Is this economic recovery different than previous ones, especially when it comes to recruiting?
Industry trainer Doug Beabout, CPC of The Douglas Howard Group certainly seems to think so, and he also believes that a large number of recruiters aren’t coming to grips with that reality.
“The economy is improving in sectors,” said Beabout. “The biggest problem for recruiters is that, just like most everybody else, they want the economy that fell apart in 2008 to be the economy that recovers in 2011. That’s just not the case.”
According to Beabout, a number of industries aren’t returning to 2008 levels and aren’t likely to do so at any time in the near future. Among these industries are Manufacturing, Automotive, Automotive Aftermarket, Housing, and Construction, to name just a handful.
“One of the emerging industries is the Green industry,” said Beabout. “But other than a few recruiters, it’s being largely ignored as a niche. Sustainability is also huge right now—areas like Materials and Packaging and Recycling. These are areas that are growing.
“What people have to accept right now is that the improvement within our economy is being fueled by federal money, not the private sector.”
Beabout pointed to Aerospace as an example of how recruiters will wait for an industry to return to its pre-recession level of activity.
“A while back, the Aerospace industry was making people into millionaires,” said Beabout. “It was unbelievable, a total numbers game. Sadly, it didn’t really require a lot of recruiting skills, just resume maintenance skills. A decade after it collapsed, recruiters were still waiting for it to come back.”
What are your thoughts? Which industries do you think will return to pre-recession levels? Which ones do you think will never return? Is this economic recovery different than previous ones?