Confidence Abounds Among Recruiters, CEOs and Employees

Confidence Abounds Among Recruiters, CEOs and Employees

Confidence reigns supreme amongst U.S. recruiters, employees and CEOs, according to various surveys and indices. According to ExecuNet’s recruiter confidence index, a survey of 100 executive recruiters, 80% were confident or very confident that the executive employment market will improve during the next 6 months. That is up from 76% in February and an all time high for the index. Altogether, a 27% increase in executive assignments paying $100,000 or more is expected among executive recruiters over that timeframe.

The men and women at the top of the game are also confident according to the Conference Board, which reported in its executive confidence measure a one point increase in CEO confidence, to 57. Despite that, only 35% of CEOs expect economic conditions to improve in the near term, which is down from 41% in February. Regarding employment, the measure showed that 46% of CEOs expect an increase in employment levels in their respective industries, up slightly from last year when the number stood at 44%.

Not to be left out, employee confidence also increased, according to Spherion’s employee confidence index, which rose for the first time since December, 2005. The March figure is 58.2, up 0.3 from February. The survey includes responses from 2,972 employed adults in the U.S. and showed that 58% of those responding are confident in their ability to find a new job. Despite that, employee confidence and optimism is guarded. Like their executive counterparts, workers appear to be generally wary about the economy and the employment markets, with just 26% thinking that more jobs are now available to them and only 23% convinced that the economy is improving.