Headhunter vs Recruiter. Do you know anything about the two positions? And how they can help you to find a good job?
Headhunter vs Recruiter: the real differences
Currently, in the process of job hunting, some of you will not only receive calls and invitations from HR (internal recruiters) but also headhunters. Sometimes we need a little clarification on these two positions.
Both have a common goal of finding the right candidate for the business. However, the approach and nature of the work of these two positions are not entirely the same.
The first is who will pay the headhunter and internal recruiters. Headhunters are people who work for a business that provides HR solutions. In addition to this main area, headhunt businesses can provide many other services, but the most basic is still to introduce candidates to businesses in need.
Headhunters are paid salaries from the service companies they work for, not directly from the businesses that are recruiting for the position. Sometimes there will be freelance headhunters working independently regardless of a service business, but in general, this number is still quite small compared to the number serving a company.
On the contrary, those who work as a recruiter in the enterprise will receive their salary directly from the enterprise that is looking for personnel. In addition to recruitment, they may concurrently hold other positions depending on the size and structure of the human resources department.
The reason I mention who pays headhunters and recruiters is that it will clarify a very important aspect. That is the target audience of these two positions.
With headhunters, there will be many different businesses contacting the headhunt business to request services and therefore, there will not be a headhunter that only serves one business.
Depending on the level and popularity of the headhunt unit, the list of vacancies for each headhunter will have a different distribution. And for the most part, here I want to emphasize that the majority, but not all, of the positions that the headhunter is in charge of are extremely difficult positions to fill.
To make it easier to visualize this, I temporarily turn to the work of internal recruiters. The target audience of this position is most of the positions arising in the enterprise where internal recruiters are working.
From high-level positions to low-level positions, as long as they are not attached to the business in which the internal recruiter is working, they are all obliged to provide candidates for the company. That is the most basic nature of their work.
However, internal recruiters do not always meet 100% of the recruitment needs of enterprises. There will be positions that are quite difficult and exceed the level of the normal candidate search.
In these situations, if the business really needs the position, but the internal recruiters cannot immediately fulfill it, headhunt companies will likely be contacted to support the recruitment.
At this point, you can recognize a relationship at work. Hard-to-reach positions are very unlikely to be the headhunter contacting you, while the positions are not too short of candidates, internal recruiters may be looking for you.
However, I do not claim this to be entirely true. There are still many talented internal recruiters who can completely meet all requirements of the business without using the headhunter service.
There are also quite a few FDI enterprises when investing in using the headhunter package for specialist positions and above to accelerate the completion of the personnel structure into production.
Because of the different target audiences, the level of understanding of the business they serve will also be different. Internal recruiters are likely to know the business much better than headhunters. The level of business knowledge here includes information about the business, structure, culture, working style, etc. Many factors that the Job Description cannot show you.
Since each person’s time at work is 8 hours a day, usually if they only do recruitment for only one business, internal recruiters have more time to dig deeper into various aspects of the job, not just the job description. Many factors affect an individual’s job, and the Job Description in my opinion is just the simplest thing about the job and the rights and obligations of each individual when taking a job.
In addition, internal recruiters will have the ability to update information and advise quite well compared to headhunters
The level of up-to-date information and advice that I want to refer to is the work related to changes or the most “trendy” position information. In order of updating information, business owners or hiring managers will be the first to propose changes related to the position being recruited.
These notices will be transmitted to the Human Resources Department. And if that Human Resources Department has a link with headhunt service companies, it will be transmitted to those headhunt service companies. With such an ordered information flow, internal recruiters will always have information about business needs in advance.
Headhunter vs recruiter: Opportunities they provide
When contacted by a headhunter or an internal recruiter, we generally have an opportunity to find a job. Going deeper into the nature and advantages of each contact, we will find that the opportunities that each offers will not be exactly the same, even though they all have a common goal of finding candidates for the business.
When it comes to the authenticity of the information, most headhunters are weaker than internal recruiters. But in another aspect, being contacted by a headhunter shows that you have a very good CV. Headhunters can completely advise, recommend and provide you with the most perfect job description for the position they are looking for.
In addition, businesses doing Headhunt work are not allowed to provide poor-quality CVs to partners. Therefore, when you are contacted by a headhunter, it means that your profile is already quite good and the level of compatibility with the requirements of the business is quite a lot.
However, because headhunter is a channel that goes after internal recruitment in terms of information, there will be some other information outside of what the job description makes it difficult for headhunters to grasp.
When you receive contact from a headhunter, your profile is quite good, but to dig deeper into many other aspects of information outside of work, internal recruiters are likely to provide more stories for you than headhunters.
