As VP of Client Development for Alstin, I (happily) find myself on the road a lot, talking to clients, prospects, people in the media, etc.- and I attend numerous industry functions each month. In future posts, I’ll let you know where I am and what I’m hearing in the wonderful world of recruiting, but for my first “Where’s Tony?” post, I thought a “state of the union” report might be in order.
Obviously, the last 6-12 months haven’t been fun for anyone in the recruiting industry. I know too many talented, extremely hardworking clients, industry colleagues and friends who have been downsized. This past fall was particularly bad, as it seemed that every time I attended a monthly association meeting, I would learn about another person who had lost their job.
Overall, I find HR people to be an optimistic bunch, but this sure has been a tough stretch. There was a lot of fear and uncertainty, and each day over the fall and winter the media reported (gleefully for some strange, unsavory reason) about a key financial being the worst it had been in decades. (Note to all readers of this blog: My future posts will be much cheerier! I promise!)
So what am I hearing recently? Are things getting any better?
Actually, the answer is yes. A slow, shaky, unsure, it-better-be yes, but a yes.
The stock market is continuing to come back, certain industries are seeing modest rebounds and many of the woeful economic financial indicators are improving. Most importantly however, optimism and confidence seem to be on a cautious rise. Don’t get me wrong, things are nowhere near where they should or need to be, but a lot of the recruiters, search firms, etc, that I’ve talked to over the last two months are definitely starting to see some breaks in the clouds. Recently, I even saw this headline on abcnews.com: “Recession Is Over According to Financial Experts: Leading Economic Indicators, Improving Housing Market Makes Experts Optimistic.”
While I don’t think anyone would say we’re out of the dark, scary woods yet, I think nearly everyone I’ve talked to thinks we’ve hit the bottom, and are beginning to see signs of slow improvement. I just returned from a local SHRM conference and many people told me they believe that because companies are being so overly cautious and fearful to make that first recruiting move, when the recruiting rebound does occur, we’re all going to get really busy in a hurry. I think/hope they’re right.
That’s all for now. Any questions or comments, please respond. We want to hear from you!
Author Bio:
Tony Rosato, Alstin's Vice President, Client Development, is the most well-traveled member of our team and one of the nicest guys we know. Sharing his 20 years of industry experience with prospective clients everywhere, Tony's Type A personality is powered by premium iced tea (but never chocolate). 
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