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Hiring of Staff Expected to Escalate During First Half of 2006

Companies Anticipate Difficulty in Finding Skilled Candidates

Windsor, 21 February 2006—Reflecting overall confidence in the UK economy, businesses are planning to increase hiring significantly over the next six months, according to the 57th hiring survey released by MRINetwork™, one of the world's largest search and recruitment organisations. The study, which is conducted twice a year, was comprised of personal interviews with over 100 executives responsible for the hiring of middle management and professional staff in their companies.

"The economy has rebounded over the last year and is coping with challenges such as the high cost of energy," said Steve Mills, Senior Vice President of Operations of MRINetwork. "As a result, companies are increasing capital spending and adding to their payrolls. The job outlook for candidates, both tenured and recent graduates, looks very promising for the first half of the year - a situation that we anticipate will continue throughout the year."

Mills continued: "Our survey also revealed that companies, both large and small, are all planning to increase their staff numbers during the first half of 2006, and that the demand for mid-to-upper-level managerial and professional talent exists right across the board."

Candidate-Tight Market Ahead?

Survey respondents were asked if they expected to find it difficult to get the skilled candidates they need over the next six months. Just over two-thirds (65.8 per cent) anticipate that they will find it either very difficult or somewhat difficult:

"As demand for new hires increases and the oldest of the baby boomers* begin to retire, we expect that the shortage of qualified candidates will intensify," said Mills. "Only time will tell if we will return to the candidate frenzy of the late 1990s. This will also mean that employers will have to move fast in order to hire the best talent, but in doing so may risk entering a bidding war should the candidate have other offers on the table."

* The Baby Boomer Generation relates to people born from 1946 - 1964.

Hiring Older Workers?

The survey further revealed, just over one in ten (13.7 per cent) said they were actively trying to recruit older workers over the age of 45, while almost three quarters (73.5 per cent) said they were considering older workers applications with others:

Age of Middle Managers?

And when asked what age they associated with those working in the middle management layer, almost half (49.1 per cent) said they didn't believe you could put an age on it, while just over one third (31 per cent) said they associated middle management with the ages of 30 - 40 year olds. Interestingly less than one per cent (0.9 per cent) said they thought of middle managers over the age of 50.

About MRINetwork:
Management Recruiters International, Inc, trading as MRINetwork (www.mrinetwork.com), 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). MRINetwork has nearly 1,100 offices in over 35 countries.