Executive Level Turnover Slowing a Bit

An article this month in eWeek indicates that this year shows a slowing of turnover at “C-Level” compared to 2006, based on statistics compiled by a New York-based management research firm called Liberum on February 6. Compared to 12 months ago, overall executive level turnover declined 16% in January of this year, and for CEO’s the drop was 20%. Boards of directors experienced less churn as well, at a 14% decrease. However, The report maintains that overall change at the top levels is still high. This is believed to be due to domestic and international companies competing for a limited talent pool, Sarbanes-Oxley impacts, and shareholder activism. Overall, 2,240 C-level moves occurred in the first month of this year.

So, while turnover is down a bit, there certainly seems to be plenty of potential for top executives to make major career moves this year. This is corroborated by continued increases in overall payroll employment of 1.8 million in 2006 (Bureau of Labor Statistics) and the fact that employers are expected to become more competitive in both recruitment and retention this year according to statistics from a survey by Harris Interactive reported by Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder.com.

I continue to advise my executive resume clients to keep their documents polished and ready to respond at a moment’s notice. You never know when that phone call with once-in-a-lifetime opportunity may come in!