The Economy: Here's what we're seeing.

How is the economy doing? Depends who you ask.

The political climate is crazy.

The stock market was doing great most of 2018. But, it took a nose dive late in the year. It's rebounding to start the year.

Your perspective might depend on the work you do.

Speaking of which, our line of work at Platinum Recruiting Group provides interesting perspective:

1. As a firm, we get busier doing good economic times. Right now, we're busy. We hired 4 people last year. These are good signs. (You should check out Our Team!)
2. More interesting to me, we talk to a lot of different companies. All different sizes, industries, products, etc. When launching an executive search, we discuss business plans, short and long-term goals, where our clients want to be in 3, 5 and 10 years.

What are we learning from those conversations? Companies are optimistic!

Here's a sample of what we're hearing:

• Most executive searches are strongly preferring M&A and Integration experience.
• Many searches are preferring Transformation and/or ERP Implementation experience. Companies are committing to sizable investments that are generally "long-term" plays, such as implementing expensive ERPs.
• Employers are hiring based on expected and projected growth. In slower or bad times, employers are hesitant and slow to hire. Employers are showing confidence with their hiring strategies and decisions.
• Many clients/companies expect to double or triple in the next 3 to 5 years. I'm not talking about $2M companies growing to $4M. I'm talking $50M companies that expect to be $200M. $200M companies laying the groundwork to make a run at $500M and beyond. Clients talking about new production facilities, new product lines, expansion into new markets. A lot of growth-oriented conversations and strategies.

It's hard to know what to believe when watching the news. The stock market goes up and down. The political climate is crazy.

But, this is real feedback, from real companies, that are excited and confident in their growth plans. And, making significant investments that back it up.

Here's to hoping these trends to continue!! What are you seeing in your line of work?