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Caroline Nahas Office Managing Director
Southern California

Caroline W. Nahas is Managing Director of the Southern California offices of Korn/Ferry International and a member of the Firm’s CEO and Board Services Practice. Ms. Nahas successfully manages major global relationships and specializes in the recruitment of CEOs and corporate directors for clients ranging from multinationals to start ups across a wide variety of industries.

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May 1, 2009

Results of the April, 2009 Executive Quiz, released by the Korn/Ferry Institute, indicate a recent shift in Executives' perception of the current economic climate. When surveyed at the beginning of March, just seven percent of executives felt that the global economy was recovering, while more than three quarters (76 percent) said it was in a severe recession. However, when re-asked the same question at the end of the month, 13 percent of executives felt the economy was recovering and those who believe it was still in a severe recession declined by nine percent (67 percent).

In addition, despite the recent increase in government assistance to large corporations, Executives still believe that compensation caps should be tied to performance. The notion that businesses are now faced with attracting and retaining top talent to help lead organizations out of the economic downturn has come become a reality, and within the next several months, retained executive search firms are likely to see a rapid increase in engagements sold.

But things will be different this time around…In addition to attracting and retaining new talent within organizations, global firm’s now understand the impact and importance of devoting their resources to grow leaders internally. Consequently, the traditional role of executive search firm has now transformed, and only those recruiters who expand their set of solutions to include new services will be able to solidify business for the long-term.

No wonder why Korn/Ferry International continues to remain the leading executive search firm. Over the last few years, the largest executive recruitment firm has expanded its set of expertise to include a range of new leadership and talent consulting solutions such as executive development, succession planning, compensation consulting, onboarding and much more. The creation and implementation of new business capabilities has already proven to be successful for Korn/Fery, as the firm’s CEO reports, over 22% of Korn/Ferry’s business now comes from outside of executive search. As the domestic and international economy slowly recovers, a new set of challenges will continue to emerge for recruiters. We'll see if Korn/Ferry can stay on top, yet again...