When the economy is doing well and companies are growing, then they need staffing consultants to help them. Two examples:
In the summer and fall of 2007 I had many companies telling me that they would be hiring ‘soon’. December of 2007 many of those companies did actually start hiring, some for only key positions, some for groups of new employees. By spring of 2008 I was happily swamped. I was also discussing six large projects with new clients, and if I had landed any two of them I would have needed to hire someone to help me. In the summer of 2008 the shock waves from the housing and mortgage industries finally hit Rochester, companies stopped hiring, and my work load went from full to unfortunately sparse very quickly.
This past summer, I had been hearing many of the same things as in 2007. I was seeing fewer people post that they had lost jobs, more companies starting to post critical positions. Companies were planning to hire more, just not quite ready yet. Then in the fall more serious hiring began, and I started to get more responses and was getting more detail about what type of help my clients might need. Recently we have ‘turned the corner’ for technical employment, and my workload is approaching my ‘full’ mark.
In summary: my work as a staffing consultant is a reflection of the economy. While I can always find a few growing companies that need help even in bad times, a full work load is a sign that things are going well in the economy. When I am busy, the economy is generally doing very well. If you want to know how the economy is doing, call me and ask how busy I am! (Or you can subscribe to my newsletter http://www.softwarescout.com/DadaMail).