A key sign in any rougheconomy is the status of the job market. It’s real simple math here - the financial health of the U.S. is crucialto lifting the economy out of recession, as consumer spending accounts forabout 70% of all economic activity.Ifpeople have jobs they will be buying things, if people are buying thingsbusinesses will want them to spend money in their business, and Yellow pagescompanies can provide the consultative guidance on where those small tomidsized business should be spending their advertising dollars.

One recent sign indicatesthat the job market may be stabilizing - the total number of advertised onlinejob openings has leveled off at 3.23 million month, per a report releasedMonday by the Conference Board (link).This is obviously a far cry from the peak of nearly two years agowhen posted online jobs were at 4.27 million (September, 2007).

The report confirmed whatwe noticed as requests from clients dropped off steeply in November of 2008through early March of this year.Fromthe report:

“Onlinejob demand has held relatively steady at around 3.3 million advertisedvacancies per month for the last six months,” said Gad Levanon, senioreconomist at the Conference Board, in a statement. “While we are not seeingdeclines, the sluggish nature of labor demand is another indication that thepath to recovery is likely to remain a long haul.”

The Conference Boardnoted what we have seen in requests from clients - areas most in demand aresales and sales related occupations, which had 375,000 vacancy ads inJuly.That level is an increase of 11,700 positions - not a big increase,but an increase netherless.

Compare this with the ADP National Employment Report, which saidtoday that employment fell by 371,000 in July — slightly more than anticipated— compared with a revised decline of 463,000 jobs in June.The ADP report said that:

July’semployment decline was the smallest since October of 2008 and continues thenotable improvement between the first and second quarters of 2009.Nevertheless, despite recent indications that overall economic activity isstabilizing, employment, which usually trails overall economic activity, islikely to decline for at least several more months, albeit at a diminishingrate.

Now let’s be clear thatthis doesn’t mean we are back to the ranging, rocking, heady growth days ofrecent years.Far from it.A number of areas are still hurting badly.For example California job postings actually fell by3,400 in July, to 360,600. The state’s figures are down 169,500 from July of 2008.

Specific to the Yellow Pagesindustry, we have seen a noticeable uptick in the number publisher clientslooking for account executives/reps, especially among independent publishers.

Perhaps the most frustratingthing to many publishers has been their inability to find/attract new talent totheir organizations.This issue is notunique to the Yellow Page industry.Asrecruiters we see a general trend in the market place where all candidates arebecoming risk adversein this economy, if you have a job, any job, no matterwhat the negatives are, you are very reluctant to try anything else, since it'snot clear that if the new job doesn't work that you will be able to findanything after that.

The second trend is thatpotential candidates require a lot more selling on the merits of going to workfor a Yellow Page publisher.Some ofthat is related to the lack of positive news about how solid the industry isand the good job opportunities available in the industry.The ability for a first year rep with someskill and perseverance to earn between $60 and 80k is a message that needs tobe broadcast far and wide.Very fewindustries can offer that kind of potential. That’s not to say that it’s an easy job - the more successful reps must workvery hard to achieve the comp levels they earn.

Hence for publishers, wesuggest they not discount those potential candidates with solid salesbackground, preferably from a related advertising media.Talent like thisshould be bringing a fresh view and level of excitement to the job that we justdon't see with most industry experienced people who are jumping from ship toship.

If your team needs sales reps or sales managers,why not give us a call to discuss what we can do to help you find those needlesin the haystacks.

About Hawthorne Executive Search

Hawthorne Executive Search, is a full service executive search and consultancy with a focus on the advertising, publishing and media industries. With decades of experience, Hawthorne Executive Search is an executive search and management firm that has assisted companies of all sizes in the recruitment and selection of top talent across North America and beyond. Every assignment managed by our firm includes the involvement of an experienced principal to help our clients build high performance management teams.

With contacts on all levels of the organizational chart, from the senior management or "C" level, to field sales representatives and account executives, we have a database of over 5,000 professionals who are either currently or formerly employed in the directory industry.

By focusing strictly on one industry, there isn't a search outside of our comfort zone. We are able to execute most projects within 2-3 weeks from inception.

Some examples of successfully completed searches include:

• Regional Sales Manager
• Vice President of Sales
• Vice President of Business Development
• Senior Vice President of Client Services
• Production Manager
• National Account Manager
• Account Supervisor
• Account Executive
• Managing Director