71% of executive search consultants predict financial services will dominate 2007

Seventy-one percent of 186 retained executive search consultants worldwide predict the financial services sector will dominate 2007 global executive search activity, up from 66 percent for 2006. The results are from the annual AESC Outlook Survey, conducted by the Association of Executive Search Consultants from 7 November ñ 8 December 2006.

ìFinancial services continues to be the strongest and most lucrative sector in retained executive search, which serves as a barometer for the economy in general. The optimism of AESC member search consultants in predicting results for next year is not surprising when investment banks such as Goldman Sachs are posting record breaking profits and awarding huge bonuses to top performersî, states AESC President, Peter Felix.

Executive job market by industry: Beyond financial services, survey respondents predict that executive search in 2007 will be strong in professional services (which includes legal, HR and consulting sectors), pharma/biotech, IT, retail and manufacturing industries. Sectors expected to weaken or flatten are non-profit and government.

Global executive job market: Nearly 80 percent of respondents indicate that competition for executive talent is at an all time high, with 93 percent stating they expect to experience a war for talent in the next five years. Correlating with this war for talent, the market for executive search is expected to remain strong.

As compared to last yearís results, highlights for the executive job market in 2007 reveal that retained search consultants have even more confidence in search-industry growth for 2007 (84 percent) than they did for 2006 (77 percent). Sixty-eight percent of executive search consultants plan to increase their own staff in 2007, highlighting the current competition in the executive job market.

Details of the 2007 AESC Outlook Survey of 186 retained executive search consultants include:

Is your outlook for the executive search business over the next year on the whole positive, negative, or neutral?
Positive 84%, Negative 3%, Neutral 13%

What is your outlook over the next year for your search practice?
Positive 84%, Negative 5%, Neutral 11%

In which sector(s) do you expect to see the most growth in 2007? (Choose up to 3 sectors.) Note: 2006 figures are in parentheses.

Banking/Financial Services ñ 66.1% (56.3%)
Information Technology ñ 30.1% (34.4%)
Professional Services ñ 27.3% (26.0%)
Pharmaceuticals/Biotech ñ 26.8% (27.0%)
Consumer Products ñ 21.9% (26.5%)
Healthcare ñ 19.7% (27.9%)
Manufacturing ñ 19.1% (21.9%)
Retail ñ 18.0% (10.7%)
Telecommunications ñ10.4% (16.3%)
Mktg/Advertising/Comm ñ 8.2% (5.1%)
Government ñ 7.1% (10.2%)
Media/Entertainment ñ 7.1% (7.0%)
Hotels/Tourism ñ 6.6% (6.5%)
Transportation ñ 5.5% (5.1%)
Education ñ 5.5% (4.2%)
Non-Profit ñ 3.3% (6.1%)
Publishing ñ 2.2% (1.4%)

Within which function(s) do you expect to see a scarcity of talent in the next 12 months? (Choose up to 3 functions.) Note: 2006 figures are in parentheses.

General Mgmt/Board of Dir ñ 46.4% (35.1%)
Professional Services ñ 29.3% (28.4%)
Finance/Accounting/CFO ñ 28.7% (33.2%)
Engineering ñ 26% (22.6%)
Diversity ñ 24.3% (27.4%)
Information Technology/CIO ñ 24.3% (19.2%)
Sales/Mktg/Public Relations ñ 21% (19.2%)
Human Resources ñ 18.8% (17.8%)
Medical/Healthcare ñ 16.6% (20.2%)
Research and Development ñ 14.9% (18.8%)
E-Commerce ñ 14.4% (9.1%)
Manufacturing ñ 10.5% (16.8%)
Materials Management ñ 6.1% (13.9%)

Are you currently experiencing a war for talent?
Yes ñ 79.9% No ñ 20.1%

Do you believe that you will experience a war for talent in the next 5 years?
Yes ñ 93% No ñ 7%

What are your firmís hiring plans for 2007?
We plan to hire more consultants in the coming year ñ 67.6%
We plan to hire fewer consultants in the coming year ñ 9.7%
We plan to keep the same number of consultants ñ 22.7%

Respondents were from the following parts of the world:
Europe, Middle East or Africa ñ 41%
North America ñ 30.9%
Asia Pacific ñ 19.7%
Central/South America ñ 6.9%
Other ñ 1.6%