Headhunting as a way to select candidates. Basic principles of headhunting. Interview with a company representative

Before discussing the features of headhunting, it is important to differentiate the concept of hiring.

Recruitment can be very roughly divided into 2 types:
Active candidates (search among job seekers);
Passive candidates (search among those who do not plan to change their job or are waiting for a good offer).

This article will discuss the features of the second type of search. The target group of which is usually effective and eminent top-level managers or unique specialists, of whom there are actually not many in the labor market. Such candidates are expensive and highly valued at their current place of work, so the task of negotiating with them requires special skills and abilities.

Advantages of headhunting:
1. Prospective employees are “employed”; the level of active candidates is most often lower than passive ones.
2. High level of specialist: there is specialized experience and knowledge in the industry, developed competencies, well-developed skills and abilities.
3. The employee will immediately integrate into the work process, the time for adaptation is minimal.
3. By luring an employee from a competitor, you receive all the information about your competitor: personnel, technology, financial condition, sales, clients, advantages and disadvantages of the company, etc.

Flaws:
1. Remuneration for work above the market average is required.
2. This employee understands his uniqueness and can adjust his behavior with new colleagues. Requires more partnership with management. Can be used to blackmail management.
3. Provoke conflict in the team.

At the same time, headhunters are discreet about sharing the secrets of their work. This is not surprising; their interests often overlap, and they are afraid of losing their competitive advantage. In this article we will reveal the veil of secrecy and talk about a number of features of head hunting.

To be a good hunter, it is important to develop the talent of a researcher, to be able to “dig” information, to competently assess the situation and the candidate. Research is the foundation of the search process and is involved in almost every step.

Procedure for actively searching/handing candidates.

Avatar (profile) of the candidate.

The first stage of the research begins with drawing up an avatar (profile) of the candidate.

The more detailed you understand where the specialist you are looking for lives, find out his gender and age, and the required personal and professional competencies, the easier it will be to look for him. This process refers to the withdrawal of an application from the employer and is the main stage, one might say 70% of the entire selection.

When we don’t know who to look for, there is a senseless waste of time and money on advertising. The only thing worse than this is the loss of employer trust and a damaged image. Therefore, the more clearly you understand the source data, the easier it is to select a person for a specific position in a specific company.

To simplify the process of creating an avatar, make it more manageable and, therefore, effective, prepare blocks of information that require mandatory elaboration by the employer. It is convenient to use a simple checklist for this.

Checklist for creating a candidate avatar:

— Business of the company (what they do, how they do it, the better the competitors’ offers, who they sell to, who they work for, etc.).
— The main business processes of the enterprise and at what point the required specialist is connected to them (“production cycle”: where the work begins, what stages it goes through, what result it should lead to and who is the final authority).
— Structure, departments, subordination.
— Business task of the vacant position, functionality, responsibilities.
- (competency map).
- Corporate culture. The question is significant, because only the person who fits into it will get along well in a team. This is best assessed within the employer’s office.

Example. I was recruiting a TOP manager for a large IT development company. During telephone conversations with a company representative, the impression was created that they needed a serious age specialist in a tie. But a visit to the office radically changed this assumption. The bulk of the employees are a young, informal or even hipster team. A “serious uncle” would definitely not be like a duck to water here, although there are various exceptions to the rules.

— Specific details on the requirements for the candidate (knowledge, software, narrow qualifications, set of skills, etc.).

- An ideal candidate.
Discuss the vision of the ideal candidate in as much detail as possible, because in such a search it is not enough to simply select those who will unquestioningly fulfill their duties. In order for the candidate to meet expectations, it is important to discuss the smallest details.

A textured and realistic picture of this checklist will emerge if you collect information from all parties involved:

1) the person leaving the position;
2) the person to whom the new employee will report;
3) colleagues of the new employee;
4) subordinate to the new employee.

Only by collecting information from these four groups can an accurate depiction of the current situation be ensured. It is important for a headhunter to perfectly understand the described blocks, so as not to flounder in answering questions when negotiating with a future “newcomer”, to be able to beautifully present even the most delicate nuances (and not scare off the prey by this), to be sure that the person will not want to turn back on any from the stages of work if unspecified features are revealed.

Highly professional specialists carefully evaluate the proposal, and they have the final say. So that they have something to evaluate, it is important to determine what opportunities the employer is ready to offer in exchange for the human resources they receive.

Just an extra bonus won't solve the issue; you need a value proposition for the star. There is often a misconception among employers: “why invent it, we already have good conditions and pay.” Of course, you don’t have to worry so much, but then be mentally prepared to let go of a valuable candidate if he needs some specific conditions.

And it is important to convey this to the customer, explaining that you can show the star, but what, in turn, can the customer offer her? Market analysis for highly skilled positions often shows that suitable professionals are available, but they are few in number. And that's okay. Therefore, it is necessary to create an offer that will attract not just a mediocre specialist, but a cool and unique candidate.

The most important! Changing the paradigm from “employee for the company” to “company for the employee.”

Based on this, base your job offer to the candidate. The candidate must clearly understand the personal benefits of changing jobs, because Transition involves leaving your “comfort zone.”

