May 2009 newsletter

This has been a particularly busy month for me as, in addition to "business as usual" here at Whitaker, I've been traveling across the country speaking at various state and regional recruiting conferences in my capacity as Chairman of the National Assn of Personnel Services. While it's difficult at times wearing both hats, the trips this past month were particularly interesting for me as it gave me the opportunity to "take the pulse" of recruiters in all areas of the country and hear first-hand what they're experiencing. The news was actually extremely heartening and I couldn't wait to come back and share it with you. Everyone is getting the sense that the economy is picking back up! Recruiters that place folks in industries that are usually the tell-tale indicators (like Human Resources and Food/Hospitality) are all noticing an uptick in the number of open search assignments over the last month. The overall consensus is that it would seem that at least things aren't getting any worse and that while a full economic recovery may still be some 8-14 months away, there are very clear and definite indications that the turnaround has started. What we've noticed internally is that there is definitely more activity and positions are re-opening, particularly among the smaller more nimble companies. In fact, our own in-house job order count has increased by 10% over last month. However, the very large multi-location companies will take longer to reflect this trend. If you think of the analogy of how a massive ocean liner turns versus how a speedboat turns, this makes complete sense. The big ship takes longer to go into the turn and longer to come out of the turn. Additionally, candidates who were downsized at the start of the downturn are now actively interviewing, receiving offers, and going back to work. However, let's not let out our collective breath just yet. We need to continue to stay focused on the tasks at hand and deal with the day-to-day realities of the present, but perhaps the sun may shine a little more brightly for you tomorrow.

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