Working with a Headhunter - Part 3: Working with a Headhunter - As a Candidate

In the previous post, I talked about the different types of headhunters and how they operate.

In this post, I would like to share my views on how best to work with a headhunter from a candidate’s perspective.

In Part 1 of my post under this topic, I mentioned that headhunters do not help candidates to find jobs primarily.

Having said that, it is definitely still beneficial to maintain a healthy relationship with headhunters for the following reasons:

?Being on the radar for more potential job opportunities

While an individual headhunter may not be able to help you find a job per se, knowing more headhunters and making a good impression just means that you are on the radar for more potential job opportunities because the headhunters will be serving many different clients collectively.

?Access to market intelligence

Headhunters work with a) clients who are hiring people and b) many candidates who are being considered for roles that you might be suitable for, hence they would have a bird’s eye view of the job and talent market. It would be useful to tap on their knowledge to find out how is the hiring climate and how you might stack up against other candidates in the market.

?Receiving career advice

Seasoned headhunters would have seen many different career trajectories of candidates they interact with over their headhunting careers. They hear lots of stories about career successes and missteps, which are useful case studies and lessons that they can share with others. ?

If you have a long-term relationship with a headhunter, he/she can be a good sounding board to provide some career advice even though there may not be a specific role to present you for.

?So how do you go about building a fruitful relationship with headhunters? Here are some suggested pointers:

1?? Identity relevant headhunters to connect with (if you have not already done so)

As mentioned in the previous post, there are different types of headhunters who focus on different job seniority levels, industries and job functions. It would make more sense to focus on building relationships with those headhunters most relevant to you.

??Do some research on the headhunting firms and individual headhunters. It should be easy to find information on LinkedIn and internet in general for firms and consultants who are credible.

??Check whether the firms/consultants cover job roles of your seniority level, industry and job function.

2?? Reach out to the relevant headhunters

You can try reaching out to the relevant headhunters via LinkedIn or their email addresses, which should normally be listed on their company websites.

It would be helpful to leave a message when asking to connect: E.g. “I am looking to network”; “I am open to new opportunities, appreciate you keeping a lookout for me.” etc. Headhunters tend to get many connection requests and with many bot accounts on LinkedIn these days, we are more careful about accepting generic connection requests.

3?? Remember the rule of reciprocity

It is understandable that people are more responsive to headhunters and more proactive in following up with headhunters when they are looking for opportunities. But even when you are not active on the job market, you can still maintain a friendly attitude with the headhunters. Sometimes headhunters will also need some intelligence on people and companies and might ask for your help. Be helpful if you are able to. Then you can build a longer term and more genuine relationship, instead of a transactional one. And this is a reminder to ourselves as well, being headhunters. It’s a 2-way street.

4?? Keep your ego in check

If a headhunter reaches out to you for a role that you think a) is too junior for you, b) may not match up to your current compensation, c) has a seemingly smaller job scope or d) is something you are simply not interested in, you can always decline politely. There is no need to be cocky and talk down to the headhunter. It does leave a negative impression and headhunters will think twice about reaching out to you again for future opportunities. It is also a red flag about an individual when he/she treats someone else in a condescending manner.

Remember this, you may be a top performer and/or someone in a very senior position, but unless you are a successful entrepreneur and your own boss, you are still just an employee – you are not immune to getting retrenched one day. The recent massive layoffs where top performers and senior executives are not spared is a timely reminder that no one is indispensable. It is good to be confident about your own abilities but it doesn’t hurt to keep your humility.

5?? Treat your headhunter as a partner, not just an “agent”

If you are a candidate being considered for a role that the headhunters are looking to fill for their clients, treat them as a business partner and not like some used car salesman trying to sell you a lemon. Of course, the same applies to headhunters treating candidates too.

??Do not withhold information unnecessarily. For example, if there is something in your career history that would be important for your next employer to know, not being upfront and transparent could result in trust issues further down the road.

??Use your headhunter as a sounding board before your interviews to get more insights about the company, culture, hiring manager and other interviewers, if your headhunter has not already shared with you.

??Proactively share your feedback with the headhunter after each interview with the hiring company.

??Continue working closely with the headhunter throughout the interview process until the offer stage. Even after you have landed a job through the headhunter, keep in close contact after you have onboarded to share any issues you face. They can potentially help to ease the process for you to settle into the company by giving feedback to your employer.

??For any relationship to be fruitful, it takes 2 hands to clap. I hope the suggested pointers above will be helpful as you develop a meaningful relationship with a headhunter. On our part as headhunters, we have to constantly remind ourselves to be respectful and thoughtful in how we treat candidates too, in order to be taken seriously as a trusted advisor and partner. ?

In my next post, I will touch on how best to engage with headhunters, as a client.

??Stay tuned to my next post: “Working with a Headhunter - Part 4: Working with a Headhunter – As a Client.”

About me:?? I am the Managing Director and Founder of Talliant Advisors, a talent advisory firm offering executive search, executive coaching and board advisory services.? I have 16 years of executive search and in-house talent management experience gained from working in some best-in-class companies: Russell Reynolds Associates (RRA), Korn Ferry and Temasek International.