How to become a Successful Headhunter – Part 1
I’m assuming that you’ve read one of my previous posts How do you become a Headhunter. If not, then please read it. I’ve detailed on how you can become a headhunter/recruiter there. It should open up some new opportunities for you and gives you a pretty decent road map on how to open doors for yourself. If you are starting out in the recruiting and staffing industry – then this post is for you. If you’re already established in this business and have something to add here, please do get in touch with me or leave a comment for all to read. I’ve mentioned this before and I will do so again, for folks new in this industry or looking to get in this game – please set realistic expectation. You will get extremely frustrated if you think you’re going to start making the big dough immediately. Chances are that you are probably going to be in training for a couple of months and may not even get to work on a real search assignment right away.Headhunting is a people oriented business. If you are not comfortable speaking with strangers, asking probing questions and being on the phone for a majority of your day then you’re not going to be very successful in this business.
Things not to do – DON’T buy into any “Work from home” schemes when it comes to Headhunting. People starting out in this business will learn more from working with other headhunters in an agency environment than reading a PDF document that they purchased online. This is not a plug and play business no matter what people tell you. DON’T waste your money or time and go to some dumb boot camp style training that promises you will learn everything there is to know about the staffing industry. If you do this, then you’re a sucker.
Traits of a Successful Headhunter
Who is the biggest biller in your company? Identify this individual and track how they run their book of business. The top billers have a large closing ratio, have more referrals from people that they speak with and have large head counts if you’re working for a contract placement company. Now think about what makes them so good. I know for sure they’re not spending time on Facebook, MySpace, IM, reading the news or wasting time during the day
Reach out and talk to people
These top billers are on the phone, constantly. A lot of headhunters and recruiters fall into the bad habit of using email as their primary form of communication. If you’re contacting a candidate, assume that they’ve been contacted by other headhunters as well and are probably working with a couple of recruiters to identify opportunities. If you send them an email, the sense of urgency for them to reply is extremely diminished because now they control the flow of communication. Of course if you don’t have a phone number where you can reach the candidate, then you must email them. But it should be the last resort. Most people looking for a job usually will include their cell phone number on their resume. I’m a big believer of calling first. When you identify a candidate who is even 60-70% match, call the candidate and introduce yourself and your opportunity. At this point, you may be thinking “But the person is not a fit, why should I waste my time calling people who don’t fit my search criteria?” There are two reasons to call people who might be semi close but not a perfect fit for a position -
1. Referrals: If they have some of the skills that your search requires, chances are that they have worked with people in the past who they know who may be a perfect fit. Ask them for referrals. If your company has a referral program – advertise it to these candidates.
2. Network: The more people you talk to, the bigger your network becomes. This candidate may not be a fit for something today, but hey, who knows, you may get a position that they would be a great fit for and now you have a warm lead.
Listen
I’ve seen lots of headhunters and recruiters who get on the phone and talk. And talk. And talk. You get my point. You need to learn to listen. Listen for what makes the candidate tick, what do they want in their next job, what do they like or dislike about their current job, are they looking for a career change etc. You need to learn all the hot buttons about the candidates because you will need all this information when you’re closing them on an opportunity. If all you talked about is your position and how great the client is and how you think this is a perfect opportunity for the candidate, then you don’t know what motivates this candidate. If the candidate has two opportunities, one with a headhunter who cared and understands what they need in a new job and a headhunter who continuously sold their position without understanding the real needs of the candidate, guess which offer the candidate is going to take.
Honesty
Big, big deal in this business. Since we deal with people, you never want to misrepresent an opportunity. You may think this is a no-brainer but you have no idea how many recruiters are trying to get paid by misrepresenting. In fact, my wife got a job at a large government contracting company in the D.C. metro area. She was looking to get into the intelligence field and a recruiter called her, pitched the job as something that would get her into the intelligence analyst field so she took the position. Only to realize that the job was an analyst role and had nothing to do with getting into intelligence. So after 6 months, she left. This is what is going to happen to you if you misrepresent a position. People might get on board but when they realize that the position is nothing close to what was discussed, they will bail out and you will have to backfill the position and explain to your client why someone quit. Or worse, the candidate can tell your client about how you lied about the roles and responsibilities which might jeopardize any future business with that client.
I will post Part 2 of How to be a successful headhunter shortly! If you enjoyed reading this, go ahead and subscribe to my newsletter. This way you will know when new content is available for you to read. Your email address will never be shared with anyone.
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of course i enjoy reading your article. I am joining a head hunting firm mid Aug 09. I need to equip myself with some knowledge on how to become succeeful head hunter. I believe i can get it from you.
Thank you.