Recruiting firms reporting profitability tend to be very good at scouting for hires internally, so don’t expect to find many job postings for online for executive recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles.

Today the Chicago-based firm announced a 19% increase in net revenues for their North American business lines in Q4 2010.

Heidrick & Struggles CEO Kevin Kelly forecases increased recruiting for clients as well as expanded hiring for positions inside the firm.

“There are still mixed assessments of economic prospects around the world, but we expect growth in each of our regions, industry practice groups, and Leadership Consulting Services in 2011. Twenty-two new consultants have started to date in 2011 and we continue to recruit.”

Interested in working as a recruiter? Here’s what you need to be a good one, says Kevin Wheeler, in this guest post for ERE.net.
 

The best performing recruiters are those who have three characteristics:

(1) they have a deep knowledge of the industry they are recruiting for;

(2) they have built relationships with the right people; and

(3) they have learned and practice the skills of good salesmanship.
 

If you’re looking for a job in recruiting, make sure you demonstrate these attributes in the process. (Fortunately, these are all characteristics that also work well in the general job search—just switch “industry recruiting for” to the industry of the job you’d be working in!)