December is typically a difficult month for a lot of businesses outside of the retail world. Things slow down for a number of reasons. Decision makers at many companies get busy with the holidays or are out on vacation. Deals in the process of getting done can be put on hold until after the 1st of the year if not urgent. Many companies look at year end budgets and planning for the following year and choose to hold off on things. That's the normal course of action for year end and it all makes sense. We typically have okay business in early December, maybe have a deal or two that are critical and need to be done before the end of the year, and then things slow down.

The last two years have been anything but typical in the recruiting business and in business in general out there. However, this December feels pretty normal. We have decent numbers and there are some new needs for recruiting here and there. More to the point, conversations with clients are much more normal than they have been over the last couple of years. That's a really good sign. We are hearing from clients who have definite new needs coming up now or very likely right after the holidays. Others are talking positively about potential needs in the next month or two and these needs are in a wide range of industries. So I would say that the general tone out there has improved quite a bit and that bodes well for the near term outlook. In recruiting and in many businesses, it pays to get a jump start on things by filling up your pipeline in December. Smart companies in a position to do so are getting their ducks in a row now for a good start to next year. Nobody knows for sure what 2010 will bring and there are a ton of really negative factors out there for the long term. However, the general feel right now is much more normal than we've seen for a while and that's a good thing.



Todd Kmiec
Todd Kmiec & Associates
todd@toddkmiec.com