Employment prospects in the direct marketing industry may become a bit brighter in the coming months but trouble still remains, according to a new survey from executive search firm Wheaton/Bernhart, Owatonna, MN.
Fifty-four percent of the companies polled said they plan to add to staff by the end of the year but hiring is down sharply from last Spring when 74% said they were planning to add to staff.
Twenty-two percent of the respondents said they will be lifting their hiring freezes before the end of the year, while 35% said the lifting will be delayed until the first quarter of next year, and 38% provided no timeframe at all. And even when the hiring freezes are lifted, about half of the respondents said normal hiring processes will be replaced by non-standard procedures requiring added approval.
Surprisingly, nearly 80% of the respondents said the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, DC had no effect on their hiring plans.
The survey was conducted during the week of Oct. 1 and was e-mailed to more than 1,200 direct marketing companies nationwide.
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