Having been in HR field as a senior advisor in foreign corporations for seven years and now in charge of Headhunting for a company providing HR solutions, I have been questioned about Headhunting. That’s the reason why I write this article to share an overview on Headhunting.

Who needs Headhunting?

On investing in Vietnam, besides the requirements for local labor sources, culture and legal rules, the foreign companies badly need senior managers qualified to run the whole corporation in a new competitive and challenging environment. How to find the right people?

Sending foreign CEOs to the country has advantages and disadvantages. They may know well the corporation’s strategies, have professional working style and suggest good solutions. However, it will take long for them to adapt to the new environment, the cultural and language differences, the shortage of labor and experiences in the local market, etc. The second solution is to find a person with all of these elements and competence to trust the destiny of the whole company. Where to find that person? This is the time when the Headhunters take their role.

Job details of a Headhunter

The phrases “Headhunting” and “headhunter” are no longer new to many people but their jobs are not totally understandable. In an increasingly competitive market, the demand for “recruiting talents” is the top priority of many companies. Moreover, it is not easy for the HR to select one good candidate among thousands of applications via job ads. Also, the limited access to the senior candidates in the market has an impact on the quality of the selecting process.

Similarly, the experienced fighters often have pivotal positions in their companies and they will not easily publicize their applications on the mass media like the job seeking websites, newspapers or just submit their CVs to the recruiting companies. They will first search for all details of their target companies. The two demands meet through the Head hunter.

In addition, the Headhunter should study the applicants’ culture and family background, their personalities, life concept and career direction to advise them on the most suitable opportunities to maximize their career success.

The current demand for talents is quite high: we have over 100 senior positions each month.  In 2009 – 2010, Headhunting service is greatly required for Finance – banking and heavy industry, which are invested by industrialized countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Japan, etc.

What are the necessary traits to be a successful Head Hunter?

An excellent Headhunter need 60% of sales skills and 40% HR skills, that’s the reason why starting the job with sales background will be an advantage. Besides, a successful headhunter communicates openly and confidently and knows how to develop relations and act as links in the community. Headhunters always think positively, understand people and cleverly solve problems. They should also be objective when evaluating candidates, basing on capacity and behavior, not on emotional judgment.

Headhunters always have their own data base of applicants and a profound knowledge of the field in the market. When there is a requirement from their clients, they can foresee the suitable candidates or the positions and support their customers most effectively within the shortest time. Headhunters do not just recruit one position to their customers. They also make sure for the candidate to familiarize with the working environment and provide him/ her with more information on the company. If he/she leaves the company, headhunters must know the reason why he/she does not fit in and the strengths and weaknesses of the company. Then they can find better solutions to the next recruitment. These findings are not always known. The coming and leaving of candidates are beneficial to headhunting services as the human resources just move from a place to another. Consequently, head hunting has a chance to flourish. Companies use different services to look for senior staff because the cost is 0%, unless when the recruitment is successful then the service fee is counted based on the candidate salary. As a result, the competition among the head hunters and head hunting agencies are fiercer. Of course, there is no room for amateurish hunters without necessary skills. 

It is commonly believed that headhunters are both afraid of and hated by companies with senior staff. The reason is they attract their good staff for their competitor companies. Personally, I think a really good company must build up their strategies on human resources and policies to retain their talented staff, if not, it is inevitable that they will leave even before the headhunter tell them about better offers.