Yesterday I received an email from ExecuNet which had a link to a recent post on their website: “Recruiter Confidence Jumps Amid Positive Economic Indicators.” In the article they explain that they poll Executive recruiter’s confidence quite regularly and explain that in their most recent poll 61% of respondents were either “confident” or “very confident” that executive hiring will improve over the next six months.

What really struck me was the chart that showed the results of their polling since 2007. As you may recall from 2003- Mid 2007 were really good times for the recruiting
industry. The third quarter things started to look a bit scary and by the end of the fourth quarter we were seeing signs that there may be serious danger ahead for the economy and job
market. You could see in their chart that less than 50% they polled were confident from the end of 2007 until May of 2009 with the exception of January, 2008. Then again, the first quarter is typically the biggest quarter for recruiters so it makes sense that those who responded in January would have been confident. My point is that those that respond to this poll are seemingly pretty smart. Please check out the article and the chart.

I know for many of us 2010 was a difficult year, although please keep in mind that the chart asks search professionals about their confidence toward hiring over the next 6 months. I hope those that were “very confident” were very right this time for all of our sake and although I didn’t see or reply to the pole I would have been in that category.

Please check out the article and chart here http://tinyurl.com/22mwdjp .

To those of you who are still down or concerned about the job market and the recruiting space know things will get better. In the spirit of this report and the corresponding Jimmy V week “Don’t Ever Give Up!” What, you don’t know who Jimmy V is or about his foundation for fighting Cancer? Then click here http://tinyurl.com/6s6xlq . Need some more inspiration? Then check out one

of the most inspirational speeches I ever heard; Jimmy Valvano’s 2003 speech at the 1993 ESPY Awards here http://tinyurl.com/5l62xd
.