Headhunters, in the early days of the business, were a mysterious bunch. Smooth smiling men (they were almost invariably male!) would come and track busy employees down and mention another company name. The employee would declare that they were not interested, but the headhunter, like their bloodthirsty namesakes would not take no for an answer.
They would offer increasingly large sums of renumeration to tempt the employee into jumping ship, or they would offer the employee the one thing they really needed to complete their research! Finally tempted beyond reason, the employee would take the bait, abandon their current workplace and head off happily enriched, one way or another, to pastures new.
Reality vs Expectation
The reality is that headhunters are rather more prosaic than cinematic depictions would allow. If anything, they are mere recruiters, albeit the very best recruiters around who specialise in tightly demarcated fields so as to find the best candidates for specialist jobs. Headhunters are often experts in the field in which they work, rather like a former teacher recruiting new teachers, or a language expert recruiting for translators. This means they have a deep understanding of the work entailed, and can very easily weed out any weak candidates who might be trying to score a prestigious and high-paying job without the backing of a solid base of experience.
How Do I Get a Headhunter Interested in Me?
There are two ways headhunters operate. The first way – and the one most associated with the title – is when headhunters know the industry so well that they have a little black book of suitable candidates for almost any job title within the profession. This means that when a large company sends out the word that they want an expert in X, Y and Z, a headhunter merely needs to think for a moment, or consult said handy address book, to come up with the perfect match or two for the job at hand. After that, it is a matter of making the offer sweet enough to tempt the candidate away from their current work.
The second way is when a candidate goes to the headhunting agency, such as Eagle Headhunters and places themselves in the headhunter’s hands. The headhunter will examine the candidates CV, test their knowledge and skills, and perhaps even make background checks to ensure that a golden candidate does not have any unsavoury secrets waiting to be uncovered. Once the candidate is accepted by the agency, the headhunter will work to make a good match between the candidate and a company that is looking for someone with those skills and experience levels.
Is It Worth It?
In headhunting as in so much else in life, money talks. If headhunters were not value for money, they would not be hired, and they would have no clients on either side of the career divide. As headhunting and management recruitment is on the rise around the globe and especially in the UK, you should dust off your CV, brush up your skills and make the call sooner rather than later. Your dream job might already be waiting for you!