Most Search Firms Play it Safe When it Comes to Hiring for their Own Staff

Posted By: Joseph Daniel McCool
Filed Under: executive recruiters, joseph daniel mccool, search firms, search firm hiring index, executive employment market

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Executive search firms continue to follow a cautious course when it comes to rebuilding their teams in the long wake of the recession, an economic crisis that forced most to reduce their own headcount.

In June, ExecuNet's benchmark Search Firm Hiring Index revealed that 22 percent of 153 responding executive recruiters indicated they would be adding new professional research and consulting staff over the next three months, down five points from May.

Percentage of Executive Search Firms Planning to Hire Additional Professional Staff — Next 3 Months

Mixed economic signals have tempered most executive recruiters' optimism that the executive employment market will grow in the next six months, but continued hiring by more than one-in-five search firms suggests the pullback may be temporary.

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Joseph Daniel McCool's avatar 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.