Healthcare’s Hiring Heatwave: Why 2025 is the Year to Double Down on Talent

While many industries are still feeling the drag of an unpredictable labor market, healthcare is sprinting ahead. At Twenty80, we’re seeing it firsthand from both clients and candidates: this sector isn’t slowing down—it’s evolving fast and demanding more.

📈 The Numbers Tell the Story

As of Q1 2025, job postings in healthcare remain well above pre-pandemic levels in virtually every category. Here's what the data is showing:

• Therapy roles (Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, etc.) are up nearly +100% compared to February 2020.

• Registered Nurse (RN), Nurse Practitioner (NP), and Nursing Assistant postings continue to dominate job boards nationwide.

• Therapy roles have grown +8.5% YoY, bucking national trends of decline in most other industries.

• Physician and Surgeon postings are flat YoY, but that’s a strength in this market—most sectors saw double-digit declines.

• Mental and Behavioral Health roles (e.g. Clinical Psychologists, Counselors) are on the rise, driven by continued post-pandemic mental health needs.

• Telehealth roles (like Telehealth Coordinator and Telehealth Nursing) continue their growth trajectory—2020 to 2025 has seen a massive increase in these postings as hospitals invest in hybrid care delivery models.

And let’s not forget this: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that nurse practitioner jobs will grow 45% this decade—making it one of the fastest-growing occupations across the board.

🔥 Top Hiring Titles in Healthcare Right Now

According to LinkedIn and other major platforms, these are the hottest jobs in 2025 healthcare:

• Registered Nurse (RN)

• Nurse Practitioner

• Nursing Assistant

• Physical Therapist (named one of LinkedIn’s Top 25 Fastest Growing Jobs in the U.S.)

• Medical Assistant

• Home Health Aide

• Medical Technologist

• Telehealth Coordinator

• Clinical Psychologist / Behavioral Health Therapist

🧠 Skills That Stand Out in 2025

The healthcare workforce is becoming more dynamic—and so are the skillsets employers are demanding. It’s not just about clinical credentials anymore.

In-demand skills now include:

• Digital Literacy – Comfort with EMRs, EHRs, telehealth platforms, and healthcare informatics.

• Technical Proficiency – Especially in hybrid roles like medical coding, virtual care coordination, and remote diagnostics.

• Soft Skills – Communication, emotional resilience, and cross-functional collaboration have become essential, especially in interdisciplinary teams.

• Wellbeing Support – Ironically, the ability to support others’ wellbeing has become a “skill” many postings are now emphasizing.

🏥 Onsite vs. Remote: The Reality in 2025

Let’s be real—healthcare remains the most onsite-reliant industry in the workforce today. You can’t fill nursing shifts or conduct physical therapy via Zoom. That said, hybrid and remote roles are gaining ground in certain areas:

• Telehealth Triage Nurses

• Mental Health Therapists via video sessions

• Medical Coders and Insurance Liaison roles

• Administrative professionals doing hybrid scheduling, billing, and support

Still, geographic maldistribution is a growing concern: rural areas face severe shortages, while urban hospitals fiercely compete for limited pools of available clinicians.

📉 Compared to Q1 2024

While other industries saw major pullbacks, healthcare kept growing. Here's how 2025 compares to this time last year:

• Travel Nurse demand has normalized (way down from the 2021-2022 crisis peak).

• Wage growth for nurses has cooled to around 2% YoY, suggesting less bidding war behavior, but sustained demand.

• Clinical roles remain hard to fill, with many postings still going unfilled for weeks—or months—especially in under-resourced regions.

• Administrative role hiring has slightly eased as some health systems aim to control costs, but frontline clinical roles are still red-hot.

🧭 What It Means for Employers

Hiring is no longer just a volume game—it’s about speed, specialization, and understanding what matters to candidates.

At Twenty80, we’ve expanded our Healthcare division specifically to meet this moment. We’re focused on filling high-impact clinical and allied health roles across the country—contract or direct hire. Whether you’re a rural provider struggling to fill a nursing shift, or a health system building a hybrid telehealth team, our approach is personalized, fast, and backed by deep sector knowledge.

We’re also tapping into non-traditional pipelines—nurses returning to the workforce, physical therapists open to relocation, and tech-savvy RNs exploring hybrid roles.

Our advantage? We focus on the top 20% of talent that delivers 80% of the impact.

Let’s Talk

If you’re hiring in healthcare right now, the challenge isn’t demand—it’s who you trust to find your next great hire.