During the last six months, 63% of independent recruitment firm owners reported that their business was better than in the period before.

Dave Nerz, president of NPAworldwide (a global network of independent recruiters), said, “Business conditions over the last 180 days have been quite remarkable.” The survey queried members about future expectations and found that 57% expect to see growth during the next 6-month period while only 3% anticipate a decline. “The bounce off the bottom has been significant for many companies,” Nerz noted.

Other results of this twice-annual survey of the 570-plus independent members of NPAworldwide indicated:

• 35 percent of survey respondents are from outside of North America.
• North American represented 66% of respondents with the next largest respondent group from Australia/New Zealand at 15%.
• The remaining respondents were from Asia, EMEA or LatAm.
• At the time of the survey, 74% of the respondents had a positive outlook for results over the next 6 months.
• 31% of those taking the survey have seen fees increase in the last 6 months.

“Member recruitment firms view the Manufacturing/Supply Chain, Technology, and Accounting/Finance sectors as the strongest vertical market segments for recruitment. Our independent recruitment firms working these segments are expecting to continue on the positive trend started in the last 6 months,” said Nerz.

He continued, “The recruitment industry is navigating huge changes in the last 18 months. The move to work from home and limits to availability of in-person interviewing has added to the complexity of making a new hire. Many employers are ready to focus on finding and hiring great talent, but still lack the decision-making speed to get candidates with multiple offers. There is much work to do refining complex interview procedures and overly time-consuming and deliberate selection processes.”

About NPAworldwide. NPAworldwide is a global recruitment network facilitating placements between its members. The network has more than 550 member offices across 6 continents. For more information, please visit www.npaworldwide.com or www.npaworldwideworks.com.