In the third quarter of 2002, overall demand for executive talent was down 15% compared to the third quarter of 2001. The good news is the decline in jobs has turned around and is trending up. Versus the prior year, the fourth quarter 2001 decline was 38%, the first quarter 2002 decline was 26%, and the second quarter 2002 decline was 19%.
A good omen is the single-digit decline in the Sales & Marketing function of 3% in the third quarter compared to the third quarter of 2001. The demand for Sales & Marketing talent is steadily improving - in the first quarter of 2002 the decrease in year-over-year demand was 23% and in the second quarter the decrease was 12%. This upswing in the hiring of rainmakers may foretell a revival in business building activities.
In other functional areas, General Management, Operations Management and Human Resource positions showed the greatest demand with declines only of 12%, 13% and 14% respectively in the third quarter of 2002 compared to the third quarter of 2001.
The greatest decline in demand continued to be in the functions of Finance (25%), MIS/IT (21%) and Consulting (47%).
