Erm, that's not Headhunting.

Just because somebody isn't actively seeking a new role does approaching them equate to headhunting? Not for me. It equates to recruitment.

I've worked in recruitment for over 15 years now and in that time technology has changed the face of the industry and perhaps nothing more so than LinkedIn.

When I first started as a 'Resourcer' for a London based IT recruitment company, Google was barely a year old and LinkedIn wasn't even a glint in an entrepreneur's eye. With this in mind approaching 'passive' candidates was a far more challenging prospect than it is today; cold calling IT companies, getting through to the web development team (for every one in 30 or so calls) and then pitching to whoever picked up the phone in the faint hope that they might have the skills you're looking for.

For the modern recruiter, technology has negated the need to do that, you can approach surreptitiously via email or InMail and initiate conversation with those that you know match the criteria of the vacancy you are working on. Whilst it's a tool that any recruiter would be crazy to overlook it has resulted in a number of lazy and mediocre recruiters.

I digress though. These methods, new and old, aren't headhunting.

If recruitment was so easy that it was simply a case of advertising vacancies and submitting the top three applicants that apply for the role then everybody would do it. Sadly it's not that easy so recruiters do need to use their guile, initiative and extended network to make their vacancy known to as many candidates as possible. That's recruitment. That's how we earn our fee.

So what's Headhunting then? Firstly it's a consultative approach and by no means a quick fix to a vacancy that needs filling imminently.

If somebody is a 'Headhunter' they will meet their client and determine a list of targets working at competitors, or perhaps within other industries, that have transferable skills. The Headhunter should be as knowledgeable about their sector as the client so should come to this meeting with valuable input. Who are people talking about in the industry, who has a track record of success in their role, who might be ready to look for a new challenge and who is going to fit or perhaps change the culture of an organisation?

Once this list of targets is established the Headhunter can get to work. It's a difficult job, it can take as long as 6-12 months to get the right person and it is all encompassing. For these reasons a Headhunting firm can justifiably charge a proportion of their fee upfront, a good Headhunter will work on nothing else and obviously that time comes at cost in the same way hiring a professional in any industry would.

We recently speculatively approached a client who instructed us to work on a Senior Business Development role on their behalf. They had already instructed a Headhunting firm and paid an initial fee for their services. I knew a candidate that was actively looking for new opportunities due to redundancy that fitted the brief perfectly. I ran through the role with her, told her about the client and we agreed that we would put her forward.

To my frustration the client responded to say that the Headhunting firm had already submitted the CV. I went back to my candidate who assured me that nobody had spoken to her about the role or the client and that maybe they'd taken her CV from a job board and sent it to the client without her approval or knowledge. Remember that they'd charged an upfront fee for this 'service'.

Erm, that's not headhunting.