ExecuNet's benchmark Recruiter Confidence Index revealed that 54 percent of 153 executive search firm respondents were "confident" or "very confident" the executive employment market will improve over the next six months, down 12 points from May.

A string of mixed economic indicators and continued challenges related to unemployed weighed on recruiter confidence, which nonetheless remains in positive territory and which has trended very positively over most of the past 12 months.

"On the surface, and especially in the wake of a string of disappointing economic signals and perhaps some seasonal influences, our latest data reflects a real sense of caution on the part of employers," says ExecuNet President and Chief Economist Mark Anderson. "But lift the cover of short-term economic uncertainty from the broader trend lines, we're still left with a decidedly positive story line about management-level hiring plans and activity, albeit it at a somewhat slower pace," he added.


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.

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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