In each new issue of The Fordyce Letter I like to include feedback from the subscribers and the community at large about what they are seeing in their day-to-day lives.
I would appreciate your feedback on the following topic, and will be using it for an upcoming article in the June issue of The Fordyce Letter.
No one can actually tell whether we’re in a recession, about to enter a recession or have already had one and are pulling out of it. Most of the conversations I’ve had with readers indicate that there has been little or no impact on the recruiting business. This may be because there are a number of specialty areas that are recession-resistant.
My question of the month is simply this:
How have you noticed the economic chatter affecting your recruiting business? How do you think the recruiting business will be impacted between now and the end of the year and how do you propose dealing with any real or projected outcomes?
Leave responses in the comments - or email me privately at TheFordyceLetter@aol.com with or without attribution and we can get a discussion going between us all..
Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you.
5 comments
You Know Me May 1, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Chatter is one thing. Smaller checks is what bugs me.
Case in point: Client brings on 2 of my contractors for an 18 month systems overhaul. They make “things” used by delivery trucks. Business had been booming. (I guess when people buy things with all their spare cash via the internet - somebody needs to deliver those things)
2 weeks ago they called. “Sorry, but we won’t be moving ahead with the project. Their big delivery truck customer did not quite see the growth/need for their products as they originally had planned.
So is this a recession? I’m in no position to judge.
Am I affected by whatever this thing is?
Oh yeah, I’m affected.
Dave Staats May 2, 2008 at 7:29 am
My business is split 60/40 in 2 distinct niches that grew out of one. They’re both big enough to support several recruiters working ‘real search’ which is usually less affected by economic pressure/conditions anyhow. ‘06 is when we felt some slowness to the extent our market can ever ‘blame’ that at all. On the 40% side it seemed my clients’ customers were not buying enterprise software. On the 60% side it seemed the US Govt. was very slow in committing to some large tech projects that would make my clients hire cleared engineers.
For whatever reason, both floodgates opened in Dec/Jan and I have had the best start and first quarter ever. Q2 seems not far behind that. Now, I must go back to knocking on wood.
Maureen Sharib May 3, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Our first quarer ended up a few thousand over last year’s first quarter. I definitely see some sectors affected in our sourcing business: the financial sector especially, which makes sense. But historically for us when one sectorgoes down another goes up, which is probably the best reason there is for generalization. What’s hot right now for us:
Construction (believe it or not!)
Marketing
Sales is always hot
I expect our sourcing revenues to be up in ‘09 over ‘08 as long as no great tragedy strikes and that’s a crap shoot, these days.
In two years $3.60/gal gas is going to look cheap. We’ll see what happens then. But still, for now, we’re holding good, but I feel affected. Those few thousand up could have been many more thousand up, IMO, if oil hadn’t doubled. Oil is the silent and sure indicator with its effects showing up long after its pricing.
******
Do something today you don’t think you can do.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Name Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at namesourcer.com
http://www.techtrak.com
My NameSourcer blog.
traplanes get hveer off-course.
Maureen Sharib May 3, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Our first quarter ended up a few thousand over last year’s first quarter. I definitely see some sectors affected in our sourcing business: the financial sector especially, which makes sense. But historically for us when one sector goes down another goes up, which is probably the best reason there is for generalization. What’s hot right now for us:
Construction (believe it or not!)
Marketing
Sales is always hot
I expect our sourcing revenues to be up in ‘09 over ‘08 as long as no great tragedy strikes and that’s a crap shoot, these days.
In two years $3.60/gal gas is going to look cheap. We’ll see what happens then. But still, for now, we’re holding good, but I feel affected. Those few thousand up could have been many more thousand up, IMO, if oil hadn’t doubled. Oil is the silent and sure indicator with its effects showing up long after its pricing.
What am I going to do? I’m gonna’ just keep on showin’ up and doin’ what I’ve been doing, maybe just doing a little more of it. I think that’s what we all can do on a daily basis to keep our wits about us and this thing at bay.
******
Do something today you don’t think you can do.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Name Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at namesourcer.com
http://www.techtrak.com
Peggy McKee May 6, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I have noticed a slow down in the last 4 to 6 weeks. I do think that the chatter is causing it. For us, we have experienced consistent growth year over year due to diversification, using technology to drive business (blog, website, boards, exposure, etc), and lots of sweat! I think we will continue to see the weaker recruiters exiting and some markets will be negatively impacted but we are in medical and sales and seem to be insulated a bit. I heard that 50% of all recruiters went out of business over 2001. The ones that are left over are stronger! We will be among those (again).
Peggy McKee
http://www.phcconsulting.com
http://www.phcconsulting.com/WordPress
888-263-5688 ext 100
PHC Consulting