IS YOUR BUSINESS SWIMMING IN THE POOL OR THE OCEAN?

If you have ever been involved in the hiring process, you will know that it can take a long time to find someone perfectly suited to the role. 

While recruiting is the first step of talent acquisition – a step which often involves heavily vetting those who apply from a limited talent pool – headhunting takes the recruitment process one step further.

Rather than simply managing candidates who apply for a role, headhunting serves to actively seek potential candidates and ask them to apply for the position. Through the process of headhunting, a wider search is conducted, meaning a higher calibre of candidates is often found.

While general recruitment is like fishing in a pool and hoping to catch a bite, headhunting casts a wide net into the ocean!

So what exactly is the difference between a headhunter and a recruiter, and what do you need in your business?

Recruitment 101

Recruiting is a very valuable asset to your business. A recruiter helps you to screen, interview and reference check potential candidates for new positions. They can even assist in salary negotiations and help you to find a new hire quickly and effectively. 

Often a recruiter works on behalf of a firm, and sometimes recruiters are hired internally as part of the HR team. In some firms, these HR team employees may have recruitment as just one element of their job description, and may be asked to focus on multiple HR tasks at a time. By lumping recruitment into one of the many tasks a HR team has to take care, this can be doing both small and large organisations a disservice. This is because recruitment is an all-consuming job and if corners are cut it can result in the wrong person being hired for the role, costing the company both time and money.

 Headhunters

The main difference between a headhunter and a recruiter is that a headhunter acts similarly to a talent scout, while also completing the other duties a recruiter does.

Headhunters are often specialised in finding candidates within a certain profession, meaning they have a sound knowledge of that career field and what skills are needed to make a candidate highly desirable.

A headhunter actively searches for ideal candidates for the role put forward by a firm through in-depth research into different executives and by using their own existing professional relationships to find the right fit for the company. 

Rather than screening resumes that land on their desk, headhunters use their networks – often built up over time and through different connections – to find the right candidates for the role.

Finding the best talent for the job

Sometimes the perfect candidate for a new role isn’t actively seeking employment and yet they have the right skills for the firm’s advertised position. 

This is when a headhunter can step in and make the connection between the two. The headhunter will have a confidential conversation with the potential candidate to see whether they might be interested in exploring an opportunity for a promotion or engaging in a new position that could provide them with different career opportunities.

The headhunter will then suggest the candidate to the firm who will often encourage the headhunter to get the talent in for an interview or initial chat.

Headhunters often work in niche markets

The stronger the business network a headhunter has, the better their success in finding the right candidates for the job. This means many headhunters take the time to develop a niche market in a certain field of employment so that they become known as the go-to for when firms are actively seeking the best employee for the role.

These connections enable the headhunter to act discreetly, through their already established professional relationships, while finding the perfect person for the job, often at a senior or executive level. 

The longer a headhunter works in the specialised career field, the better they get to know the executives and senior leaders in that profession, and when these professionals may or may not be interested in finding a new position.

The benefits for firms in hiring a headhunter to help them with their recruitment is that a headhunter has their ‘finger on the pulse’, meaning they know which executives might be interested in new career opportunities, and when this interest might peak.

This means headhunters can often find high-quality candidates that a general recruiter could miss – as often those who are headhunted are not actively looking for work but instead only become interested in roles when the opportunities present themselves. These opportunities often need to completely align with the executive’s career progression in order for them to be enticed into an interview.

Headhunters are skilled at finding the right candidates

The main benefit of hiring a headhunter to help with your recruitment is that you can be sure they will put forward candidates who are both highly-skilled and interested in the role. 

Rather than gleaning candidates from a pool of applicants who apply for any role thrown their way, headhunters seek out highly-specialised talent that will only consider an interview when they know the role is completely suited to their skills and career path.

If you’re struggling to find the perfect hire for your accounting and finance vacancy, maybe you’re swimming in the pool and not the ocean? Make the switch today from screening the “I’m looking right now” applicants to actively finding the “just right for this job” applicant today.