Most executive search firms are focusing on fully utilizing their existing consulting and research teams on client search assignments before moving to rebuild their own staffs.

In December, ExecuNet's benchmark Search Firm Hiring Index revealed that only 19 percent of 126 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 November and October.



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

"In December, executive recruiters reported they expect an increase in the number of search assignments from corporate clients, and they're more confident overall," said Mark M. Anderson, president and chief economist of ExecuNet. "Four out of five search firms want to see sustained growth in their business before they invest to grow their own teams, and after the economic tumult of recent years, that appears a wise approach."

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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