ExecuNet's Executive Job Creation Index (EJCI) dropped seven points in August, reflecting slower business hiring activity anticipated in the next six months. However, the rate of hiring among those who expect to add executive jobs in the next six months outpaced those planning to eliminate or postpone filling top positions by four points, reflecting a positive — if cautious — hiring trend.

The August EJCI data, based on an ExecuNet survey of 181 executive recruiters, revealed that executive recruiters anticipate 53 percent of companies will leverage the economic climate by selectively "trading up" management talent with new hires for existing executive roles, and 20 percent will add new leadership roles.

That hiring appetite was tempered, however, as the number of recruiters expecting companies to wait to fill executive job vacancies increased to 13 percent in August from seven percent in July. An additional 11 percent of companies are expected to maintain their current management staffing, while three percent are expected to eliminate executive roles through the end of 2010.

ExecuNet's EJCI is based on a monthly survey of executive search firms and reflects responding executive recruiters' expectations of how companies are managing their executive talent needs. The Index compares the number of companies expected to add executive positions over the next six months versus those planning to downsize their management teams or delay filling vacant management roles.

Joseph Daniel McCool
Joseph Daniel McCool is senior contributing editor with ExecuNet and principal of management recruiting/succession advisory firm The McCool Group. He is also the author of Deciding Who Leads: How Executive Recruiters Drive, Direct & Disrupt the Global Search for Leadership Talent, recognized widely as "one of the best business books of 2008," and its Brazilian Portuguese translation, Escolhendo Líderes, published in June 2010.

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