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“Good morning. This is Joe Search of Headhunters, Inc. We’re doing a search for a major New England bank which is looking for a president and chief operating officer. I wondered if you would be interested in hearing some details about it?” So begins the headhunter’s typical telephone approach.

HOW SHOULD YOU HANDLE IT?

Responses run the gamut. From:
“Sounds interesting. Tell me more about it.”
“Hmm. Let me close my door …”
“I’m in the middle of a meeting/rushing off to one/late for an appointment. Can I call you back?/Can you call me back in an hour?/Can you call me at home?” (This is infrequently requested.)
“I’m not interested, but I know someone who is.”

To:

“How did you get my name?”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know your firm.”
“Haven’t heard from one of you guys in the last few weeks. Am I losing my touch or has the market gone soft?”
“I’m not interested, but my wife/son/daughter/nephew or niece might be.” (This only happened once.)
“I don’t need an Auntie Mame to put me together with a company.”
“Not interested,” and immediately hangs up. (Thankfully this happens very rarely.)

If the headhunter’s call hasn’t caught you off guard or at a busy moment and you feel sufficiently composed and interested, explore the situation. But if you’re busy or a colleague is too close to enable a private dialogue, then simply say so and arrange for another time to converse. It doesn’t matter who calls whom back, although it is good manners to suggest returning the call. You do not appear hungry by doing so.

Needless to say, don’t be unnecessarily rude to a fellow businessman, you or a friend may need him in the future. Even presidents get impeached. When a really special job develops in your field, the consultant won’t call you again. In fact, you may have hung up on it!

And of course, be a source if you’re not interested. It’s good for everyone concerned.

Sometimes people are overly concerned about how their name was obtained. In many instances, headhunters were given the lead by a mutual acquaintance and can identify this source. Names are also obtained from directories or a headhunter’s being aware of your achievements because he tracks your field. Occasionally, consultants can’t divulge their source because your name was given confidentially. Who would do that and why? It’s generally a friend of the recruiter’s, in your field, who doesn’t know you personally, but respects your work and is helping out the headhunter. It may be someone who knows you, though not personally, and respects you but doesn’t know if you are in the market. Search is obviously a people network business and you shouldn’t be surprised when your name is given out in this manner. It’s flattering. The parties offering your name are also motivated by a desire to endear themselves to the recruiter. Some are just fair-minded businessmen simply doing a favor!

Aside from the assistant director of a department who recommends his boss, in confidence, to clear the way for his succession (rare), another (very rare) experience comes to mind . . .

A well regarded executive who had grown unhappy with his situation sent several resumes to different search firms. No employment leads were generated so he sent out more resumes. One or two replies developed. He then had an unrelated altercation with his manager, an irritable type who was the key reason for his desire to move on. During the next few days, he received calls from several headhunters, some of whom he hadn’t written to! He lunched with one of the latter and although they had a nice rapport, couldn’t find out exactly how he came to telephone him. Nothing more developed, but the two men stayed in touch. Months later, the executive accepted a position via another search firm’s introduction. A year later and over a lunch which he called with the former recruiter, he unearthed that his exmanager had asked the fellow, “Get that thorn out of my side.”

Two other executives who reported to the ogre were reputed to be composing a resume on him; they knew about his previous experience and were planning to multiply submit it to various headhunters. Management miraculously though unsuspectingly came to their aid and transferred the man to the employee relations department as its new chief.

If you receive a call from a firm unknown to you, you may want to check them out with the Association of Executive Search Consultants’ list or the Directory of Executive Recruiters first. Then call them back.

Money motivates and therefore so does new business from either a preexisting client or a new one. And new business is developed in many ways. Headhunters may invite prospects to dine in order to get better acquainted. They also socialize at select clubs and gatherings where they can meet influential people who may retain them or introduce them to someone who can. Even the executive who doesn’t get the job has been known to use the recruiter because he was impressed with the way he operated, a flattering occurrence. Candidates are all potential clients. Headhunters lecture, publish, review periodicals in their field looking for ideas, are active in professional organizations, and very infrequently answer a “blue bird” call (a company calls them with a search need). Searches have been given out on golf courses, tennis courts, in first class airplane seats, by conducting wine tasting seminars, and of course, by making voluminous cold calls via the telephone.

