Job head hunters

[sandmanwake]

Any one ever used one? Some questions for those who have:

1. Was it worth it?
2. How much do they cost?
3. How did you find one (a good one)?
4. What should I look for in a head hunter?
5. Some questions to ask them to make sure they're legit?

 

[Yossarian]

it should be free for you. companies doing the hiring pay head hunters, not job seekers.

 

[Mallow]

thank god... no job for me for at least 7 more years

 

[sandmanwake]

There are also head hunters that people looking for a job hire--my roommate's brother and sister used one and he said that they had to agree to give the head hunter 10% of their pay for 1 year or something once they found a job. I think I'm looking for more these type hunters.

 

[NuclearNed]

I've used a headhunter twice. Both times were good.

The first time I got a job in Atlanta through a headhunter. His name was Stuart. I felt like I got to know the guy to some degree. He was professional and courteous and paired me with a job that was perfect. And he didn't waste my time with a bunch of worthless offers for crappy jobs - he filtered them out long before I ever got to see them. The company that hired me paid the headhunter fee.

The second time I used one I got a job with IBM in Durham, N.C. at the Research Triangle Park. This time I had to get a job fast because the company that was employing me was going bankrupt quickly. Since Durham was a little further away from home than I wanted, I explained to the headhunter that if a job opened up back home, I wanted to be able to break my contract with her with no penalty. This happened to be the case - 1.5 months into my contract I got hired at my current position. The headhunter was very gracious because we had worked out things up front. Again, they were very courteous and IBM paid the headhunter fee.

Consider me a satisfied customer.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: NuclearNed
I've used a headhunter twice. Both times were good.



The first time I got a job in Atlanta through a headhunter. His name was Stuart. I felt like I got to know the guy to some degree. He was professional and courteous and paired me with a job that was perfect. And he didn't waste my time with a bunch of worthless offers for crappy jobs - he filtered them out long before I ever got to see them. The company that hired me paid the headhunter fee.



The second time I used one I got a job with IBM in Durham, N.C. at the Research Triangle Park. This time I had to get a job fast because the company that was employing me was going bankrupt quickly. Since Durham was a little further away from home than I wanted, I explained to the headhunter that if a job opened up back home, I wanted to be able to break my contract with her with no penalty. This happened to be the case - 1.5 months into my contract I got hired at my current position. The headhunter was very gracious because we had worked out things up front. Again, they were very courteous and IBM paid the headhunter fee.



Consider me a satisfied customer.

Neat. I didn't really know that you could get people to find a job like this for you. I knew about crappy sub-contracting agencies, but somebody to actually find you a job is good, and paying them 10% of your pay for the first year is definitely fair, considering that 6 months of unemployment and you've already lost that anyway.

 

[Michael]

Just about any headhunter I know of (and I deal with retained search firms now but have used contingency fee recruiters in the past for me and to find people for me to hire) has the hiring company pay the fee.

Michael

 

[GeoffS]

I've dealt with a couple... one I really liked the other I didn't. The second one was more interested in just getting me placed than finding a good match... I ditched her pretty quickly.

 

[Garet Jax]

My experience with them has not been good. I used them a couple of times in San Francisco. Everytime they tried to push me towards job that were not related to my skill set at all. When I told them I wasn't interested in a career change (to try to get a point across), they tried to convince me to at least interview.

 

[Turkish]

Are headhunters recommended for new college graduates?

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: Xiety
Are headhunters recommended for new college graduates?

1. Yes, they are a good point of contact to find jobs away from home when you don't know where to begin looking.
2. Even though the company that hires you usually pays the headhunter fee, you can bet that the finder's fee in the end comes out of your salary. In other words, if a company hires you at $50,000 through a headhunter (and they pay the headhunter the fee), you can bet they would have paid you $55,000 if you had been hired by them without the headhunter as the middleman.
3. You will find that the headhunter's fee is usually pretty steep. Somehow I found out what the fee was for my first headhunter experience, and it seems like it was between 10% and 20% of the salary the hiring company agreed to pay me. (see # 2, above. This is money that potentially could have been mine)

 

[sandmanwake]

NuclearNed, you wouldn't still have the contact info for that headhunter in NC would you? RTP is one of the places I'm looking to live and work when I graduate in a little bit.

 

[Turkish]

Originally posted by: NuclearNed

Originally posted by: Xiety

Are headhunters recommended for new college graduates?

1. Yes, they are a good point of contact to find jobs away from home when you don't know where to begin looking.

2. Even though the company that hires you usually pays the headhunter fee, you can bet that the finder's fee in the end comes out of your salary. In other words, if a company hires you at $50,000 through a headhunter (and they pay the headhunter the fee), you can bet they would have paid you $55,000 if you had been hired by them without the headhunter as the middleman.

3. You will find that the headhunter's fee is usually pretty steep. Somehow I found out what the fee was for my first headhunter experience, and it seems like it was between 10% and 20% of the salary the hiring company agreed to pay me. (see # 2, above. This is money that potentially could have been mine)

Cool Thanks for the info. I think I can give up some of my salary for the first year. Its usually hard to find a job for the first 5-6 months after graduation anyways. How do we find headhunters though?

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: sandmanwake
NuclearNed, you wouldn't still have the contact info for that headhunter in NC would you? RTP is one of the places I'm looking to live and work when I graduate in a little bit.

Its been several years ago, and I don't even remember the name of the company. If you are looking at RTP, I would apply directly with the majors (IBM, etc.) When I worked there in 2000, they couldn't hire enough people for all the work they had.

However, if you still want to go the headhunter route, I found the headhunter on line. Generally speaking, they like to call themselves "staffing agencies". Many of them specialize in particular fields. For example, both headhunters I used specialized in technical jobs. Keep in mind that once you apply for work with a headhunter, you are not allowed to accept a job with one of their client companies without the headhunter getting their fee. In other words, if you apply for a job with IBM, then the next day make contact with a headhunter, then the next day IBM calls you back with an offer, the headhunter gets their fee if they do business with IBM, even if they didn't do much or any work finding a job for you. If I didn't explain this well enough, let me know and I'll take another crack at it.

 

[NuclearNed]

Cool Thanks for the info. I think I can give up some of my salary for the first year. Its usually hard to find a job for the first 5-6 months after graduation anyways. How do we find headhunters though?

See my post above. On the internet, look up "staffing agencies". As I posted above, some staffing agencies specialize in different types of jobs (i.e. technical services, etc.)

 

[rh71]

I used one in NYC to kind of play the field before I was ready to graduate (still indecisive about finishing my minor). I was done with an interview they sent me on and afterward called me back and kept pushing me for it. I felt like the decision wasn't really mine... that I owed them (the head hunter) a decision quickly since the opportunity presented itself. I wasn't all that excited about a $32k/yr job that may include working weekends so I decided against it. But it took a few more conversations with the head hunter to finally get him off my back. I went in there thinking if the right opportunity came along, I'd take it... but it seemed like that guy wanted the job more than I did.

 

[sandmanwake]

I'm afraid applying directly with the company through their web site doesn't work any more. They get hundreds of submissions daily. One recruiter I talked to said that the only ones they even looked at for his company were the ones the recruiters email to the managers directly.