Are Recruiters Forecasting Growth for Next Year?

Well, that was fast. The year is almost over.

And when the year is almost over, thoughts inexorably turn to . . . next year. (What did you think I was going to say?)

But thoughts of next year lead to the possibility of growth. For most recruiters, 2015 was a good year, so that begs a question—a question that we posted in the Members’Area recently:

How much growth are you forecasting for your firm next year?

Results:

The choice of answers that we provided is listed below, along with the percentage of recruiters that selected each one:

• 25% or more — 23.0%
• Between 10 and 25% — 16.2%
• Between 1% and 10% — 14.9%
• No growth — 10.8%
• Hold on, let’s get through this year first — 35.1%

Analysis:

First, the good news: the majority of recruiters participating in the poll are forecasting growth for their firm in 2016.

In fact, among those doing so, 23% are forecasting growth of “25% or more.” In second place was “between 10% and 25%” at 16.2% of the vote, and “between 1% and 10%” was third with 14.9% of the votes cast.

Put all of that together, and 54.1% of the recruiters in the poll are forecasting growth of some kind for their firm next year.

Another 10.8% are forecasting “no growth,” and 35.1% said, “Hold on, let’s get through this year first.” (Well, when you think about it, you really can’t blame them for that stance on the issue.)

Conclusion:

From these results, it’s easy to draw the conclusion that recruiters are optimistic about the future, especially the short-term future. Recruiters are a cautious bunch by nature, especially those who have been through a recession or two during their time in the profession.

Here’s another reason to be optimistic: only 10.8% of the respondents indicated that they expect no growth. While 35.1% didn’t want to commit to an answer of any kind, there’s a good chance that at least some of them believe their firm will grow in the year ahead.

So there could be a whole bunch of recruiters who are being cautious about being optimistic . . . and being cautiously optimistic has historically been the calling card of independent, third-party recruiters.