Recruiters and Headhunters – Who Are They And What Do They Do?

While the terms “recruiters” and “headhunters” used to have negative connotations like joining the war effort or things gone horribly wrong on an Amazon jungle scouting expedition, these days recruiters and headhunters can be your best friend in the great job search.

Defining Their Job Description

Recruiters are people who work for a company’s HR department. Sometimes they’re independent contractors, and sometimes they work directly for that company. They work to find individuals with the right skills and talent to fill particular positions within the company. They attend job fairs and meet with students in college career offices to help fill the entry-level and lower management positions in a company.

Headhunters are a third-party. In most cases, they work with more than one company to fill particular staffing positions. Headhunters are usually employed in higher-caliber job searches, so whether a firm is looking for a top architect or a company needs a new CEO, a headhunter is likely to be involved in the search.

Understanding the Roles

Both recruiters and headhunters find people to fill jobs. Usually, they’re looking for people who have three or four qualifications the company feels necessary to fill the listed job. Recruiters, for the most part, are paid directly by companies. Headhunters, on the other hand, are paid by both companies and high dollar job seekers. When a company works through an external recruiter or a headhunter, they either hire them for a period of time or until a person is found who fills the position.

Keep in mind that if they are hired on a contingency basis (they only get paid when the right individual is found), they tend to be under a bit more stress. Finding the right individual is essential to their paychecks, and if you don’t have all the right skills, considering you for the job just isn’t an option for them.

How They Can Help You

If you’re in the midst of a job search, it can be helpful to find a recruiter or a headhunter to help you out. For the most part, though, you won’t select a recruiter or a headhunter to help you. Unless you have quite a bit of cash, recruiters and headhunters find you – not the other way around.

Before you contact a single recruiter or a headhunter, understand a little about their organization. If they have a particular niche they tend to fill, look for it. Understanding a bit about them, though, isn’t the only key to success. You must know a bit about yourself as well. Know exactly what you’re looking for before you ever contact a recruiter or a headhunter. The inability to clearly state your objective is a good way to end up in a recruiter’s circular file.

Because it is hard to know exactly what a particular recruiter or a headhunter is looking for, it is best to contact several at once. A mass e-mailing of up to few hundred recruiters and headhunters is the best way to go about this. While only about twenty percent of them will even bother to get in touch with you, some is better than none in this case. When the phone does begin to ring, offer them an amazing first impression within the first sixty seconds of the phone call, it may just get you an interview.

It is important to remember that recruiters and headhunters don’t have time to help you work on your resume or your interview skills. They have to work with hundreds of candidates to find the right person for the job. If you don’t meet their immediate needs, you will not be kept on file.

You may get more attention from recruiters if you are willing to relocate. Moreover, they have to know what you expect in terms of salary and your past salary history. In some cases, their total fee is based on your first year’s salary. Finally, you are most likely to get attention from recruiters if you are on one career path. While changing careers at thirty-five might be right for you, it’s not often the best choice for the companies involved, and recruiters tend not to pay attention to those who are looking for a midcareer shift.

Recruiters and headhunters can be instrumental in your job search. However, before you can use them to your advantage, you must understand both how they work and what they’re looking for.

To your success! Career Change Ideas.com