Insights
Q4 2015 State of the Industry Report
2015 was the second consecutive record-breaking year for the executive search and leadership consulting profession, with global revenues reaching an estimated $12 billion. This is a 2.4% increase on the profession’s estimated 2014 revenues.
2015’s strong revenue figures are bolstered by a high-performing Q4, during which revenues increased 7.3% compared to Q3 and 13.8% compared to Q4 2014. This uptick in revenues is driven by an increase in the number of consultants employed (6.6% year-on-year; 0.5% quarter-on-quarter) and the revenue per consultant (5.3% year-on-year; 4.4% quarter-on-quarter).
The Consumer and Technology sectors both recorded modest growth during Q4 (2.6% and 2.4% respectively). Despite a 7.8% decrease in searches started between Q3 and Q4, the Industrial sector remains the largest market for executive search and leadership consulting, with 23.5%. The Financial and Consumer sectors follow, with 21% and 18% respectively.
Europe recorded a small increase (0.8) in the number of searches started between Q3 and Q4, while year-on-year, three regions registered an increase in average number of searches: North America (10.3), Europe (2) and Asia Pacific (1.2). Latin America continues to struggle, as it’s down 12.8 quarter-on-quarter and 26 year-on-year.