Another motivant is filling positions and doing good work, that is, finding the best candidates or those who meet the client’s wishes.

The previously mentioned dynamisms give headhunters the desired prestige and power among clients, peers, subordinates, and the general public which spurs them on to continued efforts.

Consultants enjoy meeting different and interesting people who are typically above average in intelligence and success, if not occasionally very human and vulnerable, and who find unusual ways of coping with extraordinary situations. For example, there was a Jewish economist who was offered a position with a West German bank. His in-laws, however, had lost family in the concentration camps, and he was sensitive enough to ask them whether it would upset them for him to accept. They said “no,” so he said “yes.”

There are no stereotypes, and headhunters encounter highly successful business people with overt or covert idiosyncracies.

An executive was to be flown in a company plane from his home in Cleveland to New York City to meet the search committee of a prospective new employer’s board. Shortly before his arrival time, the headhunter received the following call. “I’m sorry, but I can’t come. I thought I could get up the courage to get on the plane given the circumstances. But I can’t overcome my fear of flying. The only way I can come is if I take my wife with me for support . . . and if I also have a few pops on the flight.” This made both the candidate and the headhunter look bad in the eyes of the board, the candidate was dropped. The consultant later referred him to another client who was understanding and more concerned with the man’s achievements than his phobias.

Another example was when a headhunter placed a gifted and successful executive who used to suffer with manic-depressive bouts, but whose use of a stabilizing drug has prevented his ailment from interfering with his career.

Working on new and varied assignments stimulates and challenges search consultants.

A former Special Forces officer, now a headhunter, received a call from a former CIA executive. “I want to retain your services. I need 12 men. They must be experts in light weapons, United States and foreign, as well as hand-to-hand combat. The group must include a pilot, a navigator, a communications expert, and a medic. The boys must be in good shape and be 10 or more years out of the service. Can you do it?”
“What’s their mission?”

“They’re going to go into a Third-World country. It’s a one month job. The pay is $100,000 tax free for each man.”

The headhunter calculated the fee, $30,000 for each man or $360,000. Although he knew he could deliver, he was skeptical about the effect on his firm’s reputation if they fulfilled this request. He brought the proposal to his senior management. They agreed with him and turned it down.

Headhunters enjoy elegant dining and travel although both are so tied to business dealings that they can’t always enjoy them to the hilt. In fact, in terms of eating the consultant must develop self-discipline, exercise regularly, or get fat.

A headhunter spent a few days in Chicago and Los Angeles interviewing candidates over breakfast, lunch, and dinner¡ªin top restaurants. His wife and children were jealous. His parents were proud. His in-laws thought he was a big shot. But when he returned home from the trip, he took two Alka-Seltzers and went straight to bed.

WHAT DO HEADHUNTERS EARN?
They are typically paid a salary plus a bonus. Depending on the size of the executive search firm, an estimate of a partner’s total annual earnings may range from 25 to 50 percent of the fees which he generates. Typically, the larger the percentage paid to the recruiter, the smaller the firm. Why? Big executive search companies with established names and public relations assistance enable headhunters to do more business. The headhunter pays dues by getting a smaller percentage of a bigger pie. This doesn’t mean that one headhunter earns more than the next. In general, partners earn about $75,000 to well in excess of $300,000 in some instances. The $100,000 plus level is not uncommon. Salaries range from about $50,000 to the $200,000 level. Of course, the founding partners earn much larger undisclosed sums.

The nonpartner, professional staff earn from $25,000 to approximately $75,000. Base salaries start in the $20,000s and range to the $60,000s. Bonuses make up the difference.

