Q3 2015 State of the Industry Report

The executive search and leadership consulting profession continues to grow, according to third quarter trends, with an increase in average fee per assignment (3% year-on-year; 5.81% quarter-on-quarter) driving a 2.75% uptick for year-on-year net revenue. While the average number of searches started declined slightly quarter-on-quarter (1.25%), its year-on-year performance is up 4.87%.

The Q3 State of the Executive Search Industry report reveals that the technology sector had a very strong quarter, moving it into second place behind financial services for average number of searches started (up 18.52% year-on-year and 5.36% quarter-on-quarter).

The life sciences / healthcare sector slowed slightly during Q3, but overall has performed strongly this year (up 20% year-on-year but down 1.27% quarter-on-quarter).

The mix of searches by industry is quite balanced with none of the sectors being 25% or higher. Industrial remains the largest sector at 24.6% with financial services remaining steady at 21.1%. Technology and life sciences / healthcare are at 15.3% and 15% respectively.

Karen Greenbaum, AESC President & CEO, said: “We were pleased to see the technology sector rebounding after a somewhat surprising drop last quarter. The strength of the most recent quarter was impressive, seeing this sector surge to second place behind Financial Services.

“Life sciences / healthcare, on the other hand, had a slight drop off after a strong upswing last quarter. This sector continues to be strong however with significant growth year-on-year. “ North America is the largest market for executive search, controlling a 44.4% share of the profession, followed by EMEA (32.4%), Asia Pacific (17.1%), and Latin America (6.1%).

Year-on-year three of these regions recorded significant growth in the number of searches started (Asia Pacific, 7.23%; North America, 6.94%; EMEA, 6.94%). For the second consecutive quarter Latin America witnessed a decrease in the number of searches both quarter-on-quarter (1.73%) and year-on-year (8.7%).

Greenbaum continues: “It is yet another strong quarter for both the North America and Asia Pacific regions. Both have been on an upward trend for the last three quarters, to mark a significant increase of average searches started year-on-year. We saw a decline for the EMEA region, after a couple of strong quarters, while the Latin American region continues to struggle.

“We look forward to the year-end results. Last year was a record-breaking year for the profession, and we are on course to once again exceed the prior year.”

To read the full report, click here.