Wanted: $60,000-a-year executives

If hiring and recruiting are indicators of the health of different segments of the economy, the travel business is making a timely recovery, according to Karen Rothe Osband, owner and president, SYSTEMETHODS Search. “We have definitely experienced a substantial increase in the need for our recruiting services from our travel industry clients in the past six to nine months,” she said. After 9-11, she added, the demand for senior executives from her Colorado-based company that specializes only in the travel business fell off to almost nothing. “But there were some senior positions that got filled,” she said. The travel business may have been more impacted by 9-11 than any other industry, she believes. Many companies in the aftermath consolidated and tightened their belts. “Some of them used 9-11 as an excuse to drop out. But those companies that are left consolidated, and got stronger and stabilized. Now they’re starting to grow again,” she said. Her company only places high level executives such as directors or vice presidents, usually jobs that pay anywhere from $60,000 and up. But during down times, Ms Osband places travel job candidates for free at all levels. Her major piece of advice to anyone hiring at higher levels is to get someone in the travel business. “If you bring in someone from outside the industry, you’re likely to have a lengthy training period or you may even find they don’t work out,” she said. She cautions against ‘questionable recruiters,’ some of whom are asking for an ‘investment’ to fill some of the massive amounts of executive positions just waiting to be filled. That’s not true. “Not yet,” she said. She recommends anyone looking for an executive position or seeking to hire a recruiting firm conduct extensive background research. Report by David Wilkening