Quietly, let the headhunter help you

Six months ago, through the recommendation of a headhunter, Xu Zhe became the senior brand manager of a famous foreign milk powder brand. From the initial marketing director of Unilever, to the marketing manager of Vigo C, to the current new position, 28-year-old Xu Zhe is very satisfied with the development of his career path: "Every step of the position change is a new one. Challenges."

In fact, he has almost never had the experience of taking the initiative to change jobs or look for a job, and he has always been prudent and prudent in his career planning. And because of his outstanding performance and obvious diligence in the original company, he attracted many headhunting companies a few years ago. "Professional headhunters have extensive network relationships, and they can build a bridge of communication and even circulation between employers and recruited talents." Xu Zhe, who is not very lofty, admitted that the help of headhunters has indeed brought him more opportunity.

At the same time, Joy, who is the personnel manager of a famous overseas management consulting company, also gave considerable affirmation to the headhunting service: "For talent search for mid-to-high-end positions, headhunting can be used to find our employees more effectively and quickly. Target candidates, thus saving a lot of energy and time of the company's human resources department."

So, how should companies recruit desirable talents through headhunting services? How does the managerial talent achieve a career leap with the help of headhunting channels?

Both soft and hard, companies help headhunting is to help themselves

Compared with the recruitment of grassroots personnel, it is much more difficult for companies to recruit middle and senior managers, especially senior executives. Those talented, experienced, and outstanding talents who are most favored by enterprises are often satisfied with their current positions and have good career development prospects in the company. They are less likely to pay attention to job advertisements published in newspapers and on the Internet. Arthur, the recruitment manager of an international cosmetics company, said that the human resources department is often limited by information, manpower and other aspects, and it is often insufficient in recruiting high-level talents.

"And headhunting has a professional division, with sufficient resources and network coverage. We can also maintain an objectivity, judge talents in a professional way, and conduct strict background investigations, so as to provide The company finds the most suitable person." Wei Qingqin, director of the senior official search department of Shanghai Talent Co., Ltd. believes that headhunting can make up for the shortcomings of the company's own recruitment and try to avoid the misuse of talents.

Tan Hailun, Shanghai-based chief representative of KORN FERRY, an American headhunting company, admitted that the best way to select senior executives should be internal training and promotion, but sometimes the development of talents cannot keep up with the speed of business development. Therefore, active external search is also a good choice when there is an urgent need. This actually reveals the deep-seated reason why many multinational companies use headhunting: most of the high-level talents urgently needed by the company are in the competitors. And this topic is very sensitive, no one is willing to go directly to the competitors to poach, and the successful people who are fancy will not easily choose to have a direct dialogue with these companies. "Through a good headhunter, you can get in touch with talents that they can't reach. Some senior managers had no plans to change jobs, but they heard that KORN FERRY came to find them, and they would also be willing to talk to us. With this opportunity, we can open the door between the two parties."

After the headhunter signs the search contract with the client, according to international practice, usually about one third of the target's annual salary will be charged as an advance deposit (recommended After success, it will be converted to commission), and then start a comprehensive search. "Generally, Zhaopin will recommend qualified candidates to customers within 3 to 5 weeks, but it will take longer for some particularly specialized industries or positions with very strict requirements." Zhaopin headhunter Hellen Xu, head of the service, said.

When looking for high-level positions such as corporate decision-makers and board members, Korn Ferry's practice is to cover the entire market for about a month before the initial selection. "But covering three or four hundred people does not mean that there must be a suitable and satisfactory candidate. Even if there is a suitable candidate, we must persuade him to be interested in this position before we can move forward." Tan Helen said.

She also reminded that during this period of time, companies should continue to strengthen communication with headhunting consultants, so that headhunting not only has a profound impact on the company's human resources system, but also on the company's operation and business model and corporate culture. understanding, which will aid in the search. "The higher the position, the greater the influence on the company. If the person hired has a different concept than the company, it is definitely not suitable. For example, a client's work pace is fast, and this candidate has been used to slow The rhythm, he and the operation of the company are out of sync. Therefore, the most important thing to recruit senior talents is the soft things, and the hard conditions are easier to match." After the comprehensive interview and evaluation of the headhunter consultant, the company will be recommended three to five. Each candidate's detailed information report, you can make the final selection by yourself.

Given the differences in mid-to-high-end positioning, search speed, and work styles, experienced companies will definitely not use only one headhunting company, they generally use different headhunters for different job levels. "When choosing a headhunting company, brand awareness is one aspect. Industry focus and position positioning are more important. In addition, it is necessary to judge the consultant's participation, follow-up services and professional ethics." Wei Qingqin emphasized. The unwritten rule in the executive search industry is that you can no longer serve your client's main competitor in the industry. "We can't poach between customers. For example, Nokia is our customer, and like Motorola and Ericsson, we will not develop any more," said Hellen Xu. "There are some informal small headhunting companies that only specialize in a certain industry. , it is difficult for him to comply with this minimum professional ethics."

