mix
Q2 2026 looked, on the surface, like a straightforward continuation of the tightening market we've been tracking since late 2023. Look underneath the headline number, though, and the real story is about composition, not just level.
In this article we look at what moved in Q2, and conclude:
- The Hiring Index closed the quarter at 39 - its tightest reading since October 2023. Demand shifted a lot over the quarter: April and May were both soft, before a sharp reversal in June, driven mainly by a jump in freelance demand and new-job supply hitting a quarterly high.
- Freelance is converging on permanent, from both directions. Freelance demand did most of the moving in June, with permanent also ticking up but by far less - as much a story of permanent cooling as of freelance accelerating.
- Private Equity remains the strongest company type across the board, with Corporates and Advisory increasing demand of their own, following PE, which started building momentum back in Q1.
Demand for Independent Consultants and Interim across PE and Corporates drives highest demand in market in over 2.5 years
Understanding the numbers
At the heart of our analysis is the Movemeon Hiring Index, a scale from 0 to 100 that measures the balance between candidate supply and employer demand in the strategy and transformation talent market. A higher index reflects more hiring demand, and a stronger market.
June's reading of 39 is the tightest since October 2023. But the path there matters: engagement ran hot through April and May before easing back in June, as new-job supply climbed to a quarterly high. That's a market where employers posted more roles, not one where candidate interest dried up.
Freelance is converging on permanent, but it's a two-way story
New freelance jobs and new permanent jobs are now close to parity, and freelance's index has roughly doubled off its late-2025 lows. It would be easy to read this purely as a freelance boom. It isn't: permanent demand has cooled over the same period, with the permanent index rising far more slowly than freelance's.
Both ticked up in June, but freelance did most of the work - its index moved roughly three times as much as permanent's - and that combination of a cooling permanent baseline with a fast-rebounding freelance market is what's actually converging the two, consistent with what we've heard directly from clients: more businesses bringing in experienced independent operators against specific, time-boxed mandates, rather than building out permanent teams for the same scope of work.
Private Equity keeps its edge, and the commercial picture points the same way
Private Equity & VC remains the standout on candidate engagement, holding the highest index reading of any company type in Q2, a position it has held consistently since early last year. Corporate engagement also stepped up in Q2, moving from one of the softer readings on the board earlier in the year to one of the stronger ones by June.
The underlying commercial picture tells a consistent story. PE continues to extend its lead, and Corporates and Advisory are both building real momentum behind it. Scale-ups are the exception, the one company type still finding its footing, a pattern consistent with the lean, cash-conscious hiring we've seen across that segment through 2025 and into this year.
What's behind it: businesses want impact fast, against specific functional levers
Underneath all of this - the freelance convergence, PE's continued dominance of value, and Corporates and Advisory building momentum of their own - is a consistent pattern in what businesses are actually hiring for. Rather than broad, generalist strategy or transformation mandates, demand keeps concentrating in a set of well-defined functional levers, organised roughly into three groups:
- Strategy - M&A support (commercial due diligence, post-merger integration, opportunity scans) and Value Creation Plan development and implementation planning.
- Transformation and Cost Out - VCP PMO and initiative tracking, org design and target operating model work, procurement and supplier renegotiation, and AI/tech/ERP-led transformation.
- Commercial Excellence and Growth - pricing optimisation, go-to-market and marketing strategy, and sales effectiveness.
The common thread is specificity: businesses know exactly which lever they need pulled, and are increasingly hiring people with direct, repeated experience of pulling it - on a freelance or interim basis as often as a permanent one - rather than building the capability in-house or handing the whole problem to a generalist team.
To find out more about how independent consultants and interim talent could support your business, or more generally on hiring with The Movemeon Group, get in touch with our team.
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