Ah, what a grand title for my last blog of the year! In the interests of transparency, let me contextualise my ‘world’ as: ‘the obsessive quest for executive and senior management level talent on behalf of corporates in desperate need of scarce skills’ (a relatively narrow world, but there you have it)!
And my narrow little world requires me to engage with leaders of big business (either as clients or candidates) in a range of functional disciplines and industry sectors. One of the advantages of which is a birds eye view of trends in executive employment, changes in market segments, and an understanding of what’s hot and what’s not when it comes to top management hiring….which I’m about to share with you (for free):
In the early stages of 2011, the so-called ‘recovery’ from the GFC (that’s the global financial crisis) seemed to be going swimmingly well, with lots of positive sentiment and executive appointments taking place, until the ‘recovery’ fell off a cliff in August. Fortunately, with the memory of the ‘08/’09 GFC still vivid in the minds of corporate decision-makers, it took a lot quicker this time round for leaders to respond, and to realise that key appointments STILL need to be made. So although there was a ‘breather’ for a couple of months, the pace of executive hiring has picked up, and critical roles are being filled (as opposed to being put on hold indefinitely).
In support of the above, I’ve just seen the latest US employment figures via our international IRC partners – and unemployment is at its lowest levels in 3 years! (so I’m not sucking this out of my thumb, for those of you in doubt…).
That being said, some market sectors are as dead as a doornail. Stockbroking is barely breathing at the moment (although it is one of the industries that is quickest to respond to any sign of life in financial markets) – but it does seem as though the heyday of this sector is long gone, possibly never to be seen again in its current format. Corporate finance / Investment banking is another that is extremely quiet – they’re not even hiring top level EE, CA, CFA, MBA and in-a-wheelchair candidates!
To counter-balance this, a sector that actually may add some value to the world (the big wide world, that is – not my narrow little headhunting one) and which shows promise of high level hiring is Renewable Energy (and the broader environmental sustainability sector). As with any up and coming industry, skills are scarce – which of course is great for headhunters J. Another (much less sexy) sector that is likely to experience demand for top people is the Agri industry (as in agriculture). Farming….growing stuff…that kind of thing.
There are several other really interesting trends that I could comment on….but not for free.
So that’s it for now.
Holiday season is almost upon us. Halleluyah! Happy Holidays 
Just one detail…
The reason that the unemployment rate in the USA fell was because roughly 315,000 people stopped looking for work and were therefore not included in the unemployment statistic any more.
Thanks for the note. Have that many people become so disillusioned that they have ‘stopped looking’, or did some of them get employed or find informal work opportunities?