After several years of job cuts and hiring freezes, management ranks are seeing a surge in top-level openings and new hires.

Office Depot Inc., the office-supplies retailer, said yesterday it's seeking a new chairman and chief executive after CEO Bruce Nelson resigned "by mutual agreement." Playtex Products Inc. yesterday named Neil P. DeFeo president, CEO and a director of the personal-care and consumer-products company; he stepped down last year as president and CEO of Remington Products Co. Gymboree Corp. is seeking a chief operating officer, a new post at the clothing retailer.

In the past four months, Burger King Corp., Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., CMGI Inc., Old National Bancorp, ArvinMeritor Inc., Champion Enterprises Inc., and ITT Industries Inc. have all recruited CEOs from outside the company. Many other companies have elevated insiders to senior-level positions.

Succession planning and scandals are among the factors contributing to these changes -- and to the bottom lines of executive-recruiting companies, some of which are enjoying their best year ever. Walt Disney Co.'s board said it will announce a successor to CEO Michael Eisner no later than June, after he said last month he would step down at the end of his contract in September 2006. Software company Computer Associates International Inc., whose former CEO Sanjay Kumar was indicted last month for alleged securities fraud and obstruction of justice, has been looking for a new CEO since April.

But more companies are giving executive hiring the green light simply because they are poised to grow. After enduring uncertainty for more than a year over the shaky economic recovery and turmoil in Iraq, corporate leaders say they can't wait any longer to upgrade some management positions, add new ones and replace weak executives. New accounting regulations are pressuring corporate directors to improve the expertise of chief financial officers and other financial managers.

One strong indicator of increased hiring at senior levels is that revenues at the 25 largest U.S. executive recruiting firms are up an estimated 18% over last year through Sept. 30, according to Hunt-Scanlon Advisors in Stamford, Conn. Recruiters' average placement fees, which are typically a percentage of a new hire's first year's estimated total compensation, have risen 30% to 35% this year, indicating that recruiters are also helping fill higher-level openings than in the past few years. Heidrick & Struggles International Inc. says its average fee per search in the second quarter was $95,000, up 9% from the second quarter of last year and up 23% from the first quarter of this year.

Total cash compensation typically ranges from a top marketing executive at a major manufacturing company earning $250,000 to a CEO at a financial-services company making $2.5 million, says Rick Beal, senior compensation consultant at Watson Wyatt Worldwide. For comparison, a chief financial officer at a big retailer might earn about $550,000.

"Salaries are up moderately this year, so cash compensation should trend up for many executives," Mr. Beal says.

All this is heartening for the recruiting industry, which suffered the worst downturn in its 50-year history in 2001 and 2002, following the bursting of the technology bubble and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Executive hiring slowed to a crawl then. While picking up now, it still is highly selective, recruiters say. Companies want proven executives with specific skills and reject candidates who aren't currently top performers.

Two months ago, Gymboree began its search for a chief operating officer. Even though it had launched two new clothing chains in the past three years, one selling upscale baby clothes and another aimed at women in their mid-30s and older, its top management remained lean.

"Everyone's been bootstrapping for the last several years in retail," says Lisa Harper, chairman and CEO of the Burlingame, Calif.-based retailer. "We really need to add some additional operational support." Gymboree is still looking for a chief operating officer.

Among the strongest sectors to rebound: consumer products, health care and some areas of financial services and manufacturing. Hiring at many technology companies continues to lag, recruiters say.

J.C. Penney Co., the Plano, Texas, retailer, began searching in May for a successor to well-regarded chairman and CEO Allen Questrom, who is 64 and plans to step down around September next year, when his contract ends. Another company searching for a new CEO is Equifax Inc., the credit-reporting company.

Some change at the top has been awaiting more stable economic conditions. Most companies would prefer to make high-level executive changes "when the sun is shining," rather than during a downturn, says David Daniel, CEO of executive-search company Spencer Stuart, which completed a number of CEO searches this year.

