ALT-3 How a Headhunter can help you look for a Job
Using a headhunter takes some explaining and some realization that the pros and cons of headhunters become more necessary the more you make or are responsible for. Once you cross the bridge from employee to management you tend to leave the positions that companies advertise for. These positions aren’t entry level and tend to be filled internally or by the use of talent agencies with an established record with the company. Now if your employment history isn’t a history of switching teams every four or five years then you may or may not be aware of these processes. (The fact that your job history isn’t a record of switching teams every four or five years is a plus by the way.)
People who do change their jobs/employers every four to five years know better than the stable types how the market for employment is. If they actually do change employers every four or five years chances are they are looking all the time for a better job. These folks start to lose their appeal however, if they change teams more often than four or five years. I see resumes’ all the time where the longest job held is 2 years I simply toss those applicants aside for not having any loyalty or knowing what they in fact want out of a job. These or the majority of applicants that a company gets unless it uses an agency and deals with headhunters.
Companies use talent agencies to find options for there choice of filling the position. The company knows that the agency has an interest in providing qualified applicants because their agencies future depends on consistent delivery of consistently qualified individuals. This is why headhunters hunt for qualified folks and why agencies deal with headhunters. It is true that you cannot get into the group without all that experience and loyalty that you put in at your last or current job. However the draw back is the headhunter will draw a portion of your salary provided they deliver and get you a qualified job. (By qualified job I mean one that is in the tear of responsibility and compensation that you were looking for).
Headhunters have an advantage that the loyal steady manager probably doesn’t have. The steady, family oriented mother or father stays with a job and doesn‘t contemplate changing teams so to speak. The headhunter has done nothing but work within the job market and is “plugged into” the opportunities that exist for a manager seeking employment. Further they have the entry boni-fides to know where the jobs are. The question or facts to face for using them is your income will be “taxed” for a term but the opportunity is one that you wouldn’t have found by yourself.
