As North American employers set their sights on achieving 2011 strategic goals, they are more focused on rebuilding and upgrading their senior management teams, according to the latest Executive Job Creation Index data.

In March, ExecuNet's exclusive Executive Job Creation Index revealed that 33 percent of employers are expected to add new executive management roles over the next six months, and 50 percent are forecast to leverage the economic climate by selectively trading up with new hires for existing executive jobs. Only 2 percent of employers are expected to continue eliminating executive jobs during the same period of time according to the 155 executive recruiters who participated in the monthly ExecuNet poll. The remaining 15 percent of employers were expected either to avoid adding new management roles or choose not to fill existing leadership vacancies.

ExecuNet's Executive Job Creation Index 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 Executive Job Creation 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. In March, that figure reached 28 points, representing the fifteenth consecutive month the index has held in positive territory.

"Job creation at the senior management level is increasing; we believe that's a very strong indication that the economy recovery is continuing and that businesses realize they need to invest in top managers in order to realize their strategic objectives," says ExecuNet President and Chief Economist Mark Anderson. "Our market research shows there is more movement in the executive employment market, and with executive recruiters gaining confidence in corporate hiring plans, we believe business leaders will be exposed to more career opportunities and transition options this year than at any time since the first half of 2008," Anderson adds.

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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