The New Rules of Talent: What 3,000+ Professionals Reveal About Career Success
What makes someone choose an employer? What makes them stay? What makes them start considering something else?
Those were some of the questions DMC Recruitment’s Shawna Wagner, Neda Mirjabari and Annie Hsu explored at IDS Vancouver during their seminar, The New Rules of Talent.
Drawing on DMC Recruitment’s 2026 Salary Surveys across Interior Design, Architecture & Design and Building Materials, the discussion looked beyond salary alone to understand what professionals increasingly expect from their careers and employers.
Four themes consistently emerged:
Culture. Recognition. Progress. Information.
Together, they offer a useful framework for employers thinking about attraction, development and retention.
Culture Is Part of the Compensation Package
Compensation remains important. Among Interior Design professionals surveyed by DMC, 93% identified earning potential as an important consideration when evaluating an opportunity.
But it was not the highest ranked factor.
98% identified culture and working environment as important. Leadership was close behind at 92%. IDS Presentation
That distinction matters.
Professionals are still asking what a role pays, but increasingly they are also asking what working there will actually be like.
Culture goes much deeper than the benefits listed on a careers page. It shows up when deadlines are missed, projects become difficult, employees make mistakes or someone needs support.
It is reflected in how leaders communicate, whether employees feel comfortable asking questions, how responsibility is shared and whether an organization’s stated values survive difficult situations.
For employers competing for talent, that makes culture part of the overall employment proposition rather than something separate from compensation.
Recognition Goes Beyond Salary
Fair compensation is fundamental, but compensation and recognition are not necessarily the same thing.
DMC’s research found that while 93% of Interior Design professionals consider earning potential important, only 38% believe their current compensation is competitive. IDS Presentation
That creates an obvious compensation question, but also a broader one:
Do employees feel that their contribution is understood and valued?
Recognition can come from the organization acknowledging someone’s work. It can come from a leader trusting someone with a larger project, more client exposure or greater responsibility. It can also come from the profession itself through credentials and certifications.
NCIDQ certification provides one example.
In DMC’s Interior Design research, respondents with NCIDQ certification reported an average base salary of $101,831, compared with $76,885 among respondents without certification, a difference of approximately 32%. IDS Presentation
The lesson for employers goes beyond the salary difference itself.
When someone invests in professional development, what happens afterwards?
Does the organization acknowledge it? Does responsibility change? Does it open new opportunities? Is there a conversation about career progression?
Professional development becomes much more meaningful when employees can see how that investment connects to their future.
People Stay Where They Can See a Future
Career progression was another major theme throughout the seminar.
Only 18% of Interior Design respondents said they were planning to change roles over the next 12 months.
At first glance, that sounds encouraging.
But 37% said they were unsure. IDS Presentation
That uncertainty is important.
People do not necessarily leave because they dislike their employer. They may leave because they cannot answer basic questions about their future:
- What can I work toward?
- How do I take on larger projects?
- How can I move toward leadership?
- What skills do I need to develop?
- Is there a pathway toward Associate, Principal or Partner?
- What would I need to demonstrate to get there?
DMC’s research provides a strong indication that this clarity matters.
Interior Design professionals with a defined career pathway reported average job satisfaction of 7.69 out of 10. Those without a defined pathway reported average satisfaction of 6.13. IDS Presentation
Career progression does not have to mean promising a promotion every few years.
It can mean giving someone ownership of a project, allowing them to lead a client presentation, mentoring junior employees, developing a specialization or participating in business development.
Development frequently needs to happen before the title changes.
That also has implications for succession planning.
The seminar highlighted that more than half of Canadian architecture firms do not have a succession plan or ownership opportunities in place. IDS Presentation
Waiting until a senior leader prepares to leave is often too late to begin developing the person who may eventually replace them.
For firms facing shortages at the Project Leader, Associate, Principal or other experienced levels, external recruitment will remain important. But organizations also need to ask a second question:
Who are we developing internally to become the experienced leaders we will need next?
Better Information Creates Better Career Decisions
The fourth rule is perhaps the simplest:
Don’t make people guess.
Only 38% of Interior Design professionals surveyed said they believe their compensation is competitive. Another 31% said it was not competitive, while 31% were unsure.
That means almost a third could not confidently say where their compensation stood relative to the market.
That is partly a compensation issue, but it is also an information issue.
Employees increasingly have access to job postings, salary reports, recruiters and peers who can help them understand their market value. Employers need to be prepared to have equally useful conversations internally.
- What is the salary range for my position?
- Where am I within that range?
- What determines progression?
- What could I earn at the next level?
- What skills or responsibilities would get me there?
These questions become even more important when the market is changing quickly.
Across comparable Interior Design positions in DMC’s 2026 research, 8 of 9 roles experienced median salary growth of more than 5% compared with the previous year. IDS Presentation
An annual salary increase can therefore look reasonable internally while still failing to keep pace with changes in external market value.
Employers do not need to promise employees every outcome they want. But they should give people enough information to understand where they stand and what they can work toward.
The New Rules of Talent
The seminar closed by bringing the four themes back together:
Culture: People are evaluating the experience of working somewhere, not salary alone.
Recognition: Employees want their contribution, capability and professional growth to be acknowledged.
Progress: People are more likely to see a future with an organization when they understand how they can continue developing.
Information: Employees need clarity about compensation, expectations and what progression actually requires.
The common thread is choice.
Retention does not begin when someone hands in their resignation.
It is built through the experiences people have long before they start considering another opportunity.
The strongest retention strategy is therefore less about convincing someone not to leave and more about continually giving talented people reasons to choose you.