Before you decide to use executive search services, also fully consider whether the corporate culture can accommodate this approach. Among the current headhunting clients, private and state-owned enterprises have begun to join in East China and South China, but they are still few and far between, and multinational companies still account for 80% to 90%. A state-controlled listed company in Nanjing considered recruiting executives through headhunting a few years ago, but middle-level department managers resisted when they heard about it. "Of course they hope to be promoted, but they are not qualified for this position in terms of quality in all aspects," said Ms. Wang, the personnel manager helplessly. "If the airborne soldiers are recruited through headhunting, the relationship with the middle management is very tense, and there is no way to work. Go ahead." Ultimately the company chose not to opt for this hiring method, and the position has remained vacant to this day.

Waiting for the rabbit, talents help both themselves and headhunters

In the impression of most people, headhunting companies are organizations that help them find jobs. In fact, the job of headhunting is to search for talents according to the job requirements of corporate clients. "Headhunters never help those who can't find jobs to find jobs, nor do they provide opportunities for those who have so-called potential, but create better opportunities for those who are outstanding," explains Wei Qingqin of Shanghai Talent.

"Resumes are sent here almost every day, and we will put them in the company's global database, and search according to different categories when necessary." Although Tan Hailun welcomes managers to submit resumes, but Pointing out that it is not very realistic to rely on headhunters to find a job, "I have done so many cases, often with 10 to 15 terms, experience, age, industry, company size and many other requirements, I have almost never encountered the There are ready-made candidates who are fully qualified," she said.

But for those rare senior talents, professional headhunting consultants still attach great importance and hope to maintain long-term contact. If you can get their help when changing career paths, it will undoubtedly be more effective for managers. Because, you no longer need to spend a lot of time sorting out your resume, the consultant will help you design and package it according to the employer's requirements; you don't have to weigh the pros and cons of job changes too much, the consultant will help you determine whether it is from a professional point of view A crucial step in your career; you don't have to embarrass yourself to bargain with future employers about your salary, the headhunter will stand in the middleman's point of view to get better salary and benefits for you---because this also directly determines their commission. How many.

So, what kind of people can attract headhunters to actively throw olive branches?

First, have a good educational and work background. Highly educated and graduates from prestigious universities are an effective stepping stone, especially those who have a background of studying abroad and have worked in multinational companies for many years will become the first choice for headhunters. "The need for this kind of talents who integrate Chinese and Western cultures is determined by our customer base." Tan Hailun said.

Second, your performance is the "Top 10" in the industry. Through your efforts, the economic benefits directly created for the company will be very convincing. Employers do not recognize so-called potential people, but more powerful people.

"You say you have potential, how can I know? So first of all, look at your past performance, and analyze your future development and success probability from these experiences." Wei Qingqin believes that these outstanding talents are at least all If you have achieved the level of department manager or equivalent in the original enterprise, it will be difficult to attract the attention of headhunters.

Third, your career has a gradual upward trend, which means you are always growing. "For example, a salesperson, the trend from Shanghai to East China to the whole of China is very attractive to us. If he encounters a bottleneck in the original company after a certain stage, we will give He provides better opportunities," said Hellen Xu.

Fourth, in the past two or three years, it is best to have no experience of job-hopping. Although the job of headhunting is to promote the flow of talents, it is often politely declined to those white-collar workers who easily change their minds. Both foreign-funded companies and private companies value the loyalty and stability of talents. Therefore, even if you do have real talents, "frequent job-hopping" will lead to damage to your "professional gold content".

Fifth, have good interpersonal skills and social reputation. It is generally believed that such talents are easier and faster to integrate into the environment of the new company.

Sixth, considering the economic interests of the headhunter, the existing candidates with an annual salary of less than 200,000 are usually not among the high-end talent targets.

Some people use the term "waiting for the rabbit" to describe the relationship between talent and executive search firms, which is conservative but not unreasonable. "Proactively prepare, passively wait patiently" is the experience of many successful managers. Among the projects that Zhaopin has done, Xu Zhe mentioned at the beginning of the article is a successful example. Introducing his own experience, he said: "In addition to being a professional, comprehensive skills such as communication skills, strategic decision-making skills, and leadership skills need to be down-to-earth practice and exertion in every job." Otherwise, you may always be just an engineer Or a salesperson, no one will ever come to you for a management job.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that senior managers should pay special attention to judging the professionalism of consultants in their contacts with headhunters. Don't easily give up the opportunity to communicate with professional headhunters and obtain career development guidance; and don't distribute your professional privacy or resume at will, so as not to cause a negative impact in the company when you are not planning to leave.

Whether it is a company that is thirsty for talent, or an outstanding manager who is waiting for a price, both parties need a "matchmaker" who can make a good match. Headhunters are one such matchmaker, and they are "quiet and confident" rather than "talkative" matchmakers. So act now and ask them to help.

Quietly, let the headhunter help you

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