Recently, during an interview with a candidate for a headhunter consultant position, she asked a very pertinent question: “How can one become an excellent headhunter?” This is indeed a great question. What makes a headhunter appreciated and recognized by clients? The answers vary—some say it’s about achieving million-dollar results, meeting 360-degree requirements, having a high placement rate, or getting positive feedback from clients and candidates.
A successful recruitment project involves multiple stages: communicating recruitment needs, signing contracts, candidate search, arranging interviews, negotiating salaries, issuing offers, onboarding follow-ups, post-onboarding check-ins, and quality assurance. Any misstep in these stages can cause the headhunter’s efforts to go to waste. Faced with such challenges, all headhunters ponder: how can one become an excellent headhunter? Wins Recruiting defines an excellent headhunter with three words: curiosity, resilience, and honesty. Here’s an explanation of each:
Curiosity
Excellent headhunters ask what clients need (not just what they want), what candidates can or cannot do, whether they fit the client, and if their resumes are misleading. We inquire about the job, the organization—its culture, style, reputation—the reporting structure, the work team (if any), responsibilities, promotion and career development opportunities, travel expectations, stakeholders, etc. We distill this information into five essential elements; candidates lacking these elements are not considered. We then evaluate all candidates against this talent profile, interview the most promising ones, and present a shortlist. Finally, we usually pick a few interested and qualified candidates (this is an important word). I say “qualified” because while most people rate themselves highly, only the top few percent are truly outstanding. The rest of us are the ordinary workforce. (It’s always good to know exactly how excellent you are!)
Resilience
When a top headhunter hears the magical word “no” from a candidate, their resilience kicks in. No, I’m not interested in relocating; no, I don’t care about your client’s great career prospects; no, I don’t want to leave my job. Headhunters hear this word hundreds of times a day, but an excellent headhunter is unfazed by it. Everyone has their own story and is at a different stage in life. The challenge for a headhunter is to find those open and responsive to the opportunities we present. Achieving this often involves a lot of effort, akin to kissing many frogs to find a prince. Excellent candidates not being open to headhunters now doesn’t mean they’re bad candidates or permanently off the list—it just means they’re not open at this moment. They might change their mind in a week, a month, or a year. But only those who are resilient and can handle hearing “no” all day long can become excellent headhunters; this is part of the professional quality and habit of any top headhunter.
Honesty
Honesty is paramount. Part of our job is managing information, serving as the bridge between employers and job seekers, and of course, we aim to close positions. However, without integrity, we cannot achieve this. Changing jobs requires careful consideration, and we have a responsibility to respect candidates—they are making significant decisions. Similarly, clients don’t offer jobs out of sympathy or fondness—they do so because they believe the candidate can drive the organization forward. Thus, we must play our part, honestly and clearly setting expectations for both sides—anything else would backfire—and ensuring the right person fits the right role as much as possible. Failing to assess honestly leads to issues, and soon someone quits, leaving everyone unhappy. Ultimately, because we are hired to do so, we are impartial about who gets the job—we know one of our candidates will get it, so we don’t need to favor anyone or sway the client. We only hope they choose the most suitable candidate from the high-quality, interested candidates we provide. Simple, right?
As always, if you have any specific topics you’d like to discuss here, please let me know.
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