Executive Job Outlook in Canada Positive Despite Global Trends, According to BlueSteps

Global survey of top executives shows mid-year outlook more positive for executives in Canada than any other market

Releasing the results of their 2012 Mid-Year Executive Outlook Survey, BlueSteps, the executive career management service of the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC), announced that senior executives in Canada reported, at mid-year, a more positive outlook, for both the executive job market and the general business climate, than executives in any other market.

“The Canadian economy has held up better than the rest of the developed economies, said Brian J. Glade, AESC managing director for Global Strategy and the Americas Regions. “In fact, expectations are for a growth rate of 2.1% this year in Canada, while the rest of the world is faltering at a growth rate of 1.4%. And this in spite of a decline of some 20% in the price of a major export commodity for Canada—oil. Canada is seen as a safe haven in an uncertain world.”

Forty-four percent of senior executives in Canada projected a positive outlook for the executive job market, 18% higher than the global average. Seventy-five percent of executives in Canada reported a positive outlook for the general business climate at the second half of 2012, 40% higher than the global average.

Ward Garven, Managing Director and Vice Chairman at executive search firm Stanton Chase International, based in their Calgary office, said, “Canada’s strength in energy and natural resources helps general business confidence. Canada is a major energy exporter, and those long-term economics are solid. Same with other sectors. Investments may be delayed, but the assets aren’t going away. With these sectors as the engines of the economy, long-term prospects continue to look good. There are steady executive opportunities in these sectors.”

Ward continued, “It isn’t all good news from Canada. At 44% positivity, Canadian executive confidence in job prospects is merely the best of a low category. Canadian business leaders know that executive job opportunities are international and are affected by what is happening in their sectors around the world.”

Globally, the BlueSteps survey indicated a much gloomier outlook, with executive confidence further diminishing in the wake of the slow recovery of the global economy, turbulence in the Eurozone, and executive fear of career stagnation.

A complete copy of the BlueSteps 2012 Mid-Year Executive Outlook Report is available to BlueSteps members, AESC members and the press. Contact Joe Chappell at jchappell@aesc.org.

The 2012 BlueSteps Mid-Year Executive Outlook Report was sponsored by eFinancial Careers North America, the leading global career site for professionals working in the investment banking, asset management and securities industries.

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Posted by ENW Editor on Aug 9 2012. Filed under Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry