At Edgility, we’re always listening—to clients, to candidates, and to the trends shaping the talent market. In this conversation, Christina Greenberg (CEO, Edgility Search) and Naomi Roth-Gaudette (Founder, NRG Consulting Group) unpack what candidates are looking for at different stages of their careers, and how organizations can adapt to meet those needs.
Whether you’re hiring for your next executive or reflecting on how your organization supports talent across generations, this 8-minute chat offers real-world insight from the field.
Naomi shares that entry- and early-career professionals are eager for in-person connection and mentorship. Many are seeking hybrid environments, typically three days a week in the office, that offer both flexibility and a sense of belonging. “They want a great boss and a great mentor,” Naomi says. “Culture and community matter deeply.”
Christina agrees, noting that younger workers benefit from proximity: it’s where they build networks, gain recognition, and learn through experience.
Christina points out that while in-person culture supports growth, flexibility remains crucial, especially for parents and caregivers. Organizations must balance community-building with work-life flexibility, tailoring policies that recognize employees’ different life stages.
For professionals in their 30s and 40s, Naomi emphasizes that flexibility doesn’t mean working less—it means working smarter. “They want to work 40 to 50 hours a week,” she says, “but they want to shape those hours around life’s realities.”
Christina adds that at Edgility, flexibility is built into how teams work: a few core hours for collaboration, paired with the freedom to structure the rest of the day. The focus is on outcomes and accountability, not micromanagement.
Naomi raises a question many hiring managers overlook: if a role is fully remote, does it truly need to be restricted by time zone? Opening searches more broadly, she argues, can expand the diversity and depth of candidate pools and stretch budgets farther.
Christina shares examples of team members successfully working across time zones, even internationally, by coordinating around core collaboration hours.
As Christina notes, many seasoned professionals in their 50s and 60s still want to contribute meaningfully, yet face subtle age bias in the hiring process. Naomi agrees: “We’ve learned to challenge bias around race and gender—but age bias still slips through.”
Some senior candidates are ready to take on “number two” roles after years of executive leadership, but hiring teams often hesitate to believe them. Both Naomi and Christina stress the value of skills-based hiring exercises that focus on what candidates can do, not who hiring teams imagine them to be.
Christina closes by underscoring a key takeaway: effective hiring starts with clarity. “It’s about defining the skills and experiences that matter,” she says, “and believing people when they tell you what they’re ready for.”
As the workforce continues to evolve, one thing remains constant: people want work that fits their lives, not the other way around. From flexibility and mentorship to belonging and purpose, understanding what candidates value helps organizations attract and keep great leaders.
At Edgility, we help organizations find, hire, and keep the leaders their work deserves, and we’re here to share what we’re learning along the way. If you're ready to get started or would like to chat with an expert, reach out to us here.