Why use a headhunter? Headhunters are used for varied reasons, including and most especially for people looking for middle management and executive positions within their chosen industry. Headhunters specialize in a broad search that provides candidates that are both related and directly related to the job positions they are researching. However, headhunters or contingency executive recruiters are not as widely regarded, respected or considered to be as reputable as retainment executive recruiters.

Generally speaking companies such as consultants and staffing agencies use headhunters to find people for contract or full-time/permanent jobs. Other larger companies and corporations do use them on occasion, but they are more geared to general staffing.

Headhunters are useful when looking for more generalized positions, including general management, but their focus is helping their client to find potential candidates that the client themselves were unable to find despite all their efforts - advertising online and in the print media. They tend to be less interested in the needs of the candidate and therefore their search is based on limited criterion such as basic job experience matches, limited skill sets and some or no qualifications. They will follow the same procedures in some ways as a retainment executive recruiter by compiling candidate lists, conducting initial interviews with candidates and then forwarding the best resumes to their clients. However, there is a high risk that the candidates being sent to clients may not be totally suited for the positions in question.

Unfortunately, headhunters vary in ethics, ability and the willingness to do a proper job. This is one of the reasons that they have received such bad press. There have been cases where candidates have worked with headhunters and ended up not getting a position at all. Some of them have been known to collect resumes as well as retention fees from candidates when most reputable recruiters charge a candidate nothing and only charge their clients. Some have terrible recruitment policies, including a lack of communication with clients and candidates, leaving everyone in the dark as to what work they have done at all. Some are not as prudent in their searches and have breached confidentiality, causing potential candidates to lose their current positions as their employers have been tipped off as to their job search activities. In fact, the worst type of headhunter will forward any and every resume to their clients with total disregard to whether or not the candidate is suitable or not. This wastes time, money and sometimes contracts with clients.

The best approach with headhunters has been for candidates to wait for headhunters to contact them because this clearly shows they are interested in those candidates for specific positions. However, this is not fool proof and client and candidates can find that a random list of candidates are contacted.

When using a headhunter it is important to find someone that can be trusted before engaging them in a contract.
This is best done by finding another firm that has used their services before and getting a recommendation. Also, it is critical for a company to insist that they are not sent every resume in sight and that they are kept totally informed of the work the headhunter is doing.

The most important things to keep in mind when using a headhunter are:

Quality work for a reasonable price

Good communication policies

References and recommendations from other companies that have used their services

An ability to do a proper candidate search for people who are suited to a job position and not just anyone and any resume

In conclusion, using a headhunter can be extremely beneficial for middle management and executive positive filling as long as the headhunter is reputable. Headhunting is so varied in its ethics and business practices that it is very easy to get caught by a company that charges large fees for little or poor work.

A headhunter is someone who recruits people on behalf of a company or corporation, usually a person who works on contingency contracts. Generally they may or may not work for an agency, but most of them have many clients and act as a third party representative.

Headhunters can act alone or work through an agency as a form of independent type contractor who liaises between companies or corporations (clients) and the potential candidates for specific job positions. They generally specialize only in relationships with their clients, searching for potential candidates or doing both. Most headhunters deal with either full-time or permanent, contracted, directly hired, or a combination of all types of positions. Their main source of research is usually done online.

Contract work headhunters (hourly pay with temporary assignments) divide their work into 2 groups, including finding new clients and bringing in new work, and also candidate recruitment. Both consulting and staffing companies generally use headhunters because the nature of their work is contractual in nature. Most headhunters doing contract work are paid via a salary, but only get a bonus or commission based on the percentage of placements made.

Full-time job headhunters are the most common form. However, it is interesting that the term headhunter is not a term that most of them like. Usually headhunters have a high level of knowledge of their industry and specialize in one sense, but use a broader spectrum in another. They can place ads or inquiry calls without the use of individual knowledge of the person they are contacting, outside of their job position or basic background. Their search is more generalized than regular recruiters in that they look for basic criterion in job roles and match them up with a wide variety of candidates versus more exacting fits. In fact, as headhunters generally work in a multitude of agencies or go solo occasionally, they have received their name in the past because they used to poach clients away from agencies.

