Economic Uncertainty Creating New Opportunities and Challenges for Corporate Leaders
“Thanks in part to an aging workforce and global economic growth, the demand for executive talent continues to increase while the threat of a recession looms.” says Mark Anderson, president and chief economist at ExecuNet.
Despite evidence that the economy could continue to shed temporary and entry-level jobs, recruiting and retaining executive-level talent will remain a challenging priority for companies in 2008. Following a healthy 24 percent increase in search assignments in 2007, more than 70 percent of search firm and corporate human resource professionals believe there is a shortage of executive talent, and two-thirds (67 percent) say the war for executive talent has intensified over the last year amid increasing economic uncertainty.
Highlights from the 2008 Executive Job Market Intelligence Report:
- Executive recruiters expect search assignments to climb 17 percent in 2008, while corporate recruiters are forecasting a 10 percent increase in executive-level job opportunities at their companies.
- The industries expected to generate the most executive job growth in 2008 include: high tech, healthcare, business services, pharmaceuticals/biotech, and energy/utilities.
- Approximately 60 percent of all employed executives report they are satisfied with their current jobs. However, for the 40 percent who are not, boredom and a lack of advancement are the most cited sources for their discontent.
- Just 12 percent of executives pointed toward compensation as the reason why they’re looking to leave their current company.
- Total executive compensation increased 5.7 percent in 2007 and is expected to grow another 6.2 percent in 2008.
- Despite increasing shareholder scrutiny, approximately half of all executive compensation packages negotiated in the past 12 months featured perks, including company cars, club memberships, housing, and favorable loans – up from 38 percent in 2006.
- Nearly all (86 percent) corporate human resource executives and 61 percent of search firms report that they do not routinely post positions with a total compensation of $200,000 and above on public websites.
- A staggering 74 percent of executives believe their resume probably never reaches the decision-maker when submitted electronically through a company website, and 72 percent agree or are unsure that most positions listed on online job boards are phony or already filled.
- Despite an average age of just 49, 44 percent of executives expect that their age will negatively affect their ability to land their next position.
- Recruiters don’t deny that age can be an issue, but 71 percent of search consultants say their clients are less focused on age than they were in prior years; and 57 percent of corporate HR executives say that when over 50, the candidate’s age is not a negative factor in hiring decisions.
For more information on these topics and others including executive tenure trends, the fastest growing functions, and most effective job search strategies, a free summary of the 2008 Executive Job Market Intelligence Report is available at http://www.execunet.com/MarketReport. For more detail on candidate sourcing, compensation packages and the market outlook, recruiters can access the talent market summary at http://www.execunet.com/TalentMarketReport
