Outlook 2012
Our clients are nervously watching the developments around the sovereign debt crisis in Europe which will give an indication as to the HR recruitment market for 2012. 71% of clients are planning to increase head count in 2012 though most of them slowed down recruitment activities throughout Q4 of last year. Interestingly this slowdown is driven by market sentiment and not necessarily by any weak performance of our major clients which will have a very positive effect as soon as confidence in the market rises again. We expect the market to stay on Q4's weaker level throughout Q1 of 2012, but are very optimistic to the future beyond Q1 as the global economy will trust that the Euro Zone will not collapse and uncertainty will decrease. As a result HRrecruitment activity will increase significantly. Another big push for the economy will clearly be the more positive news coming from the United States with growth in GDP and declining unemployment.