Updated: Sept 2025
Why do you want to become a Headhunter?
You start as a contingent recruiter, learn the business, then what next? For many, becoming a manager isn’t appealing and they don’t feel ready to set up their own recruitment business, so a lot of recruiters want to know how to become a headhunter, but is that the next career step?
I’ve asked this question of many recruiters who wanted to make the career move to join my old headhunting firms, and a lot didn’t really know. Headhunting seems to have this allure to recruiters, hence me writing this blog.
Key Takeaways
- Headhunting, also known as executive search, is a specialised form of recruitment focused on proactively finding passive candidates for senior or niche roles.
- Unlike contingent recruiters who are paid only upon successful placement, headhunters receive payment in stages: an upfront fee, a payment upon shortlisting, and a final payment upon placement.
- Successful headhunters possess strong sales and networking skills, deep market expertise, resilience, and patience.
- The career offers higher earning potential, with fees typically ranging from 25% to 50% of the candidate’s salary, and the advantage of staged payments, often including a full fee regardless of a hire.
- Headhunting firms usually have two main roles: the Sales Headhunter (client acquisition and management) and the Resourcer (candidate research and initial approach).
What Does a Headhunter Actually Do?
When you’re a success-only recruiter, you’re not really a headhunter; the clue is in the name. A headhunter is someone who is retained by a client to proactively ‘hunt’ for candidates who are not actively on the job market. This process is known as an ‘executive search’ and is usually reserved for senior or very niche roles where there is a small pool of suitable candidates.
Headhunters are usually sector specialists and build up an in-depth knowledge of their market, so they know who the key players are and where to find them. Unlike contingent recruiters, who will often be competing with other agencies and the client’s own internal recruitment team, a headhunter will work on an exclusive basis.
How is Headhunting Different from Agency Recruiting?
In my experience, there are four main types of recruiters:
- Generalist Success-Only Recruiters: Who work with all types of businesses in all sectors.
- Contingent Sector Specialist Recruiters: Who focus on a niche, like law or IT.
- Quality-driven Market Specialists: Who gain retained assignments because of their excellent reputation.
- Sector Specialist Headhunters: Who build a profile as the go-to industry expert for senior appointments.
The main difference between contingent and retained headhunting is how you get paid. Contingent recruiters are only paid on the successful placement of a candidate. Headhunters, on the other hand, are paid in stages – an upfront fee to begin the search, another payment on the presentation of a shortlist, and the final payment when the successful candidate is placed.
What Are the Real Benefits of a Headhunting Career?
There are many rewards to headhunting. Success-only recruiters generally calculate fees at 15% to 20%, whereas headhunting commands much higher rates of 25% to 50%, plus the advantage of staged payments.
Because you are working on higher-salaried roles, your fees can double, treble or more! One last big win is that with most headhunting terms, the client has to pay the full fee regardless of whether they hire a candidate as a result of the search. It’s not easy money, but there is no denying the fees are much, much higher.
What Does a Typical Headhunter Career Path Look Like?
Within a headhunting firm, there are typically two main roles:
- The Sales Headhunter: This is the person who wins the business and manages the client relationship. They’ll take the brief, negotiate the terms, and present the shortlist.
- The Resourcer: This is often the person that actually conducts the headhunting assignment itself. They’ll do the research, identify the target candidates, and make the initial approaches. I personally see this role as a Headhunter too.
A good Resourcer is worth their weight in gold. They provide the collateral for the headhunt, like a competitor’s organisational structure, and generate leads for the sales headhunter.
So, Do You Want to Be a Headhunter?
As you’ll have read, there are plenty of reasons to consider a move into headhunting. My blog also explains the differing roles and styles you can aim for if you want to make your first step into this exciting sector.
Rhys Jones
Written by Rhys Jones Managing Director – Davidson Gray
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