Here is the latest update on the state of the Senior Executive market, reflecting the current views and opinions of Search Consultants in leading recruitment companies worldwide and providing an up to the minute guide on market performance and dynamics.

Despite the issues of the continuing Pandemic we are seeing growing activity in several markets, particularly the UK, US and Mainland Europe.

The situation in SE Asia remains variable and both Singapore and Australia are virtually closed with Covid restrictions,

but overall there is significant movement in the market, certainly for people with a strong transformation background.

Mandates for Senior Executive roles are emerging particularly in Banking, Consultancy, FinTech, Renewables and PE.

With the potential ending of the key Covid restrictions the UK market is ahead of the game in bouncing back, with an economy that Andy Haldane, on leaving the Bank of England, said: “This is a really punchy recovery and the UK is on track for a great future…”

According to EY’s latest “UK Attractiveness Survey for financial services” the UK continues to be Europe’s most attractive location for international investment into Financial Services and the World Bank currently predicts some decline for Europe as a share of the global economy but a “massive increase for the UK”.

In this context there is growing market demand at Senior Executive level with a remit of driving business change/transformation and strategic growth. Business sectors including Telecoms/Software, Life Science and Education/NFP are all active.

SaaS services space remains particularly buoyant, Covid actually accelerated its natural growth trajectory.

Private Equity investment continues at a pace cross sector as funds continue to make up for lost time through 2020. This continual interest exists for clients from the USA, Asia and Europe. Candidates with experience from, or specifically relevant to, Private Equity are in high demand for both PE houses or with investee companies.

Commercial Real Estate is seeing the aggressive growth of opportunities, especially in the USA.

Overall, Search Consultants are describing transformation and growth as the proactive driver for organisations starting to invest again post Covid. There also appears to be greater transferability between specific sectors than would have traditionally been feasible, where candidates have proven skills in driving change.

The experience and current impressions of the market are those of Search Consultants gleaned from direct contact with a cross-section of the 15,000 strong InterExec network and represents their views taken in the last few days.

In a market that is beginning to heat up, if you are searching for the next key challenge please do not hesitate to get in touch with the InterExec team.