When searching for “How” to hook a candidate, you can turn to research and statistics; it clearly shows the motivating factors for candidates. Based on research

The most effective motivators that can hook candidates:

1. Salary level, bonuses and social package.
2.
3. Official employment.
4.
5. Large-scale and interesting tasks.
6. Company reputation.

Additional positive effects have:

1. Public recognition of successes.
2. Corporate education, trainings, .
3. VHI.
4. (work-life balances)

Formulate your proposal for the candidate for each item.

If third-party research is not your method or your company is simply unique, then identify your motivators. This can be easily found out through a brainstorming session among company employees on the topic “why I value my place of work.” The information obtained will remain systematized, reformulated into capacious and “tasty” expressions, thus, preparations for selling the offer will appear in the arsenal.

Once the candidate’s avatar is fully formed, we begin a targeted search.

If during a passive search you need to go through a lot of people, then in an active search it is enough to find about 5-10 specialists in order to then lure them away or attract them with your offer.

Thematic clusters of people will help you find candidates matching your avatar:

Social or professional networks: professional communities, professionali.ru, Vkontakte, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

There is an example when, to find an accountant, headhunters turned to the president of the accountants association for advice. He recommended two people who had advised other businesses on a number of issues. Subsequently, one of them was hired to fill the vacant position.

Professional websites or forums: groups on social networks, events of various communities, associations and business clubs. If you can’t find the right one among them, the participants can recommend someone.
Conferences, online and offline events: seminars, exhibitions (for example, Crocus Expo organizes exhibitions in various segments), congresses, forums, trainings and other events.
Competitors or bankrupt companies. On the websites of competitors’ companies (especially in social network groups), a list of participants is often open. With it you can easily find the right specialist.
Market experts.
Professional networking, business circles and connections.
Employment centers, universities, training centers.
Local places that target specialists can visit (for example, banks or chain stores, etc.)

Example. A visit to the tax office on the day of the accountants' reporting allowed us to reach the required specialist and find contact with him.

Exchanges for freelancers and one-time work or services.
YouTube and blogs. Often, professionals shoot videos and write blogs. This is popular among marketers, sales people, business coaches, designers and programmers, etc.

Suitable candidates from all sources are longlisted for more thorough evaluation.

Preparing for contact with a candidate. There may not be a second chance.

The headhunter has 1 chance to interest the candidate.

Therefore, preparation plays one of the most important roles in bounty hunting. The hunter must clearly understand that the same offer will not suit everyone; an individual approach and presentation of information are needed.

In order to hit the target accurately and say something that will hook your prey on many “hooks,” you need to understand the types of clients, be able to quickly identify and adapt to them.

Types of candidates in negotiations:

Type	Manifestations	How to react
Aggressive	Does not hold back negative energy, is quick-tempered, loves to criticize. Victory at any cost is what he wants.	— Demonstrate external calm and openness, and do not succumb to provocations. - Speak clearly to the point, do not deviate from the goal, and use weighty facts in your argumentation. — Do not take aggression and attacks personally.
Indecisive	He has doubts, cannot make a decision for a long time, digs into details, the more choices there are, the longer he analyzes. Having made a choice, he continues to doubt.	Emotionally charge, patiently argue, explain what he will lose if he thinks for a long time.
Good-natured chatterbox	Loves to talk, joke, listen to opinions.	— Determine a clear time that is available to “chat,” and then get down to business. - Return to the goal. — Guide the conversation with questions (closed questions can be used).
Original Adventurer	Active, ready for change, innovator, loves experiments.	Focus on new and interesting tasks, projects - everything new and beautiful attracts them.
Judge	- Prone to criticism - Believes that they want to deceive him - Looks for arguments “why not.”	— Take the role of an ally, or find a common “enemy” and communicate with him on this topic. — Provide statistics and expert opinion.
Connoisseur	Knows more than you, is dismissive, can start teaching the headhunter how to do the job correctly.	- Keep calm. - Play on his pride, refer to experience. - To compliment.
Retrograde	Conservative, does not like risk and is wary of change	- Remember the cases from his career when he changed something and it led to the better. - Refer to authorities for him (who changed something and it worked). - Give examples.
Business	Knows what he needs, pragmatic, demanding, demonstrates knowledge of the market situation, is confident in himself and his position, gives reasons for his opinion.	- Negotiate calmly. - Refer to facts and arguments. — Answer questions clearly, without watering down.
Positive	Has a positive attitude towards conversation and discussion, tries to evaluate the benefits of a proposal, knows how to listen and clarify details.	Do not relax from a positive attitude, argue the benefits and answer questions.

First contact with the candidate.

Cold candidates are more difficult to find than interested candidates. Therefore, it is important to keep constant contact with valuable personnel: make friends, be on social networks to offer something at the right time.

The key to success is to break the work into stages and goals, when contacting a specialist, do not get ahead of yourself and consistently achieve each one.

The purpose of the first contact is to sell yourself and the meeting with you, and not to sell the employer’s vacancy.

This requires a short but catchy conversation. The better you formulate the uniqueness of the offer, the more intriguing it will be to the candidate.

At the first stage, many people ask the question: how to hook a person if he hangs up?

In this case, the most effective solution would be to find a person who will recommend you to the candidate. And in some cases it works when you manage to find this person on social networks and write there everything that you couldn’t say on the phone. You can be very creative in finding ways to reach the desired specialist. But if a person hangs up, showing open rudeness or disrespect, think about it, is he really worthy of poaching?

