US recruiters expecting a better employment market in the second half of 2003

ExecuNet, a career management and recruiting resource center for executives and recruiters, today released the results of its Recruiter Confidence Poll. The recent survey of 268 recruiters reveals search professionals are anticipating a stronger employment market in the months ahead.

According to the survey, 52% of recruiters are somewhat confident and 36% are confident or very confident that the executive employment market will improve in the next six months. Short-term expectations, while tempered, were also favorable, as 47% of search professionals say they are somewhat confident and 14% are confident or very confident that the market will improve in the upcoming three months.

With 56% of recruiters reporting that business conditions in the executive search industry improved over the past thirty days, these bullish forecasts appear to reinforce that a rebound may be starting.

Working on the front lines of the employment market, recruiters are beginning to benefit from the release of pent up demand for executive talent, says Mark Anderson, President of ExecuNet. Should this momentum continue to grow through the summer months, which is what many in the industry are expecting, the employment market will be on its way to regaining some of the strength it lost during the recession.

Over the next three months, recruiters are expecting a 7% increase in the number of search assignments they receive from companies. For the next six months, this projection increases to 14%.

To help manage this growth, 37% of recruiters report that their firms have plans to hire additional professional staff in the next three months, which is more than double the number (18%) that increased their staff in the past three months.

The last two years have been extremely difficult for the search industry, but it appears the tide may finally be changing, says Anderson. For candidates interested in taking advantage of a rebound, now is the time to get off the career management sidelines. Those who wait until the turnaround is front page news will have missed out on a significant number of new opportunities.

For 15 years ExecuNet has kept executives and recruiters informed of trends in the executive employment market. It is the first source executive and corporate recruiters use to find top executive talent. Founded in 1988, ExecuNet posts upwards of 25,000 executive jobs annually; provides information on salaries and market trends; hosts networking meetings in approximately 60 major metropolitan cities across the U.S.; and publishes four newsletters covering the latest tips, tactics, strategies, and resources for executive job search, career management, networking, and recruitment.