So, I just finished a chat on KXAN regarding how to work with Headhunters:
http://www.kxan.com/generic/news/recession_to_recovery
(click on the link for “Recruiters and Headhunters: When, Why and How to Use Them” if it’s still there)
In March, I had a similiar discussion at the North by Northwest Job Club.
Here are what I think are the highlight of the questions (please add more via Comments if you like).
What is a Headhunter/Recruiter?
A Headhunter is a company/individual that is hired by a company to help them find their perfect candidate. A Recruiter is an invidual within a company who’s job is to find candidates to fill positions.
This was not overly clear in my chat because I didn’t have time to go back and correct it. 
There is another entity out there called a Placement Agency. They are hired by the candidate (or the candidate’s former company). Placement Agencies will assign coaches to the candidates to help with their job skills (training, resume writing, interview practice, etc). Placement Agencies frequently have some sort of access to temporary positions. Placement Agencies rarely have permanent positions available to them.
How do Headhunter’s/Recruiter’s get paid?
A Headhunter gets paid a placement fee from the company when they find a candidate that is a match. A recruiter gets paid by the company as part of their salary.
Why don’t I hear back from recruiters?
Something that every job seeker must understand – Headhunters/Recruiters are paid by the companies. So their focus is on getting the PERFECT candidate for the position. They are not there to find YOU a job.
Right now in this job market there are a lot more job seekers than there are positions available. This is causing any particular posting to receive over 400 applicants within 24 hours. Only one of those people are going to match. Three to ten may move onto the actual interview process. People are looking for reasons to rule you out rather than rule you in right now.
Headhunters/Recruiters do not have time to go back to all of the applicants who submitted for a position and tell them that they didn’t get it.
So, what do I do to get a headhunter/recruiter’s attention?
With Recruiters, you have to be careful. They work for the company that you are interested in working for. So, you really don’t want to nag them or piss them off. If you know an individual at that company, have the individual contact the recruiter on your behalf to gather information.
With Headhunters, you don’t have to be so careful. You can take a lot more initiative when working with them. Here’s my rule of thumb:
- If you are not in the running for an active position, make sure that you reach out to your headhunter at least once a month to tell them that you are still on the market. They will forget you if you don’t contact them.
- If you are in the initial running for an active position, you should hear something once a week about the position. If you haven’t heard something in the last week, contact them.
- If you are in the interview stage of an active position, you should hear something every 3 days or so. If you haven’t heard something in the last 3 days, contact them. They may not have new information, but you should reach out anyways to keep yourself from going crazy.
- If you are in the offer stage of an active position, you should hear something every day. If you haven’t heard something in a full business day then contact them. Again, there may not be any new information but at least you are staying in the loop.
- If you are passively looking for a position and you want to stay on a headhunter’s radar for possible opportunities, reach out to your headhunter every 3 months or so and get a feel for what’s going on in the market.
No one cares about your job search as much as you do. Stay on top of the contact process.
How do I know if I am working with a good recruiter/headhunter?
- Good Recruiters will have a lot of detail regarding the position that they are trying to fill
- Good Recruiters will be responsive to you when you try to contact them
- Good Recruiters will give you a response even when it isn’t the one you want to hear
- Good Headhunters will be able to provide you with details regarding the position
- Good Headhunters will tell you which company they are submitting you to
- Good Headhunters will contact you before they submit your resume to a company
- Good Headhunters will meet with you in person once you have been chosen for an interview (either as a one on one or to walk you in for the interview)
- Good Headhunters will provide you with background details on the company and the company culture
- Good Headhunters will try to determine if you could be a good fit for other positions that they are staffing
- Good Headhunters will be responsive when you attempt to contact you, even if the news is not good news
- Good Headhunters will give you tips to improve your search
- Good Headhunters will refer you to other headhunters when appropriate
If I want to work with more than one headhunter, how should I do that?
It’s never good to put all your eggs in one basket, especially if you are an active job seeker. Different headhunters have agreements with different companies. They have different pools of positions to pull from.
Be honest with the headhunters that you are using and let them know if you are working with other agencies. Nothing is more frustrating to a headhunter than finding out that you have already been submitted to a position by another agency.
