Dawn Penfold, CMP, president of the Meeting Candidate Network, Inc., a job placement firm based in Southern Pines, N.C., shared her perspective with Meetings West on today’s job market:
What is the state of the job market for meeting planners?
I’ve seen that the layoffs have decreased. If companies were going to lay off people, they would have done it already.
Our industry was hit hard and people are not hiring a lot. Where I am seeing a little bit of hiring is in the not-for-profit and the association market. Nothing is really strong in the corporate sector.
What do you think lies ahead?
I think the serious part of this recession is that we don’t know what it is going to look like when the industry does come back. That is the most challenging aspect. It is hard to know what is going to happen.
I assume there will be a ripple effect when the economy gets better. When people start spending, they will start meeting again. I don’t know if they will hire permanent people or temporary people. I have heard some rumors out there that companies are starting to outsource meetings overseas.
How are planners coping?
The planners who have been laid off are looking, doing temporary work and many are retraining. Many are going back to school to be paralegals, teach English overseas and work in healthcare. Some are leaving the industry. There are a lot of planners who were on a manager level who are willing to step down just to get work.
