Headhunting – quickly attracting the best professionals in your field
The best specialists in their fields tend to work for companies offering good conditions and are not looking for work. The only way to keep them interested is by headhunting. Headhunting is the process of getting candidates on the passive labour market interested in the position on offer. The process is quite complex, as it is quite a complicated process to reach out to candidates who are not currently looking for a job and to interview them.
How to prepare for a headhunting project?
First of all, you need to describe the position properly and present everything in the right format. Passive candidates will not have the time to go to interviews right away. They will want initial information in writing. Once they have read it, they will be informed about further participation and can then be considered for an interview. The information must therefore be detailed, indicating the importance of the position, future prospects, salary limits, etc.
It is also important to draw up a proper list of headhunting candidates. This is best done by selecting the most suitable companies and shortlisting certain employees working for those companies. Another practice is to have a headhunting list by area. This is also a good approach, but it is slightly narrower and more targeted by company, but requires a good knowledge of the local market.
It is not even worth starting a headhunt if you do not have a well-defined list of proposed values for candidates. If a currently successful candidate receives an offer that matches his current conditions, he will certainly not be prepared to change his current role. It is important to anticipate what conditions exist in the market and to determine what additional values will be available for headhunting candidates
Candidates’ motivation
Unlike candidates in a public search, professionals or managers selected in a headhunt are not motivated to change their current position. Motivation needs to be instilled by the employer or the recruitment company itself. In this case, it is necessary to have a good knowledge of the headhunting candidate’s current situation and to identify the most career-limiting factors. Knowing this information, it is possible to objectively present the parts of the job offer that are likely to be of interest to the candidate and which are not available in his/her current position. In this case, the recruitment company’s objective is achieved – the candidate is motivated to continue and an interview can be organised
The importance of confidentiality
When working with candidates who are active and passive on the labour market, recruitment companies need to take steps to prevent the greatest risk of confidentiality. These may include interviewing candidates only after work, meeting candidates in convenient locations where they will not be seen interacting with recruiters, etc. In a small market, candidate confidentiality is a very important part of the headhunting process and can only be ensured by adapting to the candidate and creating the ideal conditions for them to maintain full confidentiality.
Thus, headhunting requires highly skilled recruiters, in-depth preparation, significant time resources in dealing with passive candidates and a very good knowledge of the job offer. The latter is very important, because if a candidate perceives a lack of specificity, he or she will immediately perceive a risk and refuse to participate further in the selection process.
