AESC Reports Claims of In-House Recruitment’s Impact on Executive Search Misleading

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In response to an article published yesterday in Bloomberg Businessweek about the growth of in-house recruiting and its impact on the executive search profession, as with a similar article published on October 9, 2012 in the Wall Street Journal, the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC) responds that the complete perspective provides a different picture.

“Although in-house search is inevitably eating into the lower end of the market by taking work that previously might have gone to executive search firms, nevertheless, the overall market for executive search services is holding firm.”

In a survey which the AESC conducted last year, HR executives indicated that external executive search not only continues to be used at the mid to senior executive level, but at the most senior levels, it is rare that in-house recruiting would be used. Reasons for not using in-house recruitment for senior executive level searches included maintaining objectivity, global reach and confidentiality. Metrics of speed and consultant workload at the executive level are obviously not comparable to those for lower level positions indicated in the Businessweek, as well as in the Wall Street Journal, article.

AESC President, Peter Felix, commented: “Taking a five year view of the global revenue trends reported by the AESC (see chart), it is clear that from an all-time high in 2008, and then a dramatic fall of 32.5% in 2009 at the onset of the global economic downturn, the industry has staged a remarkable comeback. In 2010, revenues grew by 28.5%, in 2011 by 9% and in 2012, even though we expect a year-on-year revenue decline, the industry will still be close to its all-time high. If the overall number of searches conducted starts to decline, but search industry revenue in fact increases, it indicates that higher level—more critical— searches are being performed.”

Felix continued: “Although in-house search is inevitably eating into the lower end of the market by taking work that previously might have gone to executive search firms, nevertheless, the overall market for executive search services is holding firm.”

The Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC) represents the best retained executive search consulting firms around the world and promotes the highest professional standards in the industry. Visit www.aesc.org for more information about AESC, The International Executive Search Directory or BlueSteps, the AESC’s career management service for senior executives.