Some of you feel this is a bit odd, but actually, in addition to the job described on paper, many factors can affect an employee’s psychology and attachment to work. These can be mentioned as environment, management style, culture, training, development opportunities, etc. Therefore, we should also pay attention to these aspects.
And if you’re the right fit for the job, don’t forget to take the job as just the first step in your career at a business or organization. The ability to link and bond after you become an employee is also very important. Internal recruiters will be a reliable bridge for you throughout your working life at the company.
Usually, because the headhunters in the terms will have a month or two “warranty” for the vacancy before officially charging a fee to introduce personnel to the business, your interaction time with them is regular maybe in just two months from when you got the job.
And the main purpose of this interaction is just to ensure that you can become a full-time employee or not. If you are not official employees, they will be responsible for finding another candidate more suitable for the business they collaborate with.
It can be said that your attachment time with a headhunter for a job position is quite short. It’s not like what happens with internal recruiters. They can give you a “lifetime warranty” from the time you take the job until you no longer work for the company. All information, support, etc. will be provided to you by internal recruiters throughout the working process at the enterprise.
The extent to which your job openings expand is also another point when you interact with internal recruiters and headhunters. Headhunt gives you more job opportunities because they really don’t serve just one business.
Usually, a Headhunt can be in charge of a certain industry or group of industries, with different job positions in many businesses. So if this opportunity they refer you to is not suitable, that’s okay. Maybe the next day another client contacts them and the requirements are very relevant to you, and the headhunter offers you another opportunity at another business.
The number of positions and businesses that need to be recruited by headhunters is quite large. It’s not the same as recruiters serving only one business. And in a single-position business, there really won’t be too many people in charge.
It’s not uncommon for internal recruiters to refer you to other businesses, but that’s only if they really have a large network, and your referral doesn’t affect their work or anything. businesses they serve.
Ask headhunter for vacancies salary
Finding out the salary for the position you are interested in from a headhunter is very important. The possibility of expanding your career opportunities when being interested in a headhunter is quite high.
Therefore, we need a few tricks to be able to contact and link, become a potential candidates for headhunters and get salary information from them.
First and foremost, you must have a pretty good resume (CV). If not, you need to possess an extremely rare skill and knowledge. The objects targeted by headhunters are mostly not “mass audiences”.
Only a group of mid-level and senior-level personnel will be contacted and interested in keeping record information. So keep improving your skills and learn more skills related to your favorite job. When you reach a certain level of excellence, you are bound to be interested.
You possess a lot of skills, knowledge and good working history. However, you do not express yourself, nor do you know how to make headhunters access your information. At that time, your chances will not be much compared to other candidates.
We really have power and more importantly, we have to know how to show it outside. The largest community of both internal recruiters and headhunters today is LinkedIn. Learn everything LinkedIn has to offer, reach and connect with employers, and follow the career opportunities they share.
However, the number of headhunters is also quite large on Linkedin, and with the trend of job shifting, it is not too difficult in modern society. What if the headhunters you connect with then move on to a different field of work. You will lose a valuable amount of information that comes from the previous work they shared.
So get yourself a few close headhunt in the connect. These are headhunters who specialize in finding candidates in the fields that interest you, have long experience in the recruitment profession, and are very open to people, actively interacting. Looking for enthusiastic and informative headhunters who are willing to advise you instead of looking for well-known companies. Choose individuals instead of businesses.
Dive a little deeper into connecting with headhunters. Because the fee of the headhunting service will be based on the salary you receive at the business. Therefore, usually, headhunters will offer you a fairly competitive income in the market.
In other words, you have the advantage of negotiating salary with the business. The more worthy your salary, the higher the commissions and expenses that headhunters will receive.
Of course, headhunters will also try to find the best candidates for the position they are assisting in recruiting. Personally, I feel that it is not too difficult and impossible to share the “salary rank” of the position headhunters contact you.
Then you won’t care if you negotiate less than you deserve for the job. The only thing left you should care about is really whether you are suitable and meet the job that the headhunter proposes or not.
Besides, because the positions are difficult, new businesses rely on headhunters, so your competitiveness is quite high. Instead of one vacancy, hundreds or even thousands of people apply. Chances are that recruiters will miss your resume because of errors in data management and resume filtering.
When connected by a headhunter, you are usually only competing with no more than three people. The job of screening candidates has been handled by headhunters among the thousands of HR data they hold. Therefore, you have contacted means you are the best match among the data they have. And indeed that vacancy is a difficult position, even very difficult.