Also, headhunters deal with varied levels of management and executives, but usually and not exclusively mid-level positions. They have extensive contacts, sometimes globally, but usually local and thus have a much better grasp on what is going on in their local area than regular recruiters. However, their procedures are not that much different from regular recruiters in that they do their candidate searches, compile lists of potential candidates, interview candidates and forward the best of the group to their clients.

Headhunters, though most do not like the name as it implies that they poach clients, which most modern ones do not do, are a form of executive recruiter whose searches are more focused on local candidates than global ones. They use similar methods to regular recruiters, but they work generally with less specified criterion for job positions for their many clients and generally make database lists of potential candidates that are both well-suited and possibly suited for the jobs concerned. Though a lot of headhunters deal mainly with mid-level management and/or executive positions, some do cover a much broader range. They include two types, those covering contract workers or those candidates that will be paid wages for positions that are usually temporary, attracting mainly consulting and staffing companies in their area, and full-time and permanent workers or those candidates that will go onto salaried positions in companies ranging from small businesses to large corporations. Generally speaking though, headhunters are contingency executive recruiters and work for salaries with bonuses for their placements, unlike the retainment executive recruiters who are paid on a fee basis only. Most companies do prefer to work with retainment executive recruiters versus headhunters or contingency recruiters simply because they are considered to be much more reputable, detail orientated and research candidates based on much more specific criterion to find the best fit for client job positions, including specified qualifications, experiences, skill sets, ability to work in a client’s specific work environment and bring far more assets to the workplace.

There are many ways to approach headhunters, but unfortunately sending resumes that have been unsolicited can result in no response as the majority are now working based on referrals only.

The best start is to find out who is who in the area of headhunting by looking at headhunting directories. Then follow these important steps:

pick out the most reputable headhunters who deal with industry specific positions

call the headhunter with a list of general questions about the industry of interest

ask the headhunter things about the current state of that industry

ask the headhunter about salary averages for executive positions in the area

ask the headhunter about the numbers of top executive positions that have appeared in the area

get into a casual discussion and answer all questions regarding your own background

if offered a chance to meet and discuss this further, then do

Approaching a headhunter is all about making oneself visible to them as most of them now belong to professional or trade groups or associations. Their directories are a powerhouse of information, including in most cases a list of reputable members and what they offer.

Another approach to headhunters is to become a good resource for information. It is possible to contact a headhunter and pass information about people that you know that are in the industry they deal with and give some recommendations. The headhunter will be grateful for the tips and very interested in your background as well, adding you to their potential contact and candidate list.

When getting a call from a headhunter, the best way to deal with this is to get as much detailed information about the job position as possible. Most headhunters reveal little about their client’s identity, but are quite willing to discuss the company’s location, industrial type and size.

Next, interview the headhunter for more information. Make a list ahead of time of all the questions needed regarding the position one is looking for and the industry itself. It is a given that even the best headhunter does not have all the information that one requires and will most likely be glad to find out and get back to you. However, it is important to be careful to not be too pushy.

Then, if the headhunter agrees to researching the information for you, offer to call them back another day. Most headhunters will be glad to give out their contact details. However, if the gist of the conversion seems very loose and there is a total lack of interest from the headhunter, then this is a sign of a less reputable recruiter and not worth pursuing.

Alternatively, make a visit to the headhunter’s office to get a visual look at the day to day operations. A real professional headhunter is dependent on repeated business, so the office will be very organized and maybe even busy.
Once inside, do the same routine as would normally be done on the phone. However, if contacted by another headhunter after initially contacting the first, be prepared for a possible job discussion. It is important then to get specific job details, and note how the headhunter got your details, but under no circumstances offer a resume or send one in at this point. Note that decent headhunters will respect this and be quick to respond.

If the headhunter suggests it, then you may arrange for a meeting, at which point it is important to have an up to date copy of your resume on hand. During this meeting, the headhunter will willingly reveal more detailed information regarding the job and client. If they offer to arrange an interview, make sure that you do background research about the client before going in.

Approaching a headhunter can be both easy and hard at the same time. Most decent ones no longer accept resumes without the first contact and interview steps. However, they do appreciate a call for more information.