UPDATE 2-Exec recruiter Heidrick & Struggles cutting staff

(Recasts, adds number of job cuts, background, quotes)

NEW YORK, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Heidrick & Struggles International Inc (HSII.O), which finds jobs for executives, on Thursday announced a 12 percent cut in the staff who are employed to find those jobs for its clients.

The company, which is one of the two publicly traded executive search firms in United States, said it would take a charge of $20 million for restructuring and expects to save about $31 million in the coming year.

It also said it was thinking of closing some U.S. offices, but might also consider acquisitions despite the current economic conditions.

Last month, Heidrick & Struggles said it would cut its global staff headcount by approximately 15 percent. On Thursday it put that figure at 12 percent. A spokesman told Reuters that represented about 200 positions.

Heidrick & Struggles has business centers in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

The company also said it aims at increasing leadership advisory fees to form about 40 percent or more of total revenue in the next five years.

"The executive search business has rigidly adhered to a half-century old business model, but our clients have let us know they want more than just search," Chief Executive Officer Kevin Kelly said in a statement.

Robert W. Baird analyst Mark Marcon said that over 35 percent of the company's business comes from various forms of financial services.

"Virtually every area of financial services has been hit during this downturn on virtually a global basis. This obviously makes the demand environment quite difficult," he added.

Over time, the company said it also aims to cut real estate expenses and support costs by around 30 percent by closing or consolidating an undetermined number of its 21 U.S. offices.

It will also adopt new technologies to improve productivity and reduce support costs such as accounting, procurement, and human resources administration.

"The global economic downturn is only one driving force behind these major changes we plan to aggressively implement," said Kelly. "We must aggressively expand our service offerings to better service the needs of our global customers and get ahead of radical challenges facing our industry."

Although the economic downturn poses challenges, Kelly said, it also provides opportunities. In addition to continuing to make minority investments in search-related technology companies, Heidrick & Struggles would evaluate a significant "transformational" acquisition, if it arose.

"We are a debt-free company and have the financial strength to acquire companies that can enhance our leadership consulting service offerings," Kelly said. "Given current market conditions, we can acquire firms that may not have been available to us 18 months ago."

Shares of the company closed 3.55 percent higher at $20.14 on Thursday on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Steve James; Additional reporting by Amulya Nagaraj in Bangalore; Editing by Anil D'Silva, Gary Hill)