This gives you some protection, since you don’t pay unless the headhunter is successful. They only get paid if they find a candidate who accepts the job. When a headhunter works on a commission basis, sometimes called a contingency arrangement, they earn a percentage of the hire’s salary for the first year. That typically happens as a commission, but some headhunters also work on a retainer basis. A headhunter is better able to identify and connect you with these passive job seekers.Īs the company looking for an employee, you pay for the headhunter service. However, many of the best prospects are passive job seekers, or people who aren’t actively searching for a job but would apply if the right opportunity came along. Traditional candidate search methods often rely on job seekers finding you and applying. Headhunters are experts at dealing with difficult market situations. Receiving hundreds of applications is time-consuming, and you might have difficulty weeding through the applicants to find the best options.
The opposite situation can also be difficult. In times when there aren’t many applicants for any job, headhunters can help you find the people who are looking or are open to change. By hiring a headhunter, you’re essentially tapping into their network in your search to fill the desired role.įinding candidates can be difficult in certain situations. Their role in sourcing potential candidates with a specific level of expertise and experience has exposed them to a wide range of industry professionals.
Headhunters have a large network of professional contacts. If you want to keep the candidate search discreet for whatever reason, a headhunter can do that. For example, if you’re replacing a current employee who isn’t doing a good job, you might not want the position advertised publicly. Sometimes, you want to keep your hunt for a new employee under wraps.
Headhunters know how to match candidates and employers, so there’s a good chance the hire will stick around for a while. This can take several hours over multiple days or weeks. You eliminate the very time-consuming task of searching for candidates and sorting through the options to find people who match your needs. Paying for a headhunter can be costly, but it can also be worth the expense.
When you use a headhunter, you save time with fast results and free up HR staff to do other tasks. It can spread the staff too thin and take them away from other important HR responsibilities. If you don’t have a dedicated recruiter, the job of finding candidates falls on other HR employees. Outsourcing the recruiting process makes your HR department more efficient. This is especially helpful when you need to fill a position quickly and don’t have the time or resources to devote to recruiting. Even if they don’t, they can find someone with the skills you need quickly because it’s all they do. They likely already have candidates that might work for your opening. Headhunters devote their days to finding candidates and matching them with the right companies. They refer top candidates who meet certain requirements. They recognize the importance of finding the best candidates and won’t waste your time. Companies that are short on time and resources often realize the value of a headhunter and see their assistance as a worthwhile investment.īecause headhunters typically work on commission, only getting paid if the people they find get hired, they’re driven to deliver top talent. This helps them work efficiently to find the best candidate for a specific position. Headhunters know the job market, with some specializing in certain industries. Potential benefits of using a headhunter include: Understanding the headhunter meaning helps you start imagining what one can do for your business. While they only make money upon the successful placement of a job candidate, their compensation may amount to 30% or more of the new hire’s total first-year salary. They work for agencies or as freelancers, getting hired by companies as a third-party resource. You can also define headhunter professionals as executive recruiters, and their practice of finding qualified candidates is commonly known as an executive search. Headhunters are experts at networking and understanding the current job market, which makes them highly effective at recruiting candidates.
These target candidates are already employed by other companies but are open to new opportunities. So what is a headhunter? Headhunters are much like recruiters in that they approach highly skilled people to help companies fill specific job roles.