Executive recruiters enter the new year more confident in the growth potential for the executive employment market than they've been since mid-2011.
In December, ExecuNet's benchmark Recruiter Confidence Index revealed that 55 percent of 126 executive search firm respondents are "confident" or "very confident" the executive employment market will improve over the next six months, up 13 points from November.
"We're seeing a real rebound in recruiter confidence, and along with other research indicators such as executive job creation, we're eager to track these leading indicators of economic expansion to determine if they're sustainable through the first quarter of 2012," said Mark M. Anderson, president and chief economist of ExecuNet.
Introduced in May 2003, ExecuNet's Recruiter Confidence Index is based on a monthly survey of executive search firms and recognized as a leading indicator for the economy and the executive job market. A reading at 50 percent or above indicates recruiters are "confident" or "very confident" the number of executive search assignments launched by employers in the next six months will increase.
"As we enter the new year, this register of confidence among executive recruiters is really good news," Anderson added, "because it provides reason for hope and optimism that more employers are getting on with the business of growing their organizations, and that portends good things for the management employment market."