Direct marketing jobseekers can expect a spring thaw in hiring freezes and layoffs. That’s the upbeat verdict from Bernhart Associates Executive Search, which has released its latest quarterly employment report Stateside. 

Jerry Bernhart, principal of the company, said: "Employers are still being cautious when it comes to making hiring decisions, with half expecting no change in hiring plans for the coming quarter. However, we’re seeing more job stability and employers continue to lift their hiring freezes. Bernhart Associates Executive Search, a digital and direct marketing recruiting firm, has been conducting quarterly hiring surveys since 2001.

Its second quarter poll revealed:

• 43% they will add to staff during the second quarter of 2010, down three points from 46 per cent in Q1.
• 20% currently have a hiring freeze. This represents a dramatic decline from 45 per cent just six months ago.
• The percentage of companies planning layoffs in Q2 fell to three per cent, the lowest level in three years.  
• When asked if they plan to consider using online social networks for hiring, 41 per cent of Q2 respondents said they plan to employ them in ‘moderate amounts’ during 2010. Only 14 per cent said they won’t be using social media at all for hiring purposes.

Bernhart added: "Just a year ago, I was seeing reports indicating that hardly any companies were thinking about using social media in their recruiting. Our second quarter survey results show that interest in these online networks among digital and direct marketers has grown quickly and considerably, especially among agencies."

He said job growth in the overall digital and direct marketing industry is keeping pace with progress in overall US employment. However, he pointed out that marketers are lagging behind their agency and supplier counterparts in terms of job growth.

"Agencies have all but eliminated their hiring freezes and only one agency responding to our most recent survey said they’re expecting layoffs during the next three months. Hiring on the services side also remains strong with about half of respondents telling us they plan to hire during the current quarter. By comparison, 38 per cent of marketers said they intend to add to staff."

Meanwhile, the business-to-consumer (B2C) segment continues its upswing with major hiring indexes showing more positive trends compared to their business-to-business (B2B) counterparts.

Bernhart said sales positions would be in the greatest demand during the second quarter: "This comes as no surprise given the strong demand I’ve been seeing for sales reps on the recruiting side of the business. We’ve been getting steady calls for sales position searches since the beginning of the year."

He added that analytics remained high on the employment list, along with online and multichannel marketing positions.

Bernhart also said that demand for executive search services has been steadily growing since the beginning of the year: "Enquiries are coming in on a fairly regular basis. A year ago, it was little more than a trickle."