In addition, contacting the candidate on significant dates for him, for example, birthdays, significant holidays and even vacations, has proven successful. Often at this time people are more positive, receptive to offers and respond favorably to headhunters. For the recruitment process to work, it is important to carefully study the candidates, collect information about their family, hobbies, interests, and preferences.

Successful headhunters use another interesting tool - This is socionics. They group potential employees into socionic types. Each type has its own characteristics of information perception, a set of stimuli and an area of interest. With each type, the style of work and communication will change, this helps to find the key to each.

Delicious job wrapper: checklist of required items

Poaching is a job with motivation. Therefore, the first step to creating a tasty wrapper is to research what motivates colleagues in a similar position, what employees of the company like and why they choose this particular place of work.

Checklist of what must be included in the job description:

— Employer brand: company history, progress figures, location information.
— Comfortable working environment: workplace, professional tools, team, corporate culture.
— Motivational package: discounts on company services, additional payment for communications or provision of a mobile phone for work.
— Training, development, new perspectives: invited trainers, training programs, etc.
— Horizontal/vertical growth: talk about what the candidate is focused on.
— Adaptation and training: many valuable personnel often underestimate their potential and are afraid of new roles and responsibilities. Onboarding programs relieve candidates of the “can I do it” tension.
- Professional team / expert mentors: many will be happy to work with eminent professionals.
— Interesting projects: creating a new product, capturing the market, etc.
— Money: wages, bonuses.

You can find a lot of information in open sources about how to structure the recruitment process, but practicing professionals prefer to follow their proven trailers and rules that allow them to achieve results. They can be divided into 2 blocks.

The first block is the foundation of any interaction with a potential employee; without following these rules, they will not even think about the initial contact.

The foundation for successful recruitment:
— know the needs of the candidate (what is his motivation, what does he want);
— know the competitive advantages of your company compared to the candidate’s company (we discussed above how to ensure compliance with these two rules);
— believe in yourself and your company.
Such a foundation will not only give you confidence in your proposal, but will help the candidate formulate it clearly and confidently.

The second block of rules comes down to the behavior or even thinking necessary for successful headhunting.

Principles of work of headhunters

1. Lieutenant Rzhevsky (or the tenth candidate will not refuse).
If you are turned away after knocking on the front door, you should not stop and take it as a defeat. You just need to climb through the kitchen window. To be successful, you must be persistent, highly creative, fast and extremely professional in your approach and behavior. The biggest fear of many is the fear of being rejected. It is impossible to recruit a super candidate with such fears. You need to be able to overcome this fear and move on to the next rejection. Realizing that with every refusal you become closer to agreement.

2. Suvorov.
Break the mold, say something unexpected. The people we hunt for often receive job offers and they know how to react to this. Be unconventional, and you will be able to attract interest and arrange a meeting.

3. Buying additional candidate time.
If you didn’t manage to arouse interest with the first contact, it doesn’t matter, agree to reschedule the conversation or continue it at another time. Additional time will allow you to find out the candidate’s motivation and rethink the format of the conversation.

4. The talent of mimicry.
Try to adjust, get into the pace of speech, speak in his words. After all, it’s easier to negotiate with someone you like and trust someone who is similar to you. Say no to sloppiness and excessive luxury. Look at the candidate and copy his style.

5. Determine the desired result
One of the rules of negotiations is to outline the desired outcome in advance. To feel confident and understand the effectiveness of your work, write down 3 options:
- minimum result (least profitable, but acceptable option)
- average result (format of agreements, which will suit you perfectly)
— maximum result (ideal development of events for you).

Realizing that you have such a range, you will be able to be more flexible in agreements and understand under what conditions you are definitely not ready to agree to further interaction, and under what conditions you are most interested. Always start at the maximum so you have escape routes.

Secrets of headhunters or simple truths of difficult work

As they say, good candidates will not find themselves, they need to be tracked down.

These tools should be a permanent basis and continuous activity of every headhunter.

Business connections, active networking.
Presence on social media networks, active communication in groups, many contacts.
Studying business and industry trends.
Sales skills. The situation is such that either you will be sold that there is no need to change your job, or you will sell the candidate this need. Develop sales skills, attend trainings, do practice sessions.
Presentable appearance.
Confidence. Confidence is given by a well-developed preparation stage and the understanding that you have something to catch and you have found why it might be interesting to a specialist (you have found a need).
Win-win principle.

Everyone should benefit from the interaction: you have selected an excellent candidate, the candidate has received a truly worthy and suitable offer (with conditions that are interesting to them). Often, employers leave a “way back” for professional and valuable employees.

If a candidate realizes during the first months of work that he was deceived: the work turned out to be not as interesting as described or the conditions were not so suitable, you can be 100% sure that such an employee will return to his previous place of work. Therefore, be honest, look for real benefits, so that you both find it interesting to cooperate. Otherwise, it is very easy to earn a bad reputation in the professional circles of potential employees, which will complicate headhunting for other positions.

Ways to respond to common objections

It is foolish to expect that at the first contact you will hear an exclusively positive attitude towards the meeting.

