A leading indicator of where executive hiring will go this summer and fall remains decidedly positive. In May, ExecuNet's benchmark Recruiter Confidence Index revealed that 66 percent of 162 executive search firm respondents were "confident" or "very confident" the executive employment market will improve over the next six months, up one point from April.

"In some years past, we've seen a seasonal slowdown in executive hiring activity due in part to corporate interviewers and/or management job candidates taking vacations," says ExecuNet President and Chief Economist Mark Anderson.

"But if you consider our latest market data forecasting continued executive job creation and continued recruiter confidence," Anderson adds, "companies don't appear poised to put the brakes on their most critical hires, and summer may actually be an opportune time for job seekers and in-role executives to keep their job search and business networking activities in motion."


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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