How do headhunters work?

A company's most important asset is its skilled workers - but these are hard to find these days. Experienced and qualified personnel are scarce and highly sought after in some industries. Tomorrow's talents do not actively go job hunting, they can be found through headhunters.

It is therefore not surprising that companies in Switzerland consider the search for suitable candidates to be one of the greatest challenges. This is where headhunters and HR consultancies can be helpful and provide solutions for finding qualified candidates. Instead of waiting for the right application, headhunters actively search for suitable candidates. But how do headhunters find you? Where do they get the information about a candidate? How do they know if candidates are thinking of changing their job? The latter reflects the fact that almost 80% of the working population is not completely averse to changing jobs. Headhunters also tend to specialize in one area. Accordingly, they are responsible for a specific industry, such as the life science sector, financial sector or industry. Therefore, in addition to their recruiting expertise, they should also have the most important knowledge about the respective industry.

Research: The most important basis
Before headhunters start looking for suitable candidates, they first have to establish a basis. In order to put themselves in the position they are looking for, headhunters are usually briefed by the project manager on the position and the company. In the briefing, the requirements profile is discussed and the headhunter gains an insight into the corporate culture. This forms the basis for the search and selection process. At the beginning of a new project, in most cases a target company list is also created. This list consists of companies that might employ people who fit the desired profile. This list is agreed with the client in order to exclude candidates from the company's own clients or partners during the search. In addition to the headhunter's network and target company lists, social media channels are now often used for identification. To simplify the search, headhunters work with so-called search strings. These search strings consist of various keywords, such as positions or skills that are essential for the position sought. Only when the above-mentioned steps have been fulfilled does a headhunter start searching. The most commonly used platforms for active sourcing are social media and business networks, such as LinkedIn or XING. Using the search strings, headhunters are then shown all profiles in which the keywords appear. These profiles are analyzed in detail to find out whether the person in question is interesting for the open position. Professional experience in relevant areas and the skills mentioned play a major role.

Candidate qualification
Interested candidates are called or contacted and, if they are interested, invited to an initial telephone interview. Often the CV is requested before the telephone interview so that the headhunter can prepare well and ask the right questions. In this interview, the headhunter has to promote the position and the company, but at the same time check the suitability of the person and find out possible hurdles. Above all, however, the first step is to get to know the candidate and his or her background and to make the most important preliminary clarifications, such as the desired position, place of work, notice period and salary expectations. In addition, the headhunter also checks how well the candidate fits into the corporate culture. The basics for this, i.e. information on history, culture and climate, are provided in the personal interview with the project manager. If a candidate's interest is aroused, he or she is invited to a personal interview to learn more about his or her background and personality and to find out whether he or she fits the position and the company.

Presentation of suitable candidates
After the personal interview, the project manager now decides which profiles he would like to present to the customer. If good preliminary work has been done, the customer usually wants to see all the selected candidates and invites them to the company for a personal meeting. In this phase, the main objective is to accompany and advise the client in the selection process. The headhunter acts here as a sparring partner for the client and is a close confidant of the client. The goal is to jointly find the best person for the current position and the strategic tasks. In this process, the headhunter also takes over the reference checks and, if necessary, assessments and presents the corresponding reports to the client.

Conclusion
Ideally, the interviews at the customer were successful and all contributors were able to agree on a candidate together. If the selected candidate is still interested, an offer is made to him. Once the employment contract is signed, the headhunter also accompanies the on-boarding and the probationary period. Only when this is successfully passed, the headhunter's assignment ends.

Our consultants at Batterman Consulting also search daily for the talents of tomorrow. Thanks to our large network and the necessary industry knowledge, we manage to fill vacancies quickly and efficiently. Need help filling a job opening? Contact us today.