Other nonsalaried compensation may include a 40IK (a tax shelter where you usually put aside a percentage of your salary and the company matches all or part of it), diverse investment programs, stock options, profit sharing, and so forth. Perks are often provided that may include a car or car allowance, clubs, an expense account, special health benefits, and so forth.

Since they come from many fields and careers, they vary widely. Yet senior managements have certain qualities which differentiate them.

They are usually independent minded. They have their own client relationships and work in a one-to-one fashion with them. Subordinates take their direction from officers so a search is not a team effort of peers. The associates who move up in a search firm demonstrate the ability to develop their own business (new searches and clients) and to fill them (by themselves or by orchestrating others).

By virtue of the nature of the search business, headhunters are transaction oriented. Each new search is a start-up situation that puts their reputation on the line. Filling the job is expected by the client (they paid in advance for the service); failure is always possible (perhaps a final candidate can’t be found). Although relationships and repeat business develop, the recruiter rarely works with his many placements in an ongoing hand-in-glove fashion. When he finishes a search, he is on to the next one. Contact is loosely maintained with the executive placed. He may do an occasional search for that person, more often for his company, but the process makes him an outside consultant rather than a staff or team member.

Good headhunters are people who are able to cope with pressure, that is, juggling several ongoing searches simultaneously, trying to quickly find high-caliber candidates, and maintaining amicable business dealings with diverse clients who often want Mr. Right yesterday.

One headhunter left for a prearranged four day seminar just at the point when negotiations between his final candidate and a Japanese client were heating up. There was a need to be in frequent communication with both parties, but it was difficult. He was ensconced in a classroom from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. with infrequent 10 minute breaks and one hour for lunch. To complicate matters, the only nearby telephone was deliberately placed on a wall in the lavatory to discourage calls. When he called his secretary to check up on messages, he was told about his client’s recent panic call and urgent need to speak with him, the candidate was having second thoughts. He spent the next 40 minutes standing at the wall telephone in the men’s room, speaking slowly to his client, listening attentively because of the client’s accent and limited English, and relaying back and forth between him and the candidate. All of this in the men’s room while “business as usual” went on around him. Talk about stress!

Headhunters do everything that you would expect in order to cope with pressure, from various forms of exercise (mostly white-collar oriented, tennis, squash, golf, and jogging) to smoking, drinking, and overeating.

One took a course that could have been dangerous. When this headhunter’s new secretary knocked on his closed door, no one answered. So she opened it (barely missing his head) and stepped into the office (barely missing his head). There he lay on the floor, flat on his back, in a trance, meditating.

They are gregarious and social minded individuals who enjoy working with quality people to find more quality people for their client companies. The headhunter’s profile is part consultant plus a dab of psychologist and a dash of salesman.

There is a competitive nature to a good headhunter. He is not always handed a search, but often competes with a few rival executive search companies to obtain the assignment. The recruiter may call on or be called in by the director of human resources or a senior line manager to discuss the company’s need. He would then display his knowledge in the area of their need, his credentials, his firm’s, and so forth.

They are persistent. As previously stated, it can take 50 to 100 or more telephone calls to executives to develop a few qualified and interested ones, and they’re not often reached on the first attempt. In its business development phase, obtaining a search is not unlike any marketing and sales effort. Headhunters mail letters or literature about themselves and their companies to prospects. It isn’t unreasonable for new consultants to make 100 calls and mail 100 letters (or more or both) before connecting with a company with a need or an interest in discussing it with them.

Headhunters are hard working and ambitious. They often meet candidates for 7:30 a.m. or 8 a.m. breakfasts and then may have a dinner interview at the end of the day. Busy executives often don’t have the time to explore new job opportunities in the 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. time frame. So executive search consultants have to make themselves available in order to hook up with high powered achievers whom they typically pursue.
“Neither wind, nor rain, nor sleet, nor hail . . . “; the mailman cannot compare to this particular headhunter. He got in his four-wheel-drive jeep and drove from New York City to Providence, Rhode Island in a near blinding snow storm, through closed highways, to secure a search with a new client.