People who occupy worthy positions in their current place of work are wary of various offers. Be patient and respond to all objections as if they were a request for additional information. And remember that the purpose of the first contact is to sell a meeting, not a vacancy, so do not give out a lot of information and details.

There are several objections that should be taken for granted and, moreover, be wary if they are absent.

Objection	Response method
The unknown. "I don't know anything about you"	1.

Headhunting

The relevance of this approach is confirmed by the results of a study conducted by the Russian Managers Association and the international consulting company Ernst&Young, in which 350 company executives from all key industries and regions of Russia took part. Analysis of the results obtained indicates that for Russian senior managers, the priority task of personnel policy is to attract highly qualified top managers and highly specialized specialists. In Russia, firstly, strong top-level specialists are in demand, who have a rich synthesized potential - not only deep professional training, but also extensive practical management experience (programming and management, description and implementation of the project, etc.); secondly, companies especially need mid-level specialists with highly specialized knowledge and skills.

History of origin

The history of headhunting began in the United States in the early 20s, when company directors began hiring agencies to find employees. In the 1940s, recruiting agencies first began advertising vacancies for male workers who were unable to serve in the military. But most of the applicants were women. The employment service was the forerunner of the headhunting industry. The concept of “headhunting” arose in the USA in the mid-1940s simultaneously with the concept of “executive search”. After the end of World War II, the male part of the population returned to work again and qualified specialists became in demand in industry. Employment services operated under the names of “job agencies”, “consulting agencies”, etc. Managers and highly qualified specialists made up the majority of applicants who found work with the help of these agencies.

In the 1970s, the recruitment method called “headhunting” became one of the most profitable types of business. Today, fees for headhunter services are equal to 30-40% of the annual salary of the found professional. The need for the services of headhunting agencies has increased significantly over the past 10 years. According to data, there are over 3,500 such agencies in the United States, and more than 1,350 in Canada. The first American companies of this profile, which subsequently expanded their activities throughout the world, are Heidrich Struggler, Spencer Stuart, Russell Reynolds, Korn/Ferry.

Headhunting in Russia appeared in the early 90s of the XX century. These were foreign companies Pedersen & Partners, Ward Howell, Egon Zender, Korn/Ferry, Amrop, Morgan Hunt, H.NEUMANN INTERNATIONAL, Nicholson, Heidrick & Struggles and others who came to Russia following their clients. Then the Russians appeared. Currently, there are more than 50 companies operating on the Russian market.

Headhunting technology

Technology for selecting a specific specialist specified by the client. The main selection method is an active search for candidates in companies with the customer's profile, among those who have already proven that they are successful in business. First of all, the headhunter analyzes the market and draws up a longlist - a list of organizations where a suitable candidate can be found. When the circle of potential candidates has been determined, the selected ones are offered an offer for further growth - a change of job. The work takes from one and a half to six months: the entire potential market of candidates is “combed.” As a result, one or two candidates remain that exactly meet the client’s needs.

When calling, the headhunter introduces himself and his company to the potential candidate and outlines the purpose of his call. During the further conversation, he will try to interest the candidate so much that he agrees to an interview. The interview can take place at the agency or on neutral territory if the specialist is afraid to “shine the spotlight” by visiting a headhunting company. Upon completion of the search and selection, the client is provided with information about the candidates. This is basic information about each candidate in brief form. To the main Curriculum Vitae (personal data, qualifications, experience) is added the headhunter’s opinion, compiled on the basis of an interview with the candidate. Headhunter informs the client about the candidate's strengths and weaknesses and makes a judgment about his compliance with the requirements. Information about the candidate is strictly confidential. The final decision regarding the candidates presented remains, of course, with the client.

Having selected suitable candidates, the head catcher introduces them to the customer and organizes meetings with those who made the best impression. Interviews are carefully conducted, during which the candidate's personality, business capabilities and motivation are thoroughly examined, and references are checked. The motivation of the candidate to work for the customer is revealed. The probability of a successful selection with this technology is very high.

Other recruitment technologies

General recruitment- search in business circles, through personal business connections, working with your own database of top managers, the media and the Internet.
Executive search- direct targeted search from among currently successfully working specialists.
Management Selection- selection of middle management and key highly qualified specialists. Management selection technology is used to search and select middle managers and sought-after key specialists who rarely search for work on their own, so such people must be actively sought out and motivated.
Screening- “superficial selection”, it is carried out according to formal criteria: education, age, gender, approximate work experience. As a result, having received a mass of resumes, the selection is carried out by the customer himself, and the recruitment agency plays the role of a supplier of relatively suitable candidates.

The relationship between headhunting, recruiting and direct search

Similar concepts such as recruitment, headhunting (executive search), direct search, between which there are significant differences, are often confused. A distinctive feature of direct search is that the client indicates a list of companies whose specialists are of interest to him or reports that specialists from companies in a similar field are required. The task of a recruiter is to select and compile a list of necessary specialists, find contact information, conduct negotiations, evaluate and organize negotiations with the client. Executive Search consists of searching for senior-level specialists and includes active recruitment methods. This method of personnel selection is characterized by individual work with the client and a minimum number of recommended candidates. This is a “quality search”, taking into account the characteristics of the customer’s business, the working environment, the business and personal qualities of the candidate, organized directly - without advertising the vacancy in the media. In contrast to recruiting, which is essentially an “in-depth selection” that takes into account the personal characteristics and business qualities of the applicant, it is carried out by a recruiting agency based on a database of candidates and responses to advertisements in the media. The selection result depends on the experience of the recruiter and the content of the candidate database.