Make sure that every headhunter that you are working with contacts you before they submit you for a position. That is your opportunity to tell them whether or not you have already been submitted for a position. Having one headhunter submit you and then having another headhunter submit you does not help your chances. In some cases (like state positions) it will actually knock you out of the running. Companies will decide not to hire you if they have two headhunters bickering over who gets the fees.
Why should I use a Headhunter?
Headhunters have direct contacts with recruiters and hiring managers. Unless you have a really good friend who works for a company, a headhunter is your best way to get in front of a company.
A headhunter will manage the interactions between you and the company. They will negotiate interviews. They will push for information. They will help to negotiate your salary. They help to take the paperwork out of the process for you.
If you are going to work with a headhunter, contact the headhunter BEFORE you apply to a job via a jobboard or a company website. Once you are in a company’s system it ties the hands of the headhunter who is trying to help you. Your resume will end up in a big pile of a bunch of other candidates. The headhunter may or may not be able to get any information on you or pluck you from the pile once you are in it.
A headhunter can go back to a company and argue on your behalf. When companies have 400 candidates to rule out, a headhunter can go back and tell a company why they should rule you in.
Another great point towards using Headhunters is that frequently they will hear about positions that are not posted to the public. Companies will go directly to a headhunter to fill a position rather than taking the time to post it out and sift through the large amount of resumes they receive back.
Headhunters may also be able to “promarket” you to a company. This means that there isn’t a position at the moment for you. However, the headhunter will still suggest that you are a perfect fit for a company and a position might get created for you.
Do Headhunters have specialties?
It depends on the agency. Some agencies are small and have a niche focus.
BridgeATX only works with technical positions (pms, bas, developers, programmers, testers, network admins, system admins, web designers, tech writers, tech support and executives that cover this span).
However, some agencies are VERY large and they have individuals who are devoted to particular types of positions.
Good Headhunters know other headhunters to refer people to if they can’t help with their type of position.
What are the roles within a Headhunter Agency?
Each agency has a Managing Director who is in charge of making sure that individuals are meeting their numbers and doing their jobs.
Some agencies run a half desk and some run a full desk. A half desk means that there is an individual who is responsible for talking to the companies and the company interaction. There is also an individual who is responsible for a candidate experience. With a full desk an individual runs both parts of the process.
How can you stand out to a recruiter/headhunter admist the sea of candidates on the job market right now?
The first thing I would say is build rapport with them. Rapport is not built from one conversation, it comes over time. If a position becomes available I normally have a few people who immediately come to mind. I will then look back over the resumes who have been submitted to me if I don’t have someone I can work with off the top of my head.
The next thing I would say is have a good resume that makes the job easy on everyone. Start with a good standard resume that outlines what you’re good at and what you enjoy doing. Then when positions become available go back and tweak your resume so that it says why you are absolutely perfect for the position that someone is hiring for. If it’s easy to see why your perfect (rather than having someone hunt for all the pieces) then it makes everyone’s job easier.
Headhunters – Big vs Small and National vs Local
This all depends on your job search.
Big Headhunters normally have contracts with BIG companies. It’s the only way that they can get the numbers that they need to sustain their bottom line. They are typically filling handfuls of positions at a time.
Small Headhunters normally have contracts with the smaller companies. They tend to be much more of a niche focus. So if you fit into their niche and you want to work for a small to medium size company a smaller headhunter service would be right for you.
National Headhunters can place you anywhere in the country (and sometimes anywhere in the world). So if you are looking to leave the location that you currently live in or if you don’t care where you live then a national company will be a better choice for you. They can have interviews for you in Chicago, New York, LA and Dallas all in the same month.
Local Headhunters have normally met the Hiring Managers/Recruiters in person. They see them out and about on a regular basis. They have been to the companies offices. They understand the company culture. There is much more of a friendly feeling to local headhunters.
You really need to understand what your search is about in order to answer this question for yourself. Austin is a VERY local community. Chicago and New York are very national.
In conclusion
I hope this starts to answer some of the questions you have regarding working with Recruiters/Headhunters. If you have more questions, please submit a comment and I will attempt to answer it as quickly as possible.
