Warning: Autumn Avalanche in the Executive Market

It’s true. Call it a tsunami, a surge, or an avalanche, but when human resources and hiring managers come back from their summer holidays (in the northern hemisphere) they usually publish a slew of want ads, engage search firms, and otherwise seek to catch up on hiring candidates for all of those open positions they failed to fill so far this year.

Sometimes budget consciousness plays a role as well along the lines of, “If I don’t spend the budgeted funds then I won’t have them in next year’s budget.” This creates hiring urgency.

In many cases, demand is simply picking up and there are more opportunities. We cite more than 450,000 executive opportunities each year, for example, in our latest industry update.

So, if you have not yet explored the executive market, what are you waiting for?

Why not Give Yourself a Promotion?

Or are you concerned about whether you are truly Marketable or in Need of a Makeover?

Many of our clients shared those concerns and/or suffered from lethargy and procrastination, but those who forged ahead and engaged with our program can show significant success.

For example, 46% of our clients sought and landed Senior Executive positions.

Remember, in many cases, a Director of a large company can earn more than a CEO in a smaller one, so do not be misled by the title alone. Besides, as part of our program, our clients receive substantive support on increasing the value of any initial offer, especially by adding compensation or benefit components that are justified in the final analysis. We can virtually always add $10,000, $20,000, $30,000, or more in total compensation—simply because we have been doing this for more than 30 years. We know what is possible.

Some will ask, what about clients who landed in my industry?

First, we systematically question whether our clients are in the right industry to begin with. After all, the market is continuously in flux, and conditions change. If there is more demand in one industry and the candidate has the right transferable skills, then perhaps it makes sense to change industries. If you sometimes feel you are a Square Peg in a Round Hole, then you will want to investigate our Clarity Program© to understand what is truly possible.

Nevertheless, our clients’ industry profiles coincide with national and international trends. As you will see from the graphic, IT & Services tops the chart, but it is also good to see Manufacturing back in the ranking after a difficult slump during the pandemic.

Please note, our clients are not restricted to the published or recruiter markets but benefit from really understanding and accessing the Invisible Market for executives—where fully 75% of our clients land. They benefit doubly because there is simply higher compensation and less competition in this always-active segment of the market.

What do our clients earn?

Well, compensation data is always sensitive and not all clients reveal their full packages, so we can only report on those that shared their data. Also, because of the extreme breadth of the benefits our clients learn to negotiate, it is virtually impossible to provide an apples-to-apples comparison. For this reason, we stick only with the base salary in the compensation graphic below.

The average overall was about $175,000, however, as you can see there were distinct tiers with the bottom 25% earning a median of $115,000, and the top 25% earning a median of $300,000.

All in all, if you are still waiting on the sidelines for the ideal time to make a career change, you are waiting in vain. The time is now.

If you want expedited and more lucrative success though, we suggest you hire the Barrett Group to maximize your career potential.

Peter Irish, CEO
The Barrett Group