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What does a Headhunter actually do...

Ross Johnston


Most people are probably baffled at how executive search works behind the scenes. I get the impression some people think we troll through LinkedIn and databases, and are basically slightly posher versions of contingent recruiters, others seem to think we spend our days practising some kind of black art of networking and schmoozing.


The real answer is actually somewhere in the middle, and a bit of both.


Breaking down a typical end-to-end search process for a retained Headhunter tends to look something like this:


1 - Winning a search. Nothing happens if you don't have a client and a retainer, so this is basically 'sales'. It often comes from an experienced Headhunter's network, a referral, or perhaps a good old fashioned outbound approach to a hiring manager at just the right time. Generally, it is the more experienced and senior Headhunters (typically Partners) that focus on this.


2 - Search strategy. Once a search is won, the client and Headhunter will invest probably several hours fine-tuning what the search actually is, what they need, how to think about it, where to find the talent they want, what a process will look like, writing the role spec, agreeing on practical things like compensation, etc.


3 - Research. Once a Headhunter is clear on the brief, they go about researching who the right people are. Naturally, their network comes first. But beyond this, any Headhunter that says they don't lean heavily on LinkedIn is lying. This will vary massively, but typically you can expect c. 100 candidates to be on the list of people a retained Headhunter wants to speak with when going to market for a VP or C-level role.


4 - Candidate approaches. As you can see, if a credible Headhunter reaches out to you about a specific role, they have probably done their homework.


5 - Candidate interviews & 'filtering'. Most retained Headhunters ultimately strive to deliver a shortlist of 4-8 candidates to their client. These ultimately are a cross-check between the most qualified, interested, and within-budget candidates from a pool of likely c. 100+ people, which itself was carefully researched from hundreds more. To get to here, Headhunters strike a delicate balance between 'selling' candidates on their client opportunity as well as qualifying them. Anyone on the shortlist should have a strong claim to that role.


6 - Client management. Throughout all of the above, the Headhunter is keeping the client up to speed, typically with weekly check-in calls and reports giving them near real-time visibility of how the search is progressing, candidate feedback, etc. There is a lot in this, but ultimately for a Headhunter, they want to make sure their client is feeling good about how the search is progressing as well as get as much feedback and guidance from them as possible so they can fine-tune their selection as they build towards that shortlist. There can often be a lot of management of client expectations here as well.


7 - Managing interviews. Good Headhunters like to keep control or at least visibility of the various interview stages between client and candidate. They will regularly prep and debrief with each candidate at each stage, and similar with the client. They make sure things move as smoothly as possible, caress the edges where questions arise from either party, and ultimately are focused on ensuring the best match finds its way to the surface through an interview process.


8 - Offer negotiation. Headhunters can play an invaluable role sitting in the middle and finding common ground between client and candidate when it comes to negotiating comp. They can call out either side for being unreasonable and have the best POV on what the candidate market looks like. Once a package is agreed, a Headhunter will be on hand to help a candidate resign, but will largely step back at this point and allow the client to take responsibility for onboarding, etc.


It's not rocket science, the secret sauce is largely in the execution, but hopefully this demystifies things for you.

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