Mar 16, 2011

More and more executives receiving multiple job offers

Posted by Wendy Weber

According to a January survey of 380 recruiters by online networking site and job board ExecuNet, the job market is heating up! About 51% of search firms agreed that the high-level candidates they work with often receive more than one job offer. That is up from 2010, when only 35% of search firms said that their candidates were entertaining multiple offers.

(To be fair, though competition for candidates is certainly intensifying, we have seen that candidates often confuse being in the interview process with actually receiving an offer. I don’t necessarily think they are trying to intentionally misrepresent themselves, but having 3 offers in hand is different than being at the point of a 3rd interview with 3 different companies.)

We are seeing more of a competitive marketplace, as well as more flexibility on the part of our clients in order to secure the best talent. Two years ago, we encountered more of a “take it or leave it” attitude on the part of employers extending an offer. The prevalent attitude was that if the candidate did not accept the offer “as is”, there would be others that would. The tides have turned, and now employers realize that now job seekers have other employment options.

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