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Projected New Hires of Middle Managers and Professionals at Healthy Level for Second Half of 2005

Philadelphia, PA, June 2005—Despite a drop-off from the dramatically high projections of the first half of the year, new hires in the managerial and professional segment of the workforce are expected to continue at a high rate during the second half of 2005, according to the 56th International Hiring Survey released by Management Recruiters International (MRI), the world's largest search and recruitment organization. The study, which is conducted twice a year, was comprised of personal interviews with more than 200 executives responsible for the hiring of middle management and professional staff at their organizations.

Of the survey respondents, 50.4 percent indicated plans to increase their mid-to-upper level managerial and professional staffs (Figure 1), a decrease of 8.9 points over last half. Another 42.7 percent plan to maintain their current staff sizes, up by 5.9 points from the previous survey, and 6.9 percent plan staff decreases, up by 3 points. The high percentage planning to make new hires in the mid-management segment is supported by the unemployment rates reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for this segment, which has remained under 3 percent since 2004.

“We continue to see a steady influx of new hires in the managerial and professional sector of the workforce,” said Allen Salikof, CEO of MRI. “Over the past year, we have observed a flurry of CEO changes in a number of major companies. Now that the new incumbents have settled in, we're seeing great demand for candidates two levels below the senior-most level. This phenomenon, coupled with companies’ efforts to increase market share in a robust economy, is creating impetus in the mid-management sector.”

Projected New Hires by Company Size

Although companies ranging in size from less than 100 employees to more than 1,000 are all anticipating adding staff to their mid-management and professional ranks, the greatest growth is projected in the largest companies. Except for those in the 100 to 250 range, however, smaller companies are not far behind:

“Regardless of the size of their organizations, our clients are strengthening their managerial and professional staffs at rates not far off the pace of the first half of the year,” said Salikof. “We believe it is a reflection of confidence in the stability of the economy and a steadily increasing demand for goods and services.”

Do Stock Market Fluctuations Influence Hiring?

Survey participants were also asked to what extent stock market fluctuations influence their ability to attract and hire new employees. Only 5.5 percent reported a substantial effect, and the majority indicated that fluctuations had little or no effect:

“Although the stability of the stock market is an important component of a healthy economy, our findings support the idea that companies are not relying on its strength or weakness to make critical business decisions, such as hiring and staffing,” commented Salikof. “As the market continues to fluctuate, companies must rely upon other economic indicators to evaluate the direction of their business and make any necessary staffing decisions to increase market share and drive revenues.”

International Findings

The MRI International Survey also found that plans to increase hiring cross international borders. The United States continues to rank highly on a global scale, ranking behind Thailand, Germany and Malaysia for intended hiring projections. Following are the findings in other countries surveyed by MRI:

Ongoing National Survey

This is the 56th in an ongoing series of polls conducted by Management Recruiters International, Inc. (MRI). The survey was conducted in accordance with the professional and ethical standards of the American Marketing Association and the Marketing Research Association.

About Management Recruiters International

Management Recruiters International, Inc. (www.MRInetwork.com), trading as MRINetwork, is one of the world's largest search and recruitment organizations with more than 1,100 offices in over 35 countries and systemwide billings of nearly $500 million. Management Recruiters International, Inc. is a subsidiary of staffing and outsourcing leader CDI Corp. (NYSE: CDI), a global provider of engineering and information technology outsource solutions and professional staffing (www.cdicorp.com).