The highs and lows of the past can often dictate a lot about what your firm can expect in the upcoming year.

Mature or established staffing firms should be very good at identifying their seasonalities. At my firm, we know within days or weeks when we will have highs and lows in volume. As a result, we were able to prepare for the waves this year.

However, 2016 has been uniquely different from any of the prior nine years I have been in this business. JBCStyle, our global fashion and retail search firm, began in 2006. JBCconnect, our creative and digital search firm, and Janou Pakter, our executive search firm, both began at or around the turn of 2011 into 2012. While some of these elements were potentially present in the recession that we built in 2008, our companies were not necessarily large enough to see or feel them yet. Here are some of the factors you may want to consider for your business for 2017.