Although it is not a perfect proxy I believe there is a high correlation between executive search forecasts and the demand for consultants. Essentially they are both measuring the need for highly skilled, executive level talent to do defined work.

ExecuNet recently published its periodic Recruiter Confidence Poll which indicated employers are emphasizing business development and sales roles that can push organizational performance in this challenging economy. Executive recruiters believe that leaders with proven business development and sales experience and a track record of consistently high results will be most in demand in the executive employment market over the next six months.

Here are the areas where recruiters see the greatest growth in executive hiring in the next six months:

• Business development (17.3%)
• Sales (15.0%)
• Engineering (10.4%)
• Operations management - including supply chain, logistics, quality (8.7%)
• Marketing (8.7%)
• Consulting (8.2%)
• Finance (7.9%)
• Research and development (7.7%)

Our experience at M Squared Consulting is that full-time hiring trends tend to mirror demand for interim and consulting professionals. A quick census of the M Squared Talent Network offers reassurance that we can meet client demand for this expertise.

This entry was posted by Kimball Norup on Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 at 8:37 am in Consulting, Executive Search, Management Consulting, Project Professionals. Feel free to leave me a message about this post below.