The Most In-Demand Job Candidate: The Boomerang

In this lethargic job market, much of the US workforce is staying put, but one small set of employees is on the move in a big way. And guess where they’re going? The answer: Back to their previous employers!

Welcome to the Boomerang Binge. So-called boomerang employees, who make up only 2% of all active employees in the US job market, somehow accounted for 35% of all new hires in March, according to newly released payroll data from payment processor ADP. Experts say that returning employees, who offer many advantages to firms, are one aspect of a larger movement among employers to reduce risks both in hiring and operations. “They’re going with a known commodity,” says Tamara Rodman, a Korn Ferry senior client partner in the firm’s Culture, Change and Communications practice.

It wasn’t that long ago that many organizations considered boomerangs to be old news at best, and personae non gratae at worst. But that attitude started to change in the aftermath of COVID-19, when companies, having laid off so many people during the worst parts of the pandemic, had to bring in people fast. Turning to former employees was a logical step. Indeed, according to a study in the Harvard Business Review, 28% of new hires between 2019 and 2022 were boomerangs.

Boomerangs are particularly common in certain industries. In construction, for instance, employees are often laid off when a project is built, then rehired when a new one starts. In education, many teachers are let go when school lets out for summer, only to be rehired at the outset of the next school year.

This year, however, boomerang hiring is up across the board. All but one of the 11 major sectors ADP analyzed have seen an uptick in such hiring; for nine of them, boomerangs represent 30% or more of new employees. For IT jobs, 68% of new hires this year are boomerangs, up from 34% in 2024. The trend isn’t being driven only from the hiring side, either. As many large technology companies cut back on raises and promotions, some people who had jumped ship might have realized that the grass is not always greener. “They can find that out pretty quickly, and then they want to come back,” says Matt Bohn, a Korn Ferry senior client partner in the firm’s Technology practice.

Many organizations are looking for specific types of employees, chief among them those who have done the role before successfully. For an employer, hiring a boomerang could mean less guesswork about whether a candidate can thrive in a role. Instead of having to go through a potentially time-consuming process—parsing what exactly an applicant did somewhere else, asking for references at other organizations—a hiring manager can just question people within the organization about how the candidate performed their job the last time around. “You have only so many seats that you can fill, and managers are under the gun to get it right,” says Renee Whalen, a Korn Ferry senior client partner and North America consumer market leader for the firm’s Professional Search practice.

Boomerangs can offer the benefits of knowing the corporate culture along with the perspective, and potentially the new ideas, they’ve gathered from working elsewhere. They also can be easier to onboard—often, they can hit the ground running. That said, experts caution against extending an offer to a former employee just because they already have in-house knowledge. The person might have left the firm due to dissatisfaction or lack of opportunities; they may well have lingering relationship problems with former coworkers. “Unresolved issues from the past can lead to tensions,” says business psychologist James Bywater, a Korn Ferry senior client partner. 

Other experts worry that sticking with boomerangs points to a larger unwillingness among many organizations to take any moves perceived to be risky. With revenue growth hard to find in a world filled with uncertainty, many organizations would rather choose a known commodity over a fresh face, forgoing that new person’s ideas, enthusiasm, and potential long-term benefits. “You’re not really expanding your DNA pool,” says JP Sniffen, practice leader of Korn Ferry’s Military Center of Expertise.

Learn more about Korn Ferry’s Talent Recruitment capabilities. 

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