2011 in Review

The surprises continue.  I am writing this in the “quiet zone”, the time between Christmas and New Year’s where few people are around and little business gets done. It is, though, a good time to catch up on the desk piles and to reflect on the up coming new year.   As I noted at this time last year, I didn’t hold out much hope for 2010.  Yet, month by month, the hiring momentum increased, and 2010 ended exceeding all expectations

That momentum continued into 2011.  Yet, many of the unresolved issues in the world economy continued to fester and exploded back into the headlines around mid year, worsening month by month.  Given this backdrop, I expected to see a dramatic slowing in hiring, but it hasn’t happened, yet.  So, what does 2012 have in store for retained recruiters?  Well, I’m not sure.

The hiring that began in early 2010 was in response to not only improving business conditions, but also to the more extreme layoffs that occurred in 2008/2009.  Most of my Clients are doing well and are hiring. But most see a clouded outlook based on the ongoing insanity in Washington, increased anti business government regulation, and our egregious and growing debt levels ( these are client comments, not mine).  I expect to see continued hiring in 2012, but perhaps at a more selective and less aggressive pace than we saw over the last few years.  This presumes that nothing major, in the near term, shocks the economy.

2011 projects were varied as we worked in such areas as electrical protection, ocean/marine, defense, instrumentation, food manufacturing, mechanical systems, consumer goods, and others. Roles included senior management positions in sales, research&development, finance, program management, product line management, manufacturing, along with board assignments.  A common observation over the past few years is the increased difficulty of recruiting people.  Despite having more “available” candidates, the uncertain economy is keeping good people glued to their seats…the “devil you know” adage.  I’m not expecting this to change, at least in the next few years.

KS FRARY&ASSOCIATES continues to offer a range of flexible fee options and delivers excellent value to our Clients, especially when compared to the larger retained firms.  We remain well positioned for any recruiting challenge that 2012 brings as we continue to develop faster ways to source candidates, resulting in shorter search cycles.  Perhaps that is why 89% of all searches conducted over the past 11 years have been for Clients we have worked with before. When reach, reputation, and results count, count on KS FRARY&ASSOCIATES.

Thank you for your interest in my company.