What Is A Professional Headhunter?

There is considerable mystique surrounding the profession of a Headhunter. Essentially, a Professional Headhunter is a highly skilled industry expert, who is employed by a major company (the client company) to seek out a ‘difficult to find’ individual. These individuals are in ‘high demand’ and are therefore much sought after by the client company.

Often, the client company hires the Professional Headhunter to seek out individuals from the client’s competitor firms, in effect, poaching the ‘top talent’ away from their competitors and placing this talent within their own organisation.

‘Top talent’ can often generate millions of pounds in revenue for a company – if these individuals are ‘poached’ by a Professional Headhunter and placed within a competitor, the ‘losing’ company will consequently lose these millions of pounds in revenue.

In this respect, Professional Headhunters are also feared by companies who obviously do not want to lose their top people. Professional Headhunters work within consulting companies called Search Firms or Search & Selection Firms.

Professional Headhunters charge fees for their services, much like a Lawyer, Accountant or Plastic Surgeon. Because Professional Headhunters work on behalf of major profitable client companies, their fees are substantial.

Some client companies will happily pay a Professional Headhunter a fee of £50,000 in return for them receiving an individual into their firm who will generate £200,000 of profit every year. After 12 months, the client company has made a profit of £150,000 so it is simply ‘good business’.

Top Professional Headhunters will earn in excess of £100,000 per annum. This is as they directly contribute towards the profit of their client companies and are regarded as a client company’s business partners.

Training to be a competent Professional Headhunter takes typically 12 to 18 months. However for an individual to become a truly Top Professional Headhunter, it would require another 3 to 4 years experience to fully ‘polish’ the skills and maximise the expertise & knowledge required.

Is the job exciting?

Yes - extremely exciting! The job involves creativity, constant communication with senior individuals (often Senior Partner / Director level) within the world’s biggest Global Consulting firms and it is different everyday.

Professional Headhunters are bright, ambitious, energetic and enthusiastic people who work in an ultra commercial environment. A Professional Headhunter’s colleagues are interesting and ‘sharp’ individuals who enjoy challenging and varied project work. It is certainly not a ‘run of the mill’ office job!

A Professional Headhunter – Is it a difficult profession to get into for a graduate?

Unfortunately Yes! As with all professions that demand the requisite high calibre individuals, Search & Selection firms need to thoroughly assess their potential trainees, and consequently, few graduates make the entry grade. The role demands a broad range of skills, a ‘consulting attitude’ to problem solving, and at least 12 months of uninterrupted hard work, dedication and commitment.

Remember - at the end of the training period, the new qualified Professional Headhunter will be expected to advise client companies on how best to achieve their growth plans, which can only be achieved by the hiring of top talent.

What qualifications do I need?

Most Professional Headhunters possess a good 1st class or 2:1 degree. However, although good grades are desirable, they are not necessarily essential. Confident communication abilities, natural problem solving skills, intelligence and drive, are the main raw ingredients that a Search & Selection firm requires to develop a graduate trainee into a successful Professional Headhunter.