Headhunters: What Jobseekers and Employers Should Know

The latest employment statistics tell that a chronic mismatch is occurring between employers and the candidate marketplace. At 4.6% percent, US unemployment rates remain high by historical standards, yet 52 percent of US employers are having severe hiring difficulties. This has led to a strangely competitive marketplace where both candidates and employers are struggling to meet their respective goals.

Therefore, both job seekers and employers will need to up their games and make better use of the resources available to them, such as job boards, social networks, and headhunters.

However, while there seems to be a lot of information on how to make use of job boards and social recruitment technologies, there is little guidance on how to derive maximum value from a headhunter. Below, you will find some tips and advice on what both job seekers and employers should look for in a headhunter, which we also hope may provide some useful tips to headhunters on how to more effectively market their services.

What should candidates look for in a headhunter?

1. A Strong and Effective Employer Side Relationship

The most effective headhunters have a good relationship with their employer. By relationship, I don’t mean warm hugs and continental kisses, but that the employer has gained the trust of the client through a track record of high-quality placement.

Therefore, try and ascertain how long your headhunter has been working for the client and how many candidates they have successfully placed in the past year. This will tell you just how good the relationship is between the head-hunter and client. If the headhunter has not placed anyone recently with that client (or indeed ever), then their relationship is probably not strong and you should consider finding another headhunter or going direct.

2.Do they have a good quality resume and candidate marketing process?

Do they modify/enhance your resume or do they send as is? Ask if you can see a copy of what it will look like with their agency branding included? Does it still look good? How many resumes do they send in to the employer? Do they swamp the employer, meaning that your resume may easily be lost in a crowd of resumes, or are they focused on quality, just sending in a batch of the best resumes?

Choose an agency that presents your resume in the most effective way.

3.Can they can clearly explain the advantages they have over their competitors?

Can they demonstrate that they have stronger employer relationships than your competitors do within your industry sector, location, and profession, and specifically with the employers you are interested in?

The agencies with the best relationships will be more likely to get your resume onto the right table in front of the right person, maximizing your chances of being called to interview.

4.Can they can explain what advantage they can offer over going directly to an employer?

Resumes from headhunters do come with a fee meaning that, all things being equal, they will be less attractive to an employer than a resume that has come direct and occurs with no fee.

Therefore, the head hunter must be able to show you that they bring added value over and above going direct, e.g. they have good relationships with key decision-makers or they get early access to jobs before they hit the marketplace.

5.Do they have exclusivity?

Is this job being advertised by lots of agencies? Or does your agency have exclusivity? If it’s the former, either it’s a ‘free for all’ and highly competitive and/or the headhunter is not retained and is speculating. There is nothing wrong with this practice as some of the best resumes have come to me unsolicited. However, in general, employers may be less receptive to resumes that come from headhunters that have not been retained.

Ideally, you should try and ascertain if the headhunter works exclusively with the client –  or is at least a preferred supplier – and if they do, this is the best bet for you resume. If they do not, or you cannot ascertain if they are a preferred supplier with a good relationship with the employer, consider whether it might be worth going directly or going to an agency that is a preferred supplier as your resume is more likely to end up on the right table.

What Employers Should Look for In a Headhunter?

1.How does the headhunter market your roles?

This is important. The head hunter should know your marketplace clearly and be able to describe to you their exact efforts to attract suitable candidates. They should be able to describe the channels they use and the specific techniques they adopt to attract sufficient volume and specificity of candidates. The most effective headhunters will have proven and well-documented search practices.

2.How does the headhunter screen candidates?

This is a very important question. Ask them to describe their screening and interview processes. Do they verify candidate credentials and, if so, what checks do they do and how do they do this? Do they interview and/or test candidates to assess their suitability? What is their process for selecting/shortlisting candidates for the client? A good headhunter should have a basic level of due diligence as part of their process.

3.How many resumes does your headhunter present to a client? 

Is the headhunter’s business model focused on quantity or quality? Part of the reason that employers hire headhunters and pay the fee is to skip the resume sifting and long listing process and jump straight to a tight, interview-ready shortlist. A quality-focused headhunter will present you with four to six resumes per post with the majority of them being suitable for interview.

4.What is the lead time for presenting you with your shortlist?

Good head-hunters will have a good understanding of their registered talent’s skills and availability and will also have a good feel for the marketplace, and therefore should be confident about providing a reliable time estimate as to when they can provide you with a quality shortlist

5.Do they have a refund policy if the candidate fails their probationary period?

Many headhunters will reimburse some aspects of the placement fee if the employee leaves the company during the first eight to 12 weeks. Try and seek out headhunters that offer this as it demonstrates their confidence in their product and service, and of course, if they consistently made bad placements with this policy in place, they would not be around to tell the tale. So, this policy is a strong indicator of a well-functioning agency.

6.How much industry knowledge and respect does the headhunter have?

Check their LinkedIn profile, tweets, or forum posts and see if they have a good pedigree in their field. How much experience do they have? Do they specialize in your sector or location? Are they a respected industry professional? They must be a respected industry professional if they are to command the interest of the cream of talent, which is what employers are looking for, is it not?

7.Are their fees in line with the market?

Shop around. Are the headhunter’s fees in line with the market? If they are higher, then there should be clear justification why and you should expect a better quality service as a result, e.g. better quality screening.

Also, be curious if the costs are substantially lower than the market, as it could be that they are cutting corners, which means you could end up with an inferior service. Or alternately, it could be that they are deliberately adopting a loss-leading strategy to win new business, and you are effectively getting higher quality service at a discount. It is important that you ask the question to find out why their fees appear to be undercutting the marketplace.

8. Do they reflect your brand?

As a business, you may spend thousands on your employer marketing and branding strategy and since your headhunter will be representing your business, they should reflect your brand, or else they will undermine your branding efforts.

9.Only allow head-hunters exclusivity for a short period of time.

If a headhunter demands exclusivity, ensure that you negotiate a lock-in period, e.g. if the recruiter does not present candidates within 2 weeks, then you will go elsewhere. You need the flexibility to go elsewhere if your head hunter does not succeed.