Recruiting in China

Confidence among recruitment companies around the world about the prospects for hiring rose 11% in the five months to May so that 67% now expect revenue growth in the second half of the year, the Association of Executive Search Consultants said Tuesday.

As a result recruitment companies are expected to hire more staff to handle the increased business, with 48% of those people surveyed for the AESC's mid- year member outlook report saying they anticipate hiring more consultants in the second half of 2010.

The healthcare and life sciences sector and the energy and natural resources industries are currently the strongest two areas for hiring and are expected to be among those seeing the most growth in the second half of 2010, the AESC report said. The industrial and financial services sectors are also expected to see some of the biggest recoveries this year, it added.

"The latest results are indicative of an industry regaining strength following the downturn," said Peter Felix, AESC president. "Once again there is talk of a talent shortage in certain industries and functions, even though unemployment levels remain high."

China, India and Brazil are expected to see the greatest scarcity of talent in the second half of 2010 with 64.9% of those surveyed expecting China to experience a lack of personnel, while 37.8% and 37.2% said they thought India and Brazil, respectively, would experience problems, the report showed.

Those people in employment have become slightly more willing to consider making career moves as a result of the improving jobs market, with 45% of recruiters saying senior executives will consider moving jobs, up from 42% at the end of last year.