For the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, Spencer Stuart said it had its best year in its nearly 50-year history, with global revenue up an estimated 20% from last year to $360 million. The company did 3,066 searches for the year, up from 2,696 the prior year. In 2000, it did 3,565 searches but earned lower average fees by placing more managers at Internet start-ups. Mr. Daniel attributes two-thirds of the recent growth to increased executive hiring in the life-sciences and financial-services sectors.

In many instances, senior-executive recruiting is extending beyond replacement hiring, as companies establish new positions. Melanie Dulbecco, CEO of R. Torre & Co., which makes Torani brand beverage syrups and sauces, says the closely held firm is planning to make five senior-level hires by the first quarter of next year. It made only two senior-level hires last year. R. Torre is based in San Francisco.

Other companies recently have made a string of executive hires. Polycom Inc., a Pleasanton, Calif., provider of voice, video and data collaboration services, has hired a chief marketing officer, a senior vice president of sales, a senior vice president for its video group and a vice president of human resources, all within the past 18 months.

"The company wanted to be prepared to capitalize on industry growth," says Steve Huey, 52, who became chief marketing officer in July. "Our philosophy is that our expenses should chase revenue, but we are definitely filling in where there are opportunities to grow the revenue." The company has 1,400 employees and had fiscal 2003 revenue of $420.4 million.

Financial services, in the doldrums during 2001 and 2002, has seen demand increase for executives to oversee mergers and acquisitions, and mortgage, leveraged-finance and derivatives businesses, according to Gary Goldstein, chairman and CEO of the Whitney Group LLC. The New York search company's clients are mostly investment banks. Meanwhile, hiring for sales and trading positions at securities companies has been slow and equity research recruiting has been "spotty," he says.

Mr. Goldstein recently placed a head of high-yield capital markets and several vice presidents at a New York-based investment bank that wanted to build its leveraged-finance group. "Firms are reinvesting in businesses by going out and attracting talent and increasing their cost structure to increase their revenue base," he says. He expects Whitney Group's revenue to be up 80% this year over the $13 million it earned world-wide last year.

The company has completed 100 searches so far this year, up from 60 for all of last year. The average total compensation for executives being placed is $1 million to $1.5 million annually. For some searches, the firm earns as much as a third of an executive's first-year compensation. Its average search fees have been between $200,000 and $300,000 this year, according to Mr. Goldstein.

Many consumer-products companies are also recruiting new executives. Fresh Inc., a small Boston-based cosmetics company, hired a chief operating officer and an executive vice president of retail who will begin working at the company during the next two weeks. It had been more than two years since the company hired anyone at those levels, says Lev Glazman, the company's CEO.

Even though he still feels some uncertainty in the marketplace and the world, especially with regard to the coming presidential election, Mr. Glazman says, "you have to do what you have to do to continue growing your brand."

The shuffling of senior-level managers can be good news or bad for executives themselves. Inevitably, some executives in their fifties or sixties are being edged out to make room for younger managers. Others are choosing to step down earlier.

"People in their late fifties are saying, 'You know what, I'm going to opt out now or find my replacement,' " says Bert Hensley, chairman and CEO of Morgan Samuels Co., a Beverly Hills, Calif.-based executive-search firm. "I've never seen this happen before" to this extent as companies focus more on succession planning, he adds.

But many managers also see greater opportunity. Earlier this year, human-resources executive Sandy O'Gorman, 53, was working at a semiconductor-technology company with about 225 employees and wished she had a bigger role. "I would get one call or two in a quarter, and already there were three highly qualified people in the pipeline," she says. Suddenly, several months ago, her phone began to ring about potential openings.

In September, she started a new job as a senior director of human resources for software firm Hyperion Solutions Corp. of Sunnyvale, Calif. She is now responsible for human resources for a unit of 1,800 employees in 15 different countries.