Getting in front of the headhunters

"It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you"
The radar

• To be on a headhunter’s radar, you need to be in the places that headhunters look. And headhunters, or more accurately their researchers (the highly skilled people whose job it is to identify potential candidates for the headhunter) look in a number of places:
• Their existing database of contacts - either to find potential candidates, or to find ‘sources’ (i.e. warm contacts who may not be right for the job but could act as an introduction to someone who is)
• The press
• Target companies – companies pre-agreed with the client that the headhunter will contact directly / and network through to find the right individual
• Company websites (e.g. the ‘Management Team’ section) or in annual reports, or in press releases on the website
• Industry directories, both online and offline
• Increasingly, CV databases of reputable executive websites
• Social networking sites – most notably LinkedIn

The essence of getting onto the ‘radar’ is to become visible. That means:

Presence on the web

• If you haven’t done so already create a profile on LinkedIn. And then keep it up to date.


• Consider registering your CV with executive job boards (you can see the relevant ones in section 2. Approaching the market).


• If your name is not of your company’s website, make a case for getting it on there.


• Consider setting up a Blog. But consider it carefully; blogs are really effective at raising your profile, but only if you have something (interesting) to say and you say it on a regular basis.

Contacting headhunters directly:

• Headhunters do respond to people contacting them directly, it just needs to be done in a targeted way


• You can find a list of headhunters in the industry bible – The Executive Grapevine http://www.askgrapevine.com/index.php. At almost 300 UK pounds it’s not cheap, but it is available at libraries.


• A much more targeted (i.e. effective) way of finding relevant headhunters is to speak with people who work in the same industry as you.


• Make sure the headhunter does actually cover your particular skills area. If you’re a CEO of a tech company sending your details onto a headhunter which specialises in banking you are likely to be wasting both yours and the headhunter’s time


• Find the right person to send the CV. Avoid sending emails to ‘generic’ email addresses such as info@company.com cv@company.com etc. You can often source the name of the consultant off the headhunter’s website. Also many headhunters maintain personal websites on social networking sites like LinkedIn


• If the headhunter has a website where you can register your details, do go ahead and do it, but don’t let that stop you contacting a specific name


• Don’t be afraid to follow up your submission with a phone call. This can be a good way to get feedback on your CV. Don’t be afraid to follow up with a reminder a number of months later. In both cases be very, very careful to position this so that you don’t over keen.


• When contacting headhunters avoid presumptive statements like ‘I will contact you to arrange a meeting’ or similar. Good candidates are a headhunter’s life-blood – if you have found the right person to send your details through to and your skills are right you will be contacted.


• Finally if you know someone who works in a similar capacity to you and who has worked with a headhunter, get a referral from that person into the headhunter.

Getting in the press:

• Use every possible opportunity to get quoted in the press.


• If you are not currently a ‘go to’ person for your company’s liaising with the press, make a case for that to change. You might be surprised how lacking your company is in volunteers


• If this is not possible consider contacting journalists directly. This is more likely to work with trade journalists. You will need to hit them with a very clear statement about what you are skilled in.


• Relationships with journalists need to fostered. Journalists are after someone who can: (a) respond quickly – remember they are usually running up against tight timescales (particularly on the nationals). If you fail to return their call quickly the copy deadline could well have passed, and they are less likely to call again. (b) provide expert insight. Journalists (especially on the nationals) tend to be jack of all trades – they positively need the input and credibility of an industry expert. But you do need to be an expert…(c) offer an alternative (even better controversial) view


• Dealing with the press is – of course – a whole subject of its own. We will be publishing more articles in this area in later editions of the OAM

Other points

• Make sure your internal telephone directory (both on and off-line) is up to date with your correct job title


• Make sure your job title is ‘externally recognisable’. Having high visibility, but an incomprehensible job title, means your profile will not be raised.


• Make sure you are consistent with what you call yourself. Headhunters are increasingly using multiple methods to ID people. If you’re quoted as being “Anthony” in the press, but “Tony” on the website and “Tone” on LinkedIn the picture built of you will be fragmented. The same goes for your job title