“Where did you get my name?” If you receive a call from nowhere from a head-hunter, you’ll always ask this question. But you won’t get any real answer – from a professional head-hunter at least. They’ll never reveal their sources, or even discuss the job with you on the first phone call.
So what’s with all the mystery? Keeping things secret to make you feel specially selected is part of the head-hunters toolbox of techniques to lure you out from your office to meet them for an informal first coffee or chat.
So how do people get headhunted? Is there anything you can do to hit the radar? The good news is, yes indeed. The better news is here are 10 ideas on how.
1. Be visible
A former colleague of mine has been head-hunted twice. He made an effort to be visible and social. He’d go to forums, lunchtime seminars, or conferences in his industry and simply talk to people. When he wanted to be serious about his job search, he’d target the seminars that recruitment consultants had sponsored. His favorite tactic was to make sure his name, title, and organization were on all of the attendance lists of events. Many head-hunters scan these for contacts.
2. Give out your card freely
This same friend also swapped his cards freely at functions. Like any good networker, he followed the networking maxim, if you give something out it may come back in a different way. When he received calls from one head-hunter about a role, if he wasn’t interested, he’d try to provide another person’s name. (Some from the cards he’d collected at events). That way he’d made a future ally of someone professionally useful in the long term.
3. Be well a well rounded professional
There is more to it than just being out there. Head-hunters will target you if you are well rounded in your career. The head-hunters I know seek people who have developed themselves and contributed to their industry. As starting points, they may search the web for people who’ve published, spoken at conferences, perhaps volunteered their professional skills, or even set up a blog.
4. Work
This one’s cruel I know and particularly unfair if you are out of a job. But I do know for a fact that you are a far more attractive target for a head-hunter if you are working. It’s partly psychological, from a sense that if you’re not working, there’s a reason for it, even though everyone knows good people out of work from time to time. It’s also partly a suspicion that you may be desperate, you’ll take anything. You are therefore not as desirable as someone who wouldn’t. Think of it as a bit like dating!
5. Put yourself online, but be aware of your presence
Whatever you put online is in the public domain. Many employers routinely check LinkedIn and the like. They know it’s wrong. They know there’s a legal minefield attached to potential discrimination issues, but they do it. What this means for you is that you need to manage your professional persona even on social networking sites. If you want to be searchable, keep your profile open. But keep it clean and keep it interesting.
Also be aware that many of the comments you put on these sites, go further than the sites themselves. Your comments can end up in Google searches, so do a vanity search and keep a regular eye on your profile and what your friends may post.
Many of the head-hunters I’ve spoken to say to Google your name and keep Googling. Put yourself in the mind of an employer who is digging for dirt.
6. Say yes
If a head-hunter asks you out for coffee say yes, even if you are not really interested. You’ll gather useful information about salaries and information in your industry and you’ll stay on their radar for other likely roles.
7. Don’t get too carried away with all the excitement
Again like dating there’s a dynamic here that starts with you being pursued. You feel desirable. You feel flattered. You forget to ask questions. But this is the stage that you should be asking all the questions you need to help you decide on the job.
You’re in a secure position in these early stages. You don’t have to move. So you can afford to be a little relaxed. Your part in this chase is actually to be “difficult to move.” You are instantly better at negotiation when you don’t have anything to lose.
8. Remember who’s paying
The client is paying the head-hunter to get you across the line.
The more professional head-hunter is making sure you’re the right fit and will answer all your questions. But there is still a lot of money at stake for the head-hunter. So that has to cloud any true objectivity. The fees they charge the client are enormous. And even though they may be paid a retainer for the search (which is supposed to eliminate the “sales” aspect), they will receive a hefty success fee at the end.
Some of the better head-hunters I’ve had dealings with, suggest you do your own due diligence on the role and the company, separate from what they say. Take notice of this. That’s a warning, directly from them, about them.
9. Act in good faith
I know I’ve said be aware of your value in this process. You need to. But don’t be unprofessional. Good head-hunters will start asking questions early about your salary expectations, package content, and super. They will keep confirming this along the way. They are trying to present a realistic position for their client. While they are doing this, you should be doing your own research on the role, so you can establish all its worth to you.
Once you have an agreement on salary and all the perks, unless something dramatically changes in the role, then that’s it. You’ll do yourself no favors if you suddenly up a salary demand at the last minute when an offer is on the table. Many people up the ante when they know that they’re wanted and the last in the race. However, you will make the head-hunter look unprofessional to the client and you’ll look manipulative to the employer. If you’re still fortunate enough to be offered the role despite this, you start a role on the wrong note.
10. Know the difference between a head-hunter and a recruitment consultant
Professional head-hunters say they’re different from someone who’ll call you at your desk and launch into a conversation. A professional head-hunter will arrange to meet you at a time of your convenience. They will answer all your questions ready and if they don’t know the answer, they’ll quickly find out.
You can tell the professionalism of a head-hunter by the quality of the questions they ask you, the closeness of their relationship with their client, and that they will always make themselves available to talk through your concerns.
They will be discreet, interested in you, establish mutual interest before divulging the name of the client and not just talk to you about the job over the phone
And as I said at the start, a professional head-hunter will never tell you how they first found your name. One other reason is this. It could be too bizarre. I once helped a head-hunter source a senior manager for an accounting firm. He was listed on a website as the captain of the company’s touch football team. There was absolutely no way this manager would have agreed to a coffee with the head-hunter if he knew how we found his name.
Want more? Check out the 7 Secrets to Making Recruiters Find You.
