The Knack

Delivering dk updates, highlights, and hiring insight straight to your inbox.

May 02, 2025

A MESSAGE FROM:
Melanie Dabu, Managing Partner
Executive Search & Technology 

Hi, I am writing this during a dizzying week of the US stock market’s see-saw in the wake of US tariff announcements. Meanwhile, we are also hit with headlines of “Fake applicants flood job market” and “AI is changing hiring faster than anyone predicted.” Whether we’re talking about the economy or the job market, I find myself addressing you during a time when the word “uncertainty” dominates the conversation.

But when uncertainty looms, opportunity is also brewing. Doesn’t Uncertainty = Opportunity? Of course. And we’re here for that - so are you - as I expect you’re in our sphere because you have a penchant for innovating in your careers and the companies you build. After all, we are a community of entrepreneurs, builders, and change-agents.

So I am not here to tell you what you already know. Instead, I invite you to expand the paradigm to Uncertainty = Opportunity FOR Compassion. As stewards of how companies hire and how people build lasting careers, in times like these, we sit on the frontlines of fear and anxiety for the unknown. In my 20+ yrs. in the talent asset business, the current level of career insecurity we are witnessing from early-careerists to accomplished executives is simply unprecedented. 

Whether you’re in the hiring seat, a candidate, or somewhere in between that continuum, I challenge us to explore…how can we forge a path forward and deliver excellence with compassion as an anchor?

The Payoffs of Compassion in Action
Leading with compassion has research-backed benefits and in fact, can be a growth lever not just for survival but towards greater success and higher profits. More than this, operating on the pillars of transparency, trust, care, and respect seems like a good use of the agency we have on the little we can currently control.

Putting our “I” towards AI
While AI is already exponentially improving our lives, it’s easy to see how the pitfalls of AI are also taking shape. Forbes’ take on why AI is a double-edged sword for job seekers tracks, with those recruiting and hiring sharing the other side of this dilemma. Since part of intelligence is the ability to adapt and use information to achieve desired outcomes, let’s go into our stakeholder interactions with knowledge and curiosity for where confusion and frustration may stem.

Hope is not A strategy, but it’s part of ours
We’re energized by the bright spots in this market. Many have reported that jobs in the technology sector remain the fastest-growing so far in 2025, with more developments to look forward to across other sectors, as shared by the World Economic Forum. Bain Capital shows a promising rebound in Gen-AI investments in early 2025. And where the quakes of economic and political forces have ruptured the ground, philanthropy continues to step up to close the gaps in ways that create lasting, systemic change.

With compassion and hope, we are happy and humbled to be part of the solution.
Let’s get to work!

Melanie Dabu
Managing Director, Executive Search & Technology
[email protected] | dkrecruiting.com 

Partners’ Perspectives

Want a Stronger Workplace Culture in 2025?

DK’s Mina Rozenshine uses her expertise as a Certified Co-Active Executive Coach to share how our feedback habits shape culture.





Why Bad Interviewers Can Be Great Hires.

DK’s Cassie Rosengren shares her take on how the ‘confidence-competence’ paradox, thin slicing, and more can blind us from hiring the exact talent organizations need to thrive. 

Success Story

Acquisition-Ready:
Doubling Space Vector’s Core Teams Ahead of Strategic Exit

  • Increased workforce by 25% in 1.5 years.

  • Dynamic pricing saved SVC 50% when compared to traditional recruiting fees.

  • Diversified talent pipelines & workforce, exceeding industry benchmarks.

  • Hired across 5 niche & distinct functions.

Space Vector Corporation
(acquired by: Fiscia, Inc.)

Industry Insights


🔄 Attrition & Retention

  • 12%: Voluntary attrition rate considered healthy. Rates above 15% signal caution, and above 18% indicate a red flag (Index Ventures, Statista).

  • 13.5%: Average ‘25 voluntary attrition rate for US Tech Sector, down from 17.3% in 2023. SDRs, Marketing, and HR functions have the highest attrition rates (LinkedIn Recruiter).

⏳ Hiring Benchmarks

  • Team Growth Expectations: As companies scale from 51 to 125 employees, they can anticipate losing approximately five engineers and three marketers due to attrition (Index Ventures).

  • Team Composition Shifts: In U.S. SaaS companies with 125 employees, about 41% of the organization is technical, while 32% is in go-to-market roles (Index Ventures).

📉 Talent Shortages & Market Dynamics

  • 13,000+ tech workers have been laid off in 2025, yet demand for specialized technical talent remains high, creating a paradoxical job market (Capstone IT).

  • 75% of companies hiring AI talent report doing so too quickly, often without building sustainable pipelines of qualified candidates (Deloitte).

Digital Knack is now DK

We help leaders navigate the complexities of startup hiring without complication or confusion. For us, simplicity isn’t just a design choice, it’s a service standard.

That’s why we’re continuing to simplify and streamline ourselves. Including our name.

Digital Knack is now DK.
https://dkrecruiting.com/

Did You Know?

ChatGPT is now multimodal. It can "read" and understand images now—including diagrams, handwritten notes, memes, or even blurry whiteboard photos (so it claims). If you scribble a business model on a napkin or snap a photo of your org chart, it will help make sense of it. Have you tried this yet?

That’s a Wrap for The Knack!

Our Best,
The DK Partners