Getting into another niche in the DC/Metro market - what is hot?

Good morning DC area recruiters! I hope you all are well and that you are ready for the holidays.

I wanted to get your thoughts this morning on the possibility of getting into a new niche in the DC/Metro area. To give you a bit of background, I have been in the business for a year and I recruit primarily top-level administrative support professionals (Executive Assistants/Office Managers/Personal Assistants). It has been a good year for me, but as some of you may be experiencing, the business is definitely slowing a bit and administrative professionals are often the first to go in tight times.

I am very fortunate to have an owner who has given me and several other recruiters at the company free reign to explore other verticals to expand our business in the coming year. In our current model we work the local market and meet all candidates face to face, but are open to changing this as well.

My question is: If you had a team of 5-7 experienced recruiters, what might be a good market/niche to explore in the coming year and why? So far I have heard IT, engineers, and healthcare markets are still seeing quite a bit of action. What are your thoughts?

Thanks!
Jesse

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ben Gotkin on December 19, 2008 at 10:51am

Jesse - Great question. In this market, you can't go wrong with anything government-related. These are extraordinary times, and the government is just beginning to take extraordinary actions to address the economy, the environment, the infrastructure, healthcare etc. I think that new spending in these areas will create numerous new government-related roles that we haven't necessarily seen in this market before. Defense and Intel-related IT and Engineering has been hot and will continue to be hot.

Keep an eye on new government initatives, but also keep an eye on the specific locations where this work will be. Also keep an eye on the BRAC, which will be opening up thousands of new defense-related jobs in places like Aberdeen, Frederick, Columbia, Bethesda and Ft. Belvoir.

Permalink Reply by Jesse Samuelson on December 19, 2008 at 11:46am

Ben - thanks for your response and I really appreciate the input! Are most of these positions that you are speaking of through government contractors or are they employed directly through the government? I have heard that the new administration will be cutting down on the use of government contractors in the long term but I am not sure if this would affect these positions you are talking about…thanks again.

Permalink Reply by Ben Gotkin on December 19, 2008 at 2:56pm

Jesse - I'm thinking government contractors. They will still play a key role in whatever happens going forward. Focus on what big contracts result from these new initiatives and who is bidding on the work.

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