TheLadders.com quarterly executive employment outlook

US employment numbers have increased steadily over the past four months, and market-watchers are bullish on the broad employment market. Does that outlook carry over to executives hunting for jobs that pay $100k and more? According to a survey conducted by TheLadders.com, the worldís leading $100,000 jobs Web site, job seekers in the $100k market remain optimistic, but have lowered expectations from January highs.

Still confident that 2005 is a strong year to make a career move, 77 percent of survey respondents said ìnow is a better time to be in the job market than this time last year.î When this survey was last conducted in January, a slightly higher percentage (82 percent) of respondents answered positively.

Thirty-six percent of respondents said they expect their job searches to last between 3-6 months. Thirty three percent were more confident, suggesting that their job searches will only take 1-3 months. Twenty-two percent said they expect a 6-12 month job search and 9 percent are prepared for 12 months or more in the job market.

Compared to the January 2005 survey, the current numbers show a slight shift towards expectations for a lengthier job search. In January, 38 percent of respondents were forecasting a 1-3 month search; 36 percent expected a 3-6 month search; 19 percent planned on 6-12 months; and seven percent were bracing for 12 months or more.

A constant in the Executive Job Market Outlook is the expectation for lots of legwork. Thirty four percent of respondents said they expect to send out over 100 applications before getting an offer; 27 percent said theyíll need to apply to 20-50 jobs before an offer is made; 20 percent anticipated it taking somewhere between 50 and 100 applications to shake out an offer; and 19 percent thought it would require less than 20 applications to land their next gigs. These numbers are virtually unchanged from the January survey.

ìEven in the absolute best economic climate, landing your next great job doesnít always happen overnight,î explained TheLadders.com President and CEO, Marc Cenedella. ìBut the jobs are out there. Throughout this year, weíve continued to see very strong growth at the higher end of the pay scale. Companies are looking for big thinkers who are going to help lead them through this period of economic expansion and set the course for future growth. This is a very good time for executives to make strategic career moves.î

TheLadders.com Quarterly Executive Employment Outlook is based on a series of independent surveys of registered $100k executives conducted on TheLadders.com Web site between March 2, 2005 and March 17, 2005. The number of responses and margin of error for each survey is as follows:

ï How long do you think it will take for you to land your next job? 1,079 Responses; Margin of Error: 2.9%.

ï Is now a better time to be in the job market than this time last year? 1,226 Responses; Margin of Error: 3.0%.

ï How many job listings do you reasonably think youíll need to apply to before getting an offer? 1,685 Responses; Margin of Error: 2.4%.

Now reaching over 300,000 readers and featuring over 20,000 new $100k job listings each month, TheLadders.com is the largest online job search service catering exclusively to the $100k market. Marc Cenedella founded TheLadders.com in July 2003 after a tenure as Senior Vice President, Finance & Operations, at HotJobs.com, ultimately shepherding that companyís sale to Yahoo, Inc. (NASD: YHOO) in 2002. In May 2004 he was named Entrepreneur of the Year by award-winning marketing newsletter, MarketingSherpa, which cited TheLadders.comís unique business model as a key to its sustained growth.