Despite everything, some headhunting firms are taking this opportunity to expand

Things may not be totally great, but that doesn't mean they're irretrievably awful. Only yesterday, Lloyd Blankfein said the current slowdown may just be a cyclical thing and that markets could "snap back" and everything will be fine again.

Recruiters and headhunters appear to agree with Lloyd. There have been business failures (Kinsey Allen) and there have been redundancies (eg. Heidrick & Struggles, apparently). There are also rumours of recruiters closing overseas offices. At the same time, however, some recruiters and headhunters are hiring.

"If you're smart, this is a good time in the cycle to hire talented people," says Ed Bathgate, a headhunter of headhunters at search firm Longbottom. "Each and every person we talk to is happy to hire good people."

Simon Hughes at High View Search (another headhunter of headhunters) agrees: "There is still hiring going on at search firms that are robust. Talented people who haven't had a good year and are nervous about spending next year with their current platform are interested in moving."

Which are these hiring search firms? They include Berkeley Frost, which grew out of Kinsey Allen and which is hiring "selectively", and Tardis Group, which has been around for a while and is looking to 'expand its footprint.'

"We want to diversify across sectors," says James Gardner, head of talent for EMEA and the US at Tardis. "We're interested in hiring people to work in legal and risk and someone who can lead the capital markets business in New York."

In-house recruiters in banks may have a less certain future. Rather than being let go, many are being transferred into other areas of HR until hiring freezes are lifted. Both Barclays and RBS are in the midst of major 'HR Change' projects, which equate to centralizing HR activities across the group. Both seem likely to entail the elimination of investment banking HR roles which are unnecessary under the new structure.