Executive Recruiting Industry Building Momentum

May 13, 2010 – The first quarter of this year showed further positive signs of recovery for the senior executive search industry around the world with annual growth of 30.2 percent in new executive search mandates and a 22 percent gain in revenues, according to new data from the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC). All industry sectors included in the survey enjoyed annual and quarterly increases in new search activity with the most significant annual growth witnessed in the financial (+39.2 percent) and technology (+37.3 percent) sectors. This was followed by notable yearly growth in life sciences/healthcare (+26.4 percent), consumer (+25 percent) and industrial (+20.1 percent). “These global search industry statistics confirm that senior executive recruitment is continuing its pullback from the rigor mortis of 12 months ago,” said Peter Felix, president of the AESC. “While the first quarter figures are in themselves encouraging, what is more so is the cumulative growth since our industry turned the corner in the third quarter of last year. While momentum has been slow in coming, growth is now not only tangible but the rate of growth is increasing.” The Asia Pacific region experienced a significant year-on-year rise in new search mandates in Q1 this year (+48.3 percent), followed by North America (+29 percent) and Europe (+26 percent).