| May 8, 2000 Hunt-Scanlon Reports Increased Technology Spending At Nation’s Recruiting Firms Stamford, CT, May 8, 2000 – As technology and the Internet continue to level the playing field in the executive search industry, technology spending is becoming a dominant expenditure for recruiters seeking to remain competitive in today's buoyant search market. On average, according to a new study conducted by industry consultant Hunt-Scanlon Advisors (hunt-scanlon.com), search firms are allocating almost 20 percent of their annual operating budgets toward technology spending and initiatives. Hunt-Scanlon expects spending at this level to continue through 2005, based on its nationwide consultations with search firms. Almost two-thirds (60 percent) of the firms queried by Hunt-Scanlon reported technology investment to be their most significant expenditure, while marketing/advertising and recruiting were the next two most important spending activities. There are no discernable spending differences between large and small search firms, but there was a wide variance in the percentage being invested in technology: annual expenditures ranged between two and 66 percent of total budget, with the average budget nearing 20 percent. Survey findings were based on responses collected from over 40 retained executive search firms and will be published later this month in Hunt-Scanlon’s annual State of the Industry Report. "Investment in technology is a continual expenditure since it is always changing," said Brian P. Lee, chief market strategist at Hunt-Scanlon. "But it is a huge cash drain for smaller firms that don't have access to adequate funding, making it, indirectly, one of the key factors driving industry consolidation." While all search firms are currently enjoying unprecedented demand for their services, said Mr. Lee, "those that borrow heavily from their earnings to fuel substantial technology investments will ultimately distance themselves in the level of service they provide to their clients." Smart and pronounced technology spending, said Mr. Lee, will once again lead to greater differentiation among search firms. Hunt-Scanlon Corporation (www.hunt-scanlon.com) provides a range of information products and services relating to executive search, staffing, online recruiting, human resources and corporate diversity. These include the monthly newsletters, Executive Search Review, Online Recruiting Strategist and Diversity Monitor, as well as directories of executive recruiters and Select Guides to executives in six functional staff areas (top management, human resources, finance, information technology, sales and marketing). Through a separate operating unit, Hunt-Scanlon Advisors, the firm provides comprehensive market intelligence studies, market trend surveys and forecast indicator reports to executive recruiting firms and major corporations worldwide. Hunt-Scanlon also operates five leading websites for corporate executives, including executiveselect.com, recruiterlink.com, boardsearch.com, diversityonline.com and leadersonthemove.com. A second operating unit, the Institute for Corporate Diversity, is the leading diversity database and research publisher in the U.S. Hunt-Scanlon is celebrating its eleventh anniversary this year. Contact Information:
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