The differences between recruiting and headhunting are fundamental. The earnings of those people targeted by headhunters start at $5,000. Working with such people requires business experience and a different level of consultant personality than is typical in recruiting. Concept online headhunting is similar to the concept of online recruitment and includes actions aimed at establishing contact with a professional candidate in whom the client-employer is interested, as well as collecting all the preliminary information necessary for recruitment.

Notes

Literature

Belenko P. Headhunter is a matchmaker for your company // HR Service and Personnel, 2005, No. 9
Baranova G.V. Recruiting is daily training // Personnel Management. 2005. N 11. P. 6 - 15.
Baturkina O. How to win the “battle for heads”? // Personnel management. 2005. N 1. S. 12 - 15.

The current situation on the labor market is such that practically the only opportunity to find a highly professional top manager is headhunting or “headhunting.”

Headhunting is a search for executive personnel, rare specialists, the “highest level” of recruiting.

Headhunting can happen in two ways:

The customer himself names to the recruitment agency the person he wants to lure to his company;
The employer does not name a specific person for outstaffing, and during a targeted search - Executive Search - the recruiter goes to a certain circle of companies where candidates suitable for the client's requirements work, establishes contact with them and finds out under what conditions they will agree to change jobs. This is followed by the selection of one candidate and presentation to the customer.

In the first case, there is no stage of searching for a candidate; this is a person known in advance. The main task of a headhunter is to “reach” him; this requires a special talent, combined with the use of a certain technology. The “Hunter” must be competent in the field of psychology, as well as have knowledge in the field in which the candidate works. In addition, of course, such qualities as sociability, diplomacy, and even gambling are required. In headhunting, the ability to use non-standard methods to fulfill non-standard orders is valued, most often this concerns access to rare specialists and major top managers.

The headhunting process is impossible without constant interaction between the agency consultant and the customer. It is important for a headhunter to be aware of the peculiarities of the client’s corporate culture, because this determines how quickly and successfully the employee adapts to new conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account not only the qualifications, but also the personal qualities of the candidate. In addition, it is important to know how the company positions itself in its market segment.

The basis of headhunting is the connections and experience of the “hunter”; he must have extensive experience and be able to extract the necessary information from various sources, analyze the situation in each specific industry and in the labor market as a whole.

The client, in turn, nominates an employee who needs to be lured away, or formulates a set of requirements in accordance with which it is necessary to search for a specialist. Once the selection criteria and obligations of the parties have been agreed upon, the process of finding the right person begins. The most important stage of headhunting is preparation for personal contact with the candidate. To develop an effective interview, you need to have an idea of the specialist’s status, his motivation, job responsibilities, etc. However, general methods, as headhunters admit, do not work here: each candidate needs an individual approach. In other words, you need to find a person’s “weak spot” and then make an offer that he cannot refuse. A key factor in headhunting is the recruiter’s ability to motivate a person to change jobs. Most often, the candidate is quite satisfied with the position he occupies, so it is important to determine his motivation, understand his life aspirations and ambitions. If they coincide with the employer’s requirements, then the recruiter has the opportunity to present the proposed position in the best possible light and interest the person in the opening prospects. Sometimes the main incentive for changing jobs is not money (an equivalent amount of compensation may be offered), but the acquisition of greater powers and resources for professional self-expression.

One of the biggest difficulties headhunters face is a person’s reluctance to change their established lifestyle, stable salary, and familiar team. However, there are those who strive for greater self-realization and are not afraid to take risks. In this case, the headhunter can only point out the opportunities opening up in the new job.

With the help of headhunters, qualified specialists find themselves in more significant positions, and their place is taken by others, less experienced, but also promising. In this way, a natural business process is carried out that contributes to the development of companies.

However, the attitude in the business community towards headhunters is ambiguous and sometimes biased. They are regarded as a kind of “tempters”. But it is necessary to take into account that such a specialist is a conductor and bearer of the latest market trends and its requirements. Being an intermediary between the employer and the candidate, the headhunter creates the conditions for their possible meeting and collaboration, but ultimately the will of the candidate is decisive.

For a company from which an employee is being lured away, his departure becomes a definite signal indicating that problems and internal contradictions may be brewing in the company.

Modern business requires qualified, experienced senior specialists, but their number, like the number of large companies, is limited. Therefore, the practice of headhunting or poaching employees has already become generally accepted. However, there is often an agreement between large companies that they will not poach personnel from each other.

Headhunting companies are usually guided by an unwritten code of business conduct, which creates a solid reputation for the company and trust among clients. In addition, the reputation of a headhunter depends on his ability to soberly assess the situation and always fulfill his promises. He is responsible both to the customer company, having undertaken to persuade a certain specialist in its favor, and to the candidate, describing to him the advantages of the proposed position.

