75 Percent of Employed Executives Open to New Career Opportunities

August 4, 2009 – According to the 2009 BlueSteps Executive Mobility Survey, despite the recession, 75 percent of currently employed executives are likely or very likely to consider a new job opportunity. The most important factor in an executive’s decision to leave their current employer is poor company values, with 74 percent of respondents rating this as extremely important, up from 64 percent from 2007. Poor company values has replaced lack of career development as executives’ most pressing concern when deciding to leave a company; 63 percent of executives voted lack of career development as extremely important in 2009, down from 74 percent in the 2007 survey. “This openness toward new opportunities during a very difficult and unstable economic climate indicates that executives realize the importance of taking career management into their own hands, and that mobility plays a large part in that,” said Della Giles, director of BlueSteps.com. “While executives are still concerned with traditional things like professional development and responsibilities, they are also now more concerned than ever with the company culture and values.” Survey results also showed an increase in competition for executive level roles, as 56 percent of respondents reported feeling more competition for senior level positions now than five years ago. BlueSteps.com, a service of the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC), is an online global database of senior executives.