Report Is Bullish On Executive Employment

NORWALK — Having tracked trends in the executive job market for 20 years, ExecuNet — a leading business and career membership network for senior-level executives — released its annual Executive Job Market Intelligence Report which reveals that executive recruiters are more positive than they have been in the past five years.

The report, which surveyed a total of 5,733 business executives, provides fresh insight on trends in the executive employment market, including:

ExecuNet’s Top Ten Trends in the Executive Employment Market

1. Despite continuing slow growth for the overall economy, 25 percent of companies are expected to add new executive positions in 2012. The management-level jobs picture is brightening.

2. Executive recruiters are more positive than they have been in five years and are expecting an average 21 percent gain in executive search assignments in 2012 compared to last year.

3. Top ten industry growth sectors for executive hiring show continued strength in health care, technology and life sciences, but major gains are also expected for the manufacturing, business services, and consumer products sectors in 2012.

4. The top regional growth areas are now the Northeast and the Southwest.

5. Sixty-seven percent of executives are going online to achieve more digital visibility and shape their online identities so they can be found for business and career purposes. Sixty-six percent of executives recognize networking is best way to open up and connect with new career opportunities and don’t feel their current networks are broad enough to help them achieve business and career success.

6. Fifty-five percent of executive recruiters say companies are increasing executive salaries and bonuses to retain top management talent.

7. Sixty-seven percent of executives say their companies are focusing more on executive retention now than they did last year.

8. Meanwhile, 58 percent of executives had updated their résumé in the prior three months and were primed to consider their career options.

9. Executives and companies are investing in peer networks to achieve their goals.

10. Expected compensation is increasing and the balance of perks and salary is changing, too.

Source: www.ExecuNet.com

From a purely corporate perspective, companies are indeed looking to grow in 2012. ExecuNet’s market research finds that more than one-quarter of employers are adding new management positions and more than half of employers are selectively “trading up” with new hires for existing executive roles to fill gaps or improve teams.

While the pace of executive hiring is not equally spread across industries, further evidence of a continuing recovery in the executive employment market is revealed in the finding that only two percent of companies are continuing the management cutbacks that many began to institute in 2008.

“Consistent and effective business networking remains the catalyst for executive career advancement, yet we’re also witnessing the continued emergence of professional networking as a tool for business intelligence, brand-building, resource planning and global expansion,” said Chief Executive Officer Dave Opton, who founded ExecuNet in 1988.

ExecuNet’s 20th Executive Job Market Intelligence Report is at www.execunet.com/executive-jobs-report.cfm