The headhunter code consists of the following unwritten rules:

Completing work on time and in accordance with the funds spent;
Spending funds in accordance with the planned budget;
Providing objective information about the candidate;
Refusal of the practice of poaching those candidates who have already been hired;
Termination of work on an order in the event of a deterioration in the conditions for its implementation on the part of the customer;
Guaranteed replacement of the candidate if he leaves the client within six months, without additional remuneration;
Presenting a candidate to only one client at a time;
Constantly informing the customer about all stages of work on the vacancy.

Today, the demand for headhunter services is growing. However, headhunting makes sense specifically when attracting specialists to key positions in the company, because is a very labor-intensive and expensive type of personnel services. A company that resorts to this method of attracting employees must know exactly what financial benefits will be obtained as a result.

Formula success of all times and peoples - “Personnel decides everything.” According to many experts, today the issue of selecting highly qualified personnel is more relevant than ever in our country. Russia's entry into the era of the global economy at the beginning of the 21st century created a shortage of highly qualified personnel. Business is growing at a tremendous pace, but specialists with good education and work experience do not appear so quickly. Therefore, the growth rate of the market for qualified and experienced personnel currently lags behind the pace of business development. And in-house training does not solve the problem, since most companies need specialists “here and now.” A real way out of this situation is provided by the use of such personnel selection technology as headhunting, which involves a targeted search and attraction of the most valuable and promising personnel. Khokhlova T., Mashketova A. Headhunting: an exclusive technology for selecting super personnel // Personnel Management. - 2011. No. 17. pp. 35-40..

Headhunting is, of course, not the newest, but still a little widespread and at the same time a very promising way of selecting especially valuable, “special” specialists. Today, this is perhaps the most effective technology that was formed in response to the need for exclusive candidates for positions of top managers and key specialists. Moreover, the candidates themselves are most often not in search of a new job, and it will take a lot of effort to interest them in considering a personnel offer, not to mention inducing them to change their place of work.

The relevance of this approach is confirmed by the results of a study conducted by the Russian Managers Association and the international consulting company Ernst & Wong, in which 350 company executives from all key industries and regions of Russia took part. An analysis of the results obtained indicates that today, for Russian senior managers, the priority task of personnel policy is to attract highly qualified top managers and highly specialized specialists. In Russia, there is a demand, firstly, for strong top-level specialists who have a rich synthesized potential - not only deep professional training, but also extensive practical management experience (programming and management, description and implementation of a project, etc.); secondly, companies especially need mid-level specialists with highly specialized knowledge and skills.

In modern practice of external candidate selection, the following technologies are mainly used: screening, recruiting and headhunting. Low-level vacancies are usually filled by screening, mid-level specialists are selected using recruiting, and senior managers and highly qualified specialists are selected using headhunting. T. Khokhlova, A. Mashketova. Headhunting: an exclusive technology for selecting super personnel // Personnel Management. - 2011. No. 17. pp. 35-40..

Screening is a “superficial selection”, it is carried out according to formal criteria: education, age, gender, approximate work experience. As a result, having received a mass of resumes, the selection is carried out by the customer himself, and the recruitment agency plays the role of a supplier of relatively suitable candidates.

Recruiting - “in-depth selection”, which takes into account the personal characteristics and business qualities of the applicant, is carried out by a recruiting agency based on a database of candidates and responses to advertisements in the media. The selection result depends on the experience of the recruiter and the content of the candidate database.

Headhunting is a “quality search” that takes into account the characteristics of the customer’s business, the working environment, the business and personal qualities of the candidate, organized directly - without advertising the vacancy in the media. Headhunting, in essence, is one of the stages of the executive search process - services, although recently in business practice there has been a tendency to synonymize these concepts.

Thus, headhunting is fundamentally different from recruiting and screening. Selecting specialists using ready-made databases among candidates who have declared their desire to find a new job, posted their resumes on relevant Internet portals, or responded to an open vacancy is most often not suitable for finding high-quality employees. Most of them are employed and have high salaries. In addition, as a rule, they do not read newspapers with vacancies and advertisements on the Internet, and searching for such candidates on the open labor market is difficult and unpromising. Therefore, you can often find “super frames” only through a direct search.

For comparison: if screening and recruiting are “wholesale”, then headhunting is “retail” Belenko P. Headhunting: principles and technologies. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2012.S. - 36.. For example, when the issue of holding the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi was being considered, a large company needed a specialist for the position of manager monitoring the legality of deforestation. Special requirements were imposed on him: he had to have not only professional requirements and work experience, but also speak two foreign languages. It is clear that only a direct search could ensure successful selection of the required specialist. It took 7 months to fill this vacancy. The required specialist was found in another region and agreed to move only after he was provided with a personal karate trainer along with a large social package, bonuses, options, etc.

According to a survey conducted by the consulting company Abercade, of the total number of all companies using external methods of recruitment and selection of personnel, about 50% use formal selection, about 25% use in-depth selection, 10% of all companies use headhunting, and 15% use or have ever resorted to all of the above methods. According to other data, more than a quarter of Russian companies have at least once resorted to the services of headhunters.

The market for headhunting services is relatively young. The Russian sector of this market began to actively develop in the early 90s. Its rapid growth was facilitated by the emergence of major players - foreign companies providing personnel selection services. The pioneers of executive search in Russia were foreign network agencies such as Amrop Int. Russia, Antal Int., Arthur Hunt, Egon Zehnder Int., Korn/Ferry, Morgan Hunt, Nicholson Int., Ward Howell. Domestic companies providing headhunting services first appeared in 1993 and were mainly concentrated in Moscow. Today, headhunting is one of the most promising and effective, although not very common, ways of searching and recruiting personnel. In regions remote from the center, headhunting still has limited use.

