A twice-annual membership survey of recruitment business conditions, conducted by NPAworldwide.

1. NPAworldwide
BUSINESS BAROMETER
July 2014

2. About the NPAworldwide Business Barometer
The survey is done twice annually and engages independent recruiters of NPAworldwide’s global recruitment network in documenting past results of employment markets and predicting future results.
NPAworldwide is a global recruitment network facilitating placements between its members. NPAworldwide has more that 425 member offices with more than 1,200 individual consultants in 30+ countries on 6 continents.
www.npaworldwide.com

3. Baseline Questions: Location/Mix/Focus

4. Looking Back: 180 and 90 days

5. Strong and Weak Verticals

6. Looking Ahead: 180 days/fees

7. Executive Summary
NPAworldwide released the results of a survey on business conditions for independent recruitment firms. NPAworldwide’s survey was distributed to the active members of the organization, representing more than 425 independent recruitment firms in more than 30 countries.
“Business conditions in the last 3 to 6 months have been mixed based on industry and location. Recruiters have generally experienced better business results than a year ago but results over the last 90 days have not lived up to what was expected. 95% of those surveyed are optimistic about the growth potential for the employment markets in the next 6 months,” said Dave Nerz, president of NPAworldwide. “This survey of recruiting firm owners showed that some geographies are having a more difficult go of it that others. Even within industries there are mixed reports of results based on location or segments within a segment.”
Some other results of this survey of 425 independent members of the global recruiters network showed the following:
• 52% reported improved conditions in the last 180 days, 24% indicated no change, and 23% reported worse conditions.
• 58% reported employment markets performing at or above expectations in the last 90 days. This is down from 76% in January.
• Only 5% of the respondents have a negative outlook for the next 6 months.
• 15% of those surveyed are project fees to be below the levels realized in the prior 6 months.
“This is generally positive news for NPAworldwide members and perhaps the industry in general,” said Nerz. “On a worldwide basis, it seems that conditions are mixed. Some locations are experiencing more difficult conditions than others. Australia, New Zealand and Asia are not as positive about the recent past and immediate future as North America.”
The survey also seeks to identify “strong” and “weak” industries/segments of the employment markets. The most active markets identified by the survey were manufacturing, IT, hardware/software/electronics and chemical process jobs. Weaker-performing segments were identified related to positions in the areas of accounting/financial services and construction/mining.
NPAworldwide is a global recruitment network facilitating placements between its members. NPAworldwide has 425 member offices with more than 1,200 individual consultants in 30+ countries on 6 continents.
www.npaworldwide.com