Headhunting 100% commission sales. We only get paid for what we produce all else is just a story. Eat what we kill no kill no eat. Hunter or gatherer both respectable and needed. Landscape is littered with ex Headhunter’s you can find them everywhere in other vocations now. Guy at my local Beer Store used to be a recruiter. Quite a few go internally and join and organisation as an internal recruiter.

I got involved years ago when we 1st sent resumes out by courier, then fax, now with a click of a button. We all worked 360 desks meaning we were both account managers and recruiters all rolled in to one. Working in massive rooms called “Bull Pen’s” (think boiler room) with rows and rows of desks with stacks and stacks of paper on each one!

Today’s model for some shops is a little different you are EITHER and Account Manager or a Recruiter. Let’s face it some people are better suited for hard core sales, others for more of a support role to keep the pipeline full of qualified candidates. In the end it’s a happy client that you want. It takes many many hours a week to get good at working both sides of the desk, and who wants to work 60-70 hours a week? In 1995 at the shop I worked in on any given night there was ½ the shop still there recruiting and doing lead generation. In that group were always the top producers.

Why do so many people fail at a career in Headhunting (or a career in high commission sales in general)? We do so so many things that we do not get paid for. Hard to say which deal is going to close and which isn’t. We put so much emotional energy into landing that plane that when the deal crashes takes a bite out of you. Deal can crash for many reasons, Offer is turned down, Candidate entertains a counter offer from original employer, hiring freeze etc. List is endless. So much can happen that is out of our control.

The ones that seem to make it for the long haul have developed a mental toughness and a thicker skin. Did it happen in week one? Of course it didn’t. They fell down, got back up endured the endless stream of “ NO” They seem to have a longer term vision which takes them through the desert of no deals and no money, however always learning and sharpening that spear, in anticipation for the next kill! They held themselves accountable. The Tortoise and The Hare, Ant and Grasshopper syndrome. New Rookie comes in with a fresh I can do it attitude, head down makes a few deals, sings THIS IS EASY and 6 months to a year down the road they are gone. Crashed and burned. A few simple things and they could have made it.

What are you? Ant or Grasshopper? Happy Hunting.