Everyone, except a headhunter (maybe), seems to think headhunting is an easy way to get rich quickly. It may not be as simple as it appears to be. It is analogous to seeing a sport star earning big bucks, without realising the sacrifice and effort that are required to achieve the 'star' status.
So, how does one learn to become a good headhunter. One can learn how to do it by working with the seasoned headhunters, make the necessary sacrifice and put in a lot of effort.
Some so-called headhunting firms are like multi-level marketing schemes and they give the business a bad name. The owners are likely to be without any experience and think they can succeed by employing many recruiters, many of them inexperienced, to set the business rolling.
They find clients through reading the recruitment advertisements and then submit unsolicited resumes to companies that are hiring. They run advertisements to solicit resumes from anyone who is desperate to want their services. Their recruiters call hundreds of "potential candidates" in an essentially random effort to build their resume database, so that they can ship these wholesale to their "clients".
Some headhunting firms won't hire you. They retain you and pay you when you close a deal. These firms won't give benefits. You are technically on your own, working as an associate with the firm, just like an insurance agent or a property agent.
Another class of search firms are the relatively young, marginally successful, and will actually put you on their payroll. Benefits will be minimal or nil and your pay will be a draw against commission, but the commission plan will be aggressive. The owner views you more as a partner than an employee, and the expectation is that if you perform well enough to keep your job, you will earn more than enough to pay for your own benefits.
A young headhunting firm is typically the result of a pretty good headhunter leaving a bigger firm and striking out on his own. By starting his own business he expects he'll keep more of the profit, and maybe bring on a few people to handle more clients. He quickly learns it's very difficult to hire good headhunters or to train green ones. If he's a good manager, he'll do okay, but the business will likely face cash flow problems most of the time.
If you join such a firm, the owner's risks become yours. However, if you can get enough of the owner's time, you can learn the business and maybe spin off your own business in a couple of years. If the owner is smart, he'll make you a partner and you'll stick around.
The better headhunting firms, which have been around longer and have gone through difficult times, will offer more complete benefits, better training, a good commission plan and job security. This is a sign that they know what they're doing, and that they'll probably be around for a while. These firms may be small or they may be big but they are run by seasoned headhunters who are also good business people. The best ones can offer more than one kind of job. You may be hired as a headhunter, as a researcher, or in any of several support roles from which you can rise to become a headhunter. What all these firms have in common is that they select new hires carefully and they diligently train the people they hire by assigning them to partner with successful members of the team.
You can find out which firms are worth working for by talking to the owners, the employees, the clients and the people the firm has placed. A complete reference check is essential before you jump in. If anything seems unusual or "not so right", there is probably a problem. The most common problem is usually poor cash flow.
Some firms claim that they have been in business for many years. Often, the business has been acquired several times, and the owner may be new or inexperienced.
The best and most successful headhunters have a good business acumen. You'll learn pretty quickly whether this is the business for you. Headhunting can pay well, but it is a lot of hard work.
Like any legitimate job, you can make a lot of money in headhunting but there is no easy path. It takes time, perseverance, study, practice, enthusiasm, the guidance of other good headhunters (this really is an apprenticeship business), and a very hard head. Many new headhunter never earn much, and quickly get out of the business.
The best compensation plans in the headhunting industry are heavily commission-based. While this may seem questionable as you are starting out, the best incentive to learning this business is a getting a big pay-check right after you close a deal. If you have got to pay back a "draw" (a small, refundable "salary" to keep you afloat while you get started), you will never enjoy the incredible high of that incredible reward. It is that high that keeps you going and turns you into a good headhunter. A draw can be a kind of indentured servitude: you owe so much that you can't get out of the hole. That kills your motivation and the likelihood that you'll learn the business.
Remember that headhunting is a specialized and personalised kind of sales: you will hear "no" much more often than "yes". Most people who fail at headhunting cannot stand hearing "no", and they cannot understand or believe what hard work this business really is.
Cheers,
The Singapore Headhunter
