Learn the Difference Between Headhunters, Recruiters and Hiring Managers

For business owners who are working with an executive recruiting agency in Fort Lauderdale, FL for help with their hiring processes, there may be some confusion as to the difference between headhunters, recruiters and hiring managers.

Let’s take a quick look at each of these three different positions so you can get a better sense of their roles and responsibilities and which is the best choice for you to work with.

Headhunter

A headhunter is a person who works for an outside agency that is tasked with helping their client organizations fill particular roles. Companies send open positions to a headhunting agency and usually have urgent needs for the positions. In most cases, the headhunting agency doesn’t get paid until the job is filled by a new employee.

Headhunters will often be given access to information about jobs and roles that don’t get as widely publicized, because there is a much greater level of urgency and thus not as much time to allow an advertisement for an open position to circulate. They might not have specific details about some of the roles they’re looking to fill, because they’re working on behalf of the company rather than as an employee of the company itself, so their middleman status can make it a little more difficult to pass along all necessary information. Nevertheless, they are effective and a great way to proactively seek out talent when there is an immediate need.

Recruiter

A recruiter could be someone who works for an agency, but more often is someone who works in-house for a company to handle all their talent acquisition. Whenever a job opens up within the company, this person will work (often with hiring managers) to find high-quality targets to fill those openings.

Whereas headhunters are representatives of an external recruiting agency, recruiters will typically be identified as employees of the company seeking candidates. This means they’ll have access to more information about the role, and questions from targets about company culture and other issues that can only really be answered by someone who actually works there and is immersed in the company culture every day.

Their primary concern is selling candidates on the position and giving employers the information they need to make a good hiring decision.

Hiring managers

These professionals are the people who will make final decisions about candidates, rather than the people going out and doing the actual searching. They may be the supervisor for the recruiter, or the person who works with the outsourced headhunter or staffing agency to give final approval to hires. Some hiring managers might also be recruiters themselves, depending on the size and structure of the company. If not, they will likely be the “final interview” for any would-be employee interviewing with a company.

Need more information about the differences between hiring managers, recruiters and headhunters? When you’re interested in working with an executive recruiting agency in Fort Lauderdale, FL, please reach out to Key Technical Resources, Inc. with any questions you have about the work we do for our clients. We look forward to partnering with you.

Categorised in: Staffing Agency