A job posting for a Customer Email Support Specialist received 2,288 applications. A Junior Business Analyst attracted 1,317 CVs, an Office Coordinator 857, a Receptionist 853, and a Junior Financial Controller 848. Recruitment agency Devire analysed more than 1,180 recruitment processes conducted in Poland in recent months and identified the most competitive roles. The findings show a market saturated with less experienced candidates trying to enter specific industries.
Among the most crowded recruitment processes in recent months, junior or near-junior roles clearly dominate. A Junior Training Specialist attracted 790 applications, a Junior HR Manager 662, and a Customer Service Specialist 583. Administrative and reception roles also ranked highly: an Administrative Assistant received 454 applications, while an Office Assistant with reception duties attracted 359.
The impact of job titles with prefixes such as “junior,” “assistant,” or “entry-level” is particularly visible. These roles generate very high interest relative to the limited number of available positions, which are becoming increasingly scarce. According to data from Rocket Jobs and JustJoin.it, roles for experienced specialists accounted for 60.7% of all office job postings in 2025, while juniors had access to only 19.6% of offers. Demand for employees who can operate effectively from day one, without lengthy onboarding, is rising. As a result, candidates without experience fall into a trap: they apply en masse for a small number of roles, competing both with one another and with individuals who have lost jobs at higher levels.
AI is reshaping the first stage of a career
Artificial intelligence is increasingly taking over tasks that were traditionally the domain of junior employees: sorting and responding to emails, basic data analysis, report preparation and handling simple customer queries. For years, these activities served as a natural training ground for people starting their careers. Today, companies are no longer looking for juniors to perform basic tasks and are instead considering how to scale these functions using AI.
On one hand, the number of entry-level roles is shrinking. On the other, expectations for those who remain are rising. Employers now expect junior candidates not only to have basic knowledge, but also familiarity with AI tools, close tracking of industry trends, a ready portfolio and the ability to act quickly. This creates a paradox: to secure a junior position, a candidate must already resemble a mid-level professional.
“We are currently seeing a significant oversupply of candidates for roles with a low entry threshold. This is the result of several overlapping factors, including the growing number of graduates in business and humanities fields, as well as organisational changes in companies that are reducing the number of junior roles. As a result, many people compete for a very limited pool of positions, often applying simultaneously to dozens of offers,” said Adam Ajtner, an expert at Devire.
A market split in two
While hundreds of candidates apply for customer service and office roles, employers face a very different reality on the other side of the market. Positions such as Embedded Development Engineer, SAP BW Data Warehouse Developer, Maintenance Technician, Senior PHP Developer or SAP Authorization Consultant often receive only a single application.
As many as 59% of Polish companies report difficulties in recruitment, particularly in technical and engineering fields. IT specialists and engineers, especially at mid and senior levels, operate in a completely different recruitment environment: they do not look for jobs — jobs look for them. Those who are not actively applying are regularly approached by headhunters, and their periods of unemployment between roles are often measured in weeks rather than months.
“From the perspective of companies, the biggest challenge today is not the number of applications, but their fit for the role. In many processes, we see hundreds of CVs from people who want to enter the industry but do not meet the basic job requirements. At the same time, in recruitment for specialised technical roles, the number of candidates remains limited. As a result, organisations are now operating in a two-speed market: on the one hand, they filter through an excess of applications, and on the other, they actively search for talent that is often in short supply,” Ajtner added.