The main consumers of headhunting services are two types of companies Voronin A.P. Business assessment. Enterprise value management. M.: Unity, 2011.P. - 168.:

1. Companies that have emerged from the stage of rapid growth and development and are experiencing a stage of stabilization. Their task is to optimize business processes and general management. To maintain market positions and further develop, they require more and more professional managers and highly qualified specialists.

2. Companies that are intensively developing or are in their infancy. Such companies need managers with serious experience, capable of developing a company development strategy, business processes, maintaining team integrity, working with investment projects, as well as specialized specialists who could become one of the main competitive advantages of the organization.

The headhunting service is quite expensive: in world practice, the fee for searching and “luring” a specialist is about 30% of the total annual income of a hired candidate. In Russia, on average, this share varies from 20 to 35%. In small cities, recruitment agencies charge no more than 10% of the annual salary for selection, while in Moscow, according to the results of the V recruitment market research, not a single agency agreed to position itself in the 10% price niche Kataeva L.D., Abramova D.K. Personnel Management. - Novosibirsk, 2010. P. - 88..

Recently, fixed fees rather than percentage fees have become increasingly popular, since the amount of expenses is known in advance and the possibility of conflict when recalculating fees and including overhead costs is eliminated. It is important that the recruitment agency bears a guarantee for the quality of the service provided, and if within six months the candidate leaves the job himself or is fired, the agency must provide a replacement without charging any payments.

Practice shows that some managers try to save money by luring candidates on their own, especially when they know what specific specialist they need. However, this approach is ineffective for several reasons, which together do not allow achieving the desired result. Therefore, according to surveys, 80% of managers using this recruitment technology, when asked “Are the costs of headhunting justified?” confidently answer: “Yes.”

The idea of headhunting as solely luring away the desired candidate is incorrect. Headhunting is not limited to headhunting itself; it should be considered as a complex business process that includes a set of sequential, interconnected operations and procedures (Fig. 2).

The main stages of this process are: an in-depth analysis of the company’s activities and its market, analysis of personnel needs, determination of the search area for candidates, “recruitment” of a potential employee, organization and conduct of interviews with consultants and the employer, and, finally, the direct conclusion of a contract and guarantee support of the selected candidate at work.

It is the process approach to the implementation of headhunting procedures that ensures the effective achievement of the goal - the selection of a highly qualified specialist.

Fig.2 Headhunting process

A study of headhunting methodology shows that at the stage of market research for the required specialists, mainly two methods are used: networking and direct search.

Networking - "weaving networks" - is to reach the necessary specialist through the consultant's connections. In other words, it is important for the agent to know the key people in the market, who, in turn, can lead to the candidate along the chain.

The most popular is direct search, or “direct search,” in which the consultant, together with the customer, determines the circle of companies where the required specialist may be located. Then he outlines the range of positions in these companies that fit the existing vacancy, and makes a direct offer to specialists who meet the customer’s requirements Khokhlova T., Mashketova A. Headhunting: exclusive technology for selecting super personnel // Personnel Management. - 2011. No. 17. pp. 35-40.. This work is accompanied by a careful selection of candidates according to their professional and personal qualities, as well as their motivation.

However, the skill of a headhunter lies not only in finding a candidate capable of solving the client’s business problems, but also in getting him interested and making an offer that the candidate cannot refuse.

It seems that this stage of the headhunter’s work is the most important. According to independent analysts, from 20% to 40% of company employees flatly refuse to even consider offers from other employers. It is clear that it is quite difficult to seduce a truly passionate employee with money and other material benefits, especially if his working conditions are quite comfortable. If a key specialist leaves only because he was offered a larger compensation package, the manager can only rejoice: the company got rid of an employee who could soon leave it, and his effectiveness in this case was questionable. For a true professional, after reaching a certain level, money ceases to play the first and decisive role. Only about 20% of job seekers are willing to change jobs solely for financial reasons. Most often, high-level specialists are interested in creative ideas, large-scale projects, opportunities for professional development, creative and career growth.

Work on selecting and attracting high-level specialists is based on an in-depth analysis of the market segment and creating a base of qualified employees. The stages of work in headhunting include drawing up a target profile, selecting candidates, consulting with the client and interviews with potential employees. At each stage, certain technologies and special techniques are used.

From this article you will learn:

The principle of personnel distribution and selection of key employees.
Who do headhunters hunt?
What headhunting technologies and methods work?
Which technologies are better not to use?

At any time, and especially in times of crisis, commercial structures try to optimize costs and at the same time increase operational efficiency. One of the key points in solving such problems is the personnel issue.

Three schemes are used for personnel selection, the use of which directly depends on the level and professional value of the specialist.

