Headhunters, who they are and how to rely on their talent

'Headhunter ', an American term that can also be found in the Italian version, can be referred to as headhunter. The word is not the most reassuring, we realise. Widely used in sport, it has its origins in New York for companies that needed to recruit the best candidates for the best positions.

Today, there are many companies, determined to find the best of the best, that rely on this service. So let's take a look at a guide to headhunting to understand who they are, how they work and how to find your hunter.

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Headhunter 101: definition, features and benefits

Definition of a headhunter

The headhuntertends to work for a specialised company or as a freelancer on behalf of companies experiencing difficulties in the recruitment process for certain positions. Over the years, however, it has not infrequently been the case that companies with a large human resources department have decided to hire a full-time headhunter.

This figure is mainly used in executive search, the search and selection of highly qualified personnel to fill managerial positions, when the board of directors finds it difficult to find a good candidate.

What is done, therefore, is to outsource the request to an expert who, according to the information appearing from a profile with specifications, identifies, evaluates and selects the suitable person.

Up to this point, there is nothing particular to explain why this term is somewhat 'extreme'. The peculiarity of our hunter is that he often finds himself targeting prey...er candidates who are not actively seeking new employment and who, above all, already hold prestigious positions.

He therefore resorts to his persuasive skills to convince the person to change jobs.

Characteristics of the Headhunter

A headhunter possesses by nature several relational characteristics, his work being very much linked to human contacts. Let's look at the main ones:

• Excellent communication skills, as in most RH roles, empathy and communication skills are necessary to relate to people
• Networking skills, in building their database and business they need to be able to build relationships, convey trust and work hard on reputation
• In-depth knowledge of their industry, of developments of innovations. Think of all the new positions that have arisen in recent years such as social media managers and growth hackers...a headhunter cannot miss a single one
• Ethics, although they may be portrayed as ruthless in the movies, in reality they are subject to very precise ethical codes. For example, they cannot try to 'steal' a talent from one client to service another
• Flexibility. This is not a job that allows you to go to the office at 9 a.m. and leave at 6 a.m. It means travelling a lot and being willing to sacrifice some of your personal life.

Advantages of using a Headhunter

What are the advantages of relying on a headhunter or a specialised search company? Why not simply use traditional recruitment tools?

1. A headhunter does not stop until he succeeds in his objective, even though this may take up a lot of his time. It tends to be all this time a company cannot devote to recruiting activities.
2. They tend to be result-based contracts, so paid to managers found
3. Has an extremely valuable database of potential candidates that is difficult to access because they are passive candidates
4. They know the industry inside out: salaries, benefits, skills, experience, etc.
5. Will not waste your time with totally unqualified candidates

How to approach a headhunter and the selection phases

Choosing a professional

Obviously there are no absolute truths and you may always be surprised for the better or for the worse. In any case, some small tips to keep in mind in your choice:

• Some consultancies or some professionals specialise by sector. Do a thorough research and don't go generic because they may have more limited knowledge.
• They are experts in networking, searching for information about their reputation is not difficult. You can turn to knowledge in your network or very simply to Linkedin. Nowadays it is a great tool for gathering references.
• Look for a company that is transparent. Ethics are important and a true professional respects this and will not withhold information from you.
• The commission: be careful if you have a somewhat limited budget. Obviously a good job will never be for the price of a coffee.

Selection phases

Let's take a brief look at how our hunter will bring a candidate to you so that you understand the amount of work and the quality that goes into it:

1. Analysis of the position required: it will not be enough to provide a list of characteristics. Ideally, you should organise a meeting with your company, your employees to try to get an understanding of who you are and how you work. A good match also depends on the working environment.
2. Recruiting: once it is clear which candidate you need, the search will begin. He will have to search through CVs, call candidates for an initial interview and evaluate them. To do this, technology comes to his aid with CV gathering software such as CVweb vision.
3. Selection: The process can be longer or shorter. Other interviews, personality tests, aptitude tests or simply to check skills may be necessary. In this respect, Easyrecrue is a state-of-the-art solution that can reduce the timeframe by quite a bit. Other widely used solutions can be applicant tracking systems (ATS) to check where the various applications stand. For example, Performa Recruit is the ideal solution in this respect.

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Launch your headhunter to search

The person you need is just around the corner. Rely on the expertise of someone who knows the job well and who can bring you the ideal candidate. When it comes to management positions you have to demand the best for your company... well the headhunter will find it! And you? have you ever turned to this type of service? what do you think?