With 2011 looming on the horizon, we thought it would be a good idea to ask Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiters what their clients’ attitudes are toward hiring. After all, a new year is almost upon us . . . a fresh start, a clean slate, so to speak. So we conducted a poll of the Network Membership and posed the following question:

Overall, what are your clients' attitudes toward hiring with a new year on the horizon?

We offered four choices to the question. Those four are listed below:

• They're currently in a hiring freeze.
• They're still reluctant to hire.
• They're more open to hiring contractors as opposed to full-time employees.
• They're in full-blown hiring mode.

First, the good news. Not one person who participated in the poll chose the first option listed above, “They’re currently in a hiring freeze.” That, all by itself, indicates that conditions in the economy are continuing to improve (even if sometimes it doesn’t feel like that’s the case). However, that’s not even the most interesting part of the poll's results. The most interesting part is how the rest of the votes fell.

A little over 48% of those who participated in the poll indicated that their clients are still reluctant to hire.

On the other hand, a little over 46% of those who responded indicated that their clients are in full-blown hiring mode.

"Feast or famine," wouldn’t you say?

As for the fourth option, “They’re more open to hiring contractors as opposed to full-time employees,” only about 6% of respondents chose that option.

The results of this survey mirror what recruiters have been telling us at Top Echelon throughout all of 2010 Some recruiters are enjoying good years, some are even enjoying great years, and some are still enduring very tough times. But the question is this one: what are YOU seeing in the marketplace right now?

Are your clients still reluctant to hire? Are they in full-blown hiring mode? Or are they somewhere in between? And how much of their hiring plans involve contracting? Are they more open to hiring contractors as opposed to full-time employees?

What are you seeing out there?


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