Screening – selection of employees based on a list of general data. Based on the customer’s requirements, determining factors are created (education, work experience, age), which are used to select candidates suitable for the position. This method is very superficial in relation to the professional qualities of the employee.
Recruiting is a more in-depth form of personnel selection, including the study of a candidate’s personal and business qualities.
Headhunting is the most complex and specific type of recruiting, taking into account an in-depth study of the field of activity of a company or organization. The work of headhunters is divided into two types - the selection of narrow specialists in a certain field of activity and the direct selection of employees of the highest level (executive search), up to the poaching of specific specialists from competing companies.

Principle of personnel distribution and selection of key employees

Recently, many companies have chosen the trefoil principle or personnel leasing as the main personnel placement scheme. Using this scheme, the personnel of the organization is divided into three groups:

The first group is qualified professionals of the highest level, who are responsible for the main work of the company. This category includes leading specialists in the specialized field of the organization, who are carriers of knowledge and professional skills that guarantee the successful development, promotion and commercial success of the organization. This group also includes the permanent staff of the organization, performing work to ensure functionality and solve current problems.
The second group are external contractors who are hired by an organization to perform a specific job or provide clearly defined services. Unlike permanent employees, who receive a fixed salary with a tendency to increase as they move up the career ladder, employees hired under leasing are paid for a specific amount of work according to the contract. Leasing employees are hired temporarily to assist key personnel, perform highly specialized tasks, consultancy, expert services or routine work.
The third group is freelance, temporary and part-time employees who ensure the continuous operation of the enterprise. Such employees often work on a reduced schedule or go to work during a certain period (during peak workload of the main personnel).

Headhunters in this scheme act as representatives of the second group - employees hired to perform certain tasks. Namely, to assist in the selection of personnel of the first group - highly qualified and specialized specialists who are of particular value to the company.

Who do headhunters hunt?

The purpose and objectives of headhunting (“headhunting”) are inherent in the very name of this type of activity – the hunt for valuable, in-demand, qualified, successful and highly effective employees. Since there are not so many true professionals in their field who have both knowledge and experience, they are often hunted. It is headhunters that business managers and company owners turn to when there is a need to find, and most often, lure a specialist of a certain level from another organization.

Recruiting organizations often select personnel for specific categories. That is, certain headhunters specialize in selecting employees of a specific category (directors, financiers, technologists, programmers). In large agencies, commercial and production areas are divided into departments, each of which has its own database and information about the most successful employees of a particular market segment.

Despite the division of work into production and commercial areas, all headhunters use the same principles and technologies at the core of their activities. Working schemes concern both the nuances of building relationships with customers and methods of attracting valuable employees to the client side. There are also certain ethical rules that are considered mandatory for successful promotion and obtaining an excellent reputation in this type of activity.

What headhunting technologies and methods work?

Includes several main steps:

Preliminary consultation with a representative of the customer company. At this stage, the basic requirements for the candidate are determined, and sometimes specific representatives of the profession with a high reputation and experience in a certain field are discussed.
Market segment research. The research process produces a list of successful companies with leading employees with the professional skills and experience required for the vacant position.
Coordination of the list of candidates with the customer and selection of specialists suitable for the position. At this stage, the client reviews the selected candidates based on the resume compiled by the headhunter. From the provided list, the customer selects and approves specialists who suit him in most respects.
Assessment of selected specialists in terms of professional and personal qualities, development of negotiation tactics. The main task at this stage is to create a unique offer that will be difficult for the selected candidate to refuse.
Conducting interviews with potential candidates. This is one of the most difficult stages of work, as it requires serious preparation. In most cases, headhunters have to use methods of gentle persuasion and outlining the prospects that will open up for a specialist in a new place of work.
Organizing a meeting and conducting a joint interview between a representative of the customer company and the candidate. If the preliminary work is done well, at this stage there is a discussion of the working conditions, and sometimes the preparation of a contract.
Accompanying a specialist in a new organization. One of the important points in the work of a headhunter is the guarantee of compliance with the conditions promised by the new employer. During the year, the recruiting agency is responsible both to the customer and to the employee, and acts as a mediator when controversial issues arise.

In headhunting, it is very important to correctly draw up a psychological portrait of a potential candidate. This aspect is especially important when working with high-level specialists who already have a solid status and reputation in the profession.

Despite good working conditions and pay, most employees have their own grievances and complaints against the company's management. This is exactly what headhunters use to perform such a delicate task as poaching valuable employees. The following tools are used: opportunities for career growth, qualitative changes in working conditions, a significant increase in wages, and the implementation of one’s own ideas and projects.

Even gentle methods of manipulation must be used with the utmost care and delicacy. Many specialists doubt the correctness of their transition to a competing company, even if their status and earnings increase, for fear of condemnation from their colleagues. In such a situation, the headhunter’s task is to demonstrate the advantages as much as possible and convince the specialist of the need to make a difficult decision.

Which technologies are better not to use?

Compliance with professional ethics is one of the most important factors in the work of a headhunter. It is unacceptable for a recruiter to use the following methods:

Severe pressure on a potential candidate, blackmail, threats.
Disclosure of confidential and personal information obtained during data collection and analysis.
Creating problems at the current place of work of an employee who is trying to be taken to another company.
Taking action or disseminating information that in any way could cause trouble for the candidate.

In the field of personnel selection and headhunting, the confidentiality of information about the customer is maintained until an agreement is reached with a specialist, and the confidentiality of the candidate’s personal data, regardless of the outcome of the negotiations.