Not OP but similar situation, they just said "no people, we're trying" for the umpteenth time for months. Too bad we aren't allowed to borrow associates and seniors from other departments.

If you're wondering why we aren't actually recruiting, it's because we're projecting low attrition (super LOL considering I already have 5 resignations this week) and much fewer projects (that guy who said mid tier won a number of our contracts got it right). Based on the interns, >90% are not planning to return and our associates are already going for interviews elsewhere.

Now is the time to take a career break if you've been looking for one... I'll be going to because it's impossible to attend interviews with the current schedule of holding 7 engagements at once.