Are hr consultant job opportunities growing or declining?

Are jobs in this industry on the rise? Are there any sub-sectors that are growing?

Where are the jobs? Which places have the most hr consultant opportunities?

I do not believe the hr consultant jobs are declining. What is happening is that we have alot of inexperienced supposedly hr professionals inside these organizations that do not know what the hell their doing in regards to hiring hr consultants.

Jones Lang Lasalle in Chicago for instance has had the recruiting consultant position posted for over 7 months. They are asking consultants to apply via an online application, which for the likes of me I do not understand...why would you want to keep applicant flow for a consulant. Another firm for example wanted to run a credit check on a recruiting consultant whose project doesn't involve any fidcuary responsibility. You also have a lack of common courtesty in regards to follow up with potential consultants. Other areas of concern that I see is that when being interviewed for some consulting assignments...these organizations are having you meet with 4 to 5 people on the team and sometimes at the vp level. I now know why the economy is stagnating. Since, when does a vp have time to sit down in a 4 person interview to hire an hr consulant. What is really going on? In response to the question there a plenty of human resources consulting jobs out there however, it is getting through the maze of un-intelligent full-time employees at these organizations.