What I learned about Headhunting for Tech Companies

I once had a client who was interested in candidates from a competing company. I received a list of the company's employees and I had to contact them and offer them a transfer to our client.

During this project and other ones, I made some conclusions that I want to share with you. Perhaps this will allow you to make your headhunting more effective.

In this article, I promise to tell you how to start a conversation with a person who does not know you and interests him in your vacancy, what questions you should and should not ask during headhunting, and how to avoid frequent mistakes.

The process?

When you contact someone who is not looking for a job, you don't know if they are ready to consider new career opportunities. Depending on the privacy level of the search, you have two options.?

The first is when the position is not confidential, and your client is ready to openly advertise the vacancy to the employees of a certain company.?

In this case, you can introduce yourself and talk about the vacancy. And ask if it might interest the candidate.

In order to get the candidate's consent to get acquainted with the vacancy, you can ask the question at the beginning:?

"May I share the details of the vacancy with you?"?

In this way, you will no longer look like an intrusive recruiter.

The second option is when the vacancy is confidential and you can disclose the client's name only if the candidate is ready to consider new career opportunities.

In this case, you can say that you are calling because you know that the candidate has some experience and could potentially be suitable for an interesting vacancy.?

But before you get into the specifics of the job, you might want to ask if the candidate is willing to consider new career opportunities that correspond to his career goals.?

If the candidate does not reject such an opportunity, then you can ask the candidate to tell in more detail about his experience and if this experience meets the requirements of your client, you tell more about the vacancy and agree on the next steps.

Questions?

It is important to understand that the questions you ask candidates through headhunting and candidates who responded to the vacancy themselves should be different.

One of the mistakes made during headhunting is the question from the recruiter or hiring manager

"Why did you apply to this vacancy?"

It is logical that the candidate did not apply and did not look for a job, but received a call or message from a recruiter with this offer.

Therefore, it will be more correct to ask the question as follows:

We understand that we ourselves contacted you and offered to consider the vacancy. But why are you interested? What caught your attention? Why might you be interested in this vacancy?

If you put the wording in this way, then the candidate feels the logic of the process and understands that his motivation is understood and treated according to his expectations.

Mistakes?

The common mistake during headhunting is the following. Most of the candidates you contact will say they are not interested.?

But the good news is that you have at least already had the first conversation with the candidate and there is a probability that he may know people who have similar experience.?

Therefore, not asking "Do you know people who have such experience and can you advise someone?" would be a mistake.

Another mistake is not to send your contacts to the person and not to offer to stay in touch in the future. No one knows when the need to change jobs may arise.?

Therefore, if the candidate has your contacts, he will be able to contact you at the right time.

Conclusions?

Treat the candidates you find through headhunting differently than the candidates who responded to the vacancy on their own.?

Not because these candidates are better than others, but because they were found using different recruiting tactics. Use special questions to start communication and ask correct questions. And don't make common mistakes.

About us:?

MindHunt over 12 years helps companies close vacancies in management, engineering, operations, finance, legal, sales & marketing roles in EMEA by headhunting from competitors and target companies.?

Give us 5 days and start interviewing candidates that we headhunted and selected according to your requirements. If you want to use the power of the recruiting agency MindHunt, please book a free Recruiting Consultation today.