How Executive Headhunters Source Talent

Executive headhunters are there to do a clear job: fill the top jobs with the best people. So the question for the executive job seeker, is how do you attract their interest?

As a recruiter and Executive CV writer, the aim of this post is to tell you how executive headhunters do their job, and what you need to do to attract their interest.

The key headhunters question...

At some point in every successful job application, the job applicant will be called by the employer, the headhunter or the recruiter. At that point, after a few pleasantries are exchanged, the caller will ask the job seeker a question, posed using the following form:

Give me an example of when you were tasked to deliver (the key business gain this job requires), and how you successfully achieved this? (by deploying the key skills this job requires)

This is known as the headhunters key question, because it instantly removes both:

·        Those who have no track record of delivery

·        Those who won't fit in with this company/organisation

While employers may be more lenient, and all recruiters will ask a less stringent form of this question, in executive head hunting you have to hit the right answer to stand a possible chance of getting to the next stage of the recruitment process.

How executive headhunters find talent

While many recruiters are paid on a risked/reward basis, executive headhunters are employed to deliver speedy results. This means that they need to get down to a list of core candidates quickly.

In the old days of recruitment, even as recently as just post the millennium in 2000, headhunters were wholly reliant on their networks, and hence their address books. While 90% of executive positions are still never advertised in public forums or media, the internet has allowed the whole recruitment industry to leap forward in two key areas:

1.      The ability to find a greater number of better qualified candidates: if you want a CEO with experience of successful product launch into the South East Asian market, then the right search string tapped into Google or some key social media locations such as LinkedIn allow the creation of an instant list of potential job applicants

2.      The ability to quickly qualify and vet all job applicants: once you have a name and a position, tapping those details into Google allows the headhunter to quickly assure themselves that the potential job applicant is either credible and with good references, or can be instantly removed for the process. Even before first contact or the telephone interview is undertaken

How to get an executive appointment

From statistics, the three most effective ways to get an executive appointment are:

·        Promotion

·        Networking

·        Track Record

Assuming that you are either found by an executive headhunter, or have created a profile such that you fit what they are looking for and can hence answer the key question, do you think that just a great Executive CV will secure you that post?

My key point in this article is to point out that executive recruitment is not as simple as just having a better Executive CV. While it may have been the core of the old way of recruiting, now it is just a part of both being found and communicating your inherent value delivery. That communication - which some call a personal brand - also needs to appear across both the printed and the internet mediums, as well as being known inside your network.

Hence, if executive headhunters have moved on, don't you think that your Executive CV and approach to executive appointments should as have well? Perhaps its time to find a better Executive CV service.