Continued layoffs and more hiring freezes appear to be on the horizon for direct marketers this spring, according to the latest Bernhart Associates Executive Search employment survey.
But what concerns Jerry Bernhart, principal of the Owatonna, MN-based firm, is the lack of a turnaround timetable for the industry.
Among the companies that have imposed a hiring freeze, Bernhart said that hardly any could give us even an estimate when the freeze would be lifted.
“Practically all of them said they didn’t know, and that clearly shows the lack of visibility out there right now,” he said. “I see no sign of a bottom. If anything, things are more uncertain.”
Of the 129 companies that participated in the survey, Bernhart says 19% have a hiring freeze right now, up from 13% last quarter, but are not expecting a big spike in layoffs. Planned layoffs remained unchanged at 12%.
And more than half of those surveyed said they are still planning to hire. According to the random survey, which was mailed the first week of April, 54% of companies said they would be filling new positions during the current spring quarter, down from 58% last quarter.
Even in the current environment, three-fourths of the companies said they are still having a challenging time finding qualified candidates for certain positions. That’s because most of these jobs are more specialized lower- to mid-level positions, or they are in geographic locations where the available direct marketing labor pool is relatively small, Bernhart says.