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Filed Under: Executive Employment Market

 
When it comes to rebuilding their teams, most executive search firm leaders are adopting the same approach many of their corporate clients have adopted: not before we get some real, sustained clarity on the future direction of the US economy.

In September, ExecuNet's benchmark Search Firm Hiring Index revealed that 20 percent of 142 responding executive recruiters indicated they would be adding new professional research and consulting staff over the next three months, which was unchanged from August.

 

Published on: Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Search Firms’ Own Hiring Plans Impacted by Economic Uncertainty

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In the face of lingering economic uncertainty, most executive search firms are working toward full utilization of their existing research and consulting teams before pursuing new hires.

In August, ExecuNet's benchmark Search Firm Hiring Index revealed that 20 percent of 126 responding executive recruiters indicated they would be adding new professional research and consulting staff over the next three months, down just one point from July.

 

 
Executive recruiters — like many other business owners these days — remain cautious when it comes to investing to rebuild their firms.

In July, ExecuNet's benchmark Search Firm Hiring Index revealed that 21 percent of 154 responding executive recruiters indicated they would be adding new professional research and consulting staff over the next three months, down just one point from June.

 

 
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.

 

 
Management Hiring Expected to Remain Steady until Fall Elections

Executive recruiters report the management employment marketplace is showing improvements in certain sectors of hiring activity but is also marked by lingering employer hesitancy about investing in new projects and leaders ahead of a more convincing economic recovery and the fall elections.

Signs of business reinvestment and increased executive hiring in select industry segments such as healthcare, technology and life sciences, and for management roles in sales, business development, engineering and marketing reveal no immediate indication of a "double dip" in economic growth.

In September, ExecuNet's benchmark Recruiter Confidence Index found that 50 percent of 147 responding executive recruiters are "confident" or "very confident" the executive employment market will improve over the next six months, up four points from August.

 

 
Slower hiring by companies – even when they have vacant leadership roles – has dampened executive recruiters' confidence in overall management hiring activity through the end of the year.

In August, ExecuNet's benchmark Recruiter Confidence Index revealed that 46 percent of 181 responding executive recruiters are "confident" or "very confident" the executive employment market will improve over the next six months, down four points from July and the first index reading below 50 percent since October 2009.

 

 
Slow but steady hiring for executive management continues to move some US employers closer to their strategic goals, but lingering economic uncertainty is tempering executive recruiters' confidence that the pace of job growth will accelerate over the next six months.

In July, ExecuNet's benchmark Recruiter Confidence Index revealed that 50 percent of 163 responding executive recruiters are "confident" or "very confident" the executive employment market will improve over the next six months — down from 58 percent in June and a 2010 high of 65 percent in May.

 

 
Executive recruiters' optimism about growth in the executive employment market over the next six months softened slightly in June, but their confidence in management hiring plans in the short-term hit a two-year high.

In June, ExecuNet's benchmark Recruiter Confidence Index revealed that 58 percent of 174 responding executive recruiters are "confident" or "very confident" the executive employment market will improve over the next six months, down from 65 percent in May.

But confidence about the continued growth of the executive employment market over the next three months reached a two-year high in June, hitting 51 percent.

 

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