Executive search firms continue to take a cautious position when it comes to doing their own hiring, reflecting broad uncertainty about the future course of the economy and how it will impact corporate executive hiring plans.

In November, ExecuNet's benchmark Search Firm Hiring Index revealed that only 19 percent of 180 responding executive recruiters indicated they would be adding new professional research and consulting staff over the next three months, the same number as registered in October.

Despite the conservatism being exhibited by executive search firms regarding the expansion of their own consulting and research teams, there are signs of life and potential growth among executive recruiters.

"In November, we saw executive recruiters forecasting more search assignments in the coming months and projecting an increase in revenue through the first quarter of 2012," said Mark Anderson, president and chief economist of ExecuNet. "While our data continues to show real caution on the part of executive recruiters, we're also beginning to see some data that would suggest the potential for growth and expansion sometime in 2012."

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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