In October, ExecuNet's benchmark Recruiter Confidence Index revealed that 37 percent of 139 executive search firm respondents are "confident" or "very confident" the executive employment market will improve over the next six months, up five points from September.

Introduced in May 2003, ExecuNet's Recruiter Confidence Index is based on a monthly survey of executive search firms and recognized as a leading indicator for the economy and the executive job market.

A reading at 50 percent or above indicates recruiters are "confident" or "very confident" the number of executive search assignments launched by employers in the next six months will increase.

Most search firms have assumed a "wait and see" approach to rebuilding their staff. In October, ExecuNet's benchmark Search Firm Hiring Index revealed that only 19 percent of 139 responding executive recruiters indicated they would be adding new professional research and consulting staff over the next three months, down one point from September.



The past three years have been unkind to most executive search firms, with many forced to reduce headcount to offset a significant falloff in new executive search assignments during that time. The loss of jobs across the executive search business has been felt within large, global firms to small boutique firms.

The silver lining is that nearly one-in-five executive search firms is planning to add staff, reflecting some optimism that new assignment volume will increase from the opening of new management roles, corporate approval for search assignments that have been delayed in recent months, and/or from organizations' choices to replace underperforming business leaders with new management hires.

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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