Bounty hunters, or headhunters, are set apart from other recruiters, although, in fact, they both do the same thing. There are rumors and legends about their secret methods, and they themselves appear to be some kind of secret agents with impenetrable faces. The article introduces readers to the history and features of headhunting technology as an effective recruitment tool.

A significant increase in the cost of human resources both in absolute and relative terms (the share of personnel costs to the cost) has led to the search for new, more efficient forms of creating and using the organization's human capital. In particular, the "trefoil theory" has become widespread, which involves dividing all employees of the company into three categories: key employees, employees working under contracts, and employees who perform the work of the organization as part of a contract with other organizations. Such a strategy leads to noticeable changes in the personnel management system, stimulating the use of external organizations to perform individual personnel management work - outsourcing.

Outsourcing (using external sources) is the process of transferring responsibility for the maintenance of a human resource to a third-party provider, so the company can save time and resources, and also focus on fulfilling its strategic objectives. This greatly expands the capabilities, speeds up the execution and increases the efficiency of the process, but it is the issues that are secondary to the main company, such as searching for candidates and training in the field of management, that should be transferred to an external provider. At the same time, a number of issues related to the volume of transfer of human resource management tasks remain unresolved, including the issue of selecting top management and unique specialists - headhunting.

Headhunting (from the English headhunting - literally "headhunting") is one of the recruitment tools, which implies direct contact with the specialists of interest and poaching them for the customer company, i.e. some data is initially known, such as, for example, the company in which the specialist of interest may work, the position he may hold, name, etc.

At the moment, the business environment is developing faster than 5 - 7 years ago. Globalization speeds up this process, in connection with this, competition intensifies in various markets, due to the transformation of knowledge into the means of production, which is a consequence of the transition to a post-industrial society, specialists become especially important for competition - carriers of this knowledge, who can give the company uniqueness.

For many multinational corporations, such as Coca-Cola, the share of physical capital in the total capitalization of the company is less than 20%. The rest is the cost of the brand, the company's image, the know-how of the staff, primarily the management staff for working with the market and customers. Therefore, it was widely practiced to transfer employees from one company to another, in order to obtain new knowledge and work technologies, these circumstances required the search not for specialists in general, but for specialists - knowledge carriers, i.e. specific professionals.

This was facilitated by changes in the behavior of workers in the labor market, which are associated with high mobility and unwillingness to stay in one organization for a long time. There are not enough key managers to perform heterogeneous tasks. Leading companies that can pay for the services of headhunters pay them, because. do not have time to grow their potential leaders-managers or want to make a big leap in their market with the help of recruited candidates.

Select senior management and key personnel. The main selection method is an active direct search for employees in the companies of the customer's profile, among those who have already proved that they are successful in business. When the circle of potential candidates is determined, an offer is made to the elected to change jobs. The ability to understand the motive of the transition is one of the most important things in the work of a headhunter. Specialists of this level are rarely "led" only to offers of higher earnings, or the increase in earnings should be very significant, which is not always possible.

Headhunting originated in the mid-1940s in the United States, and in the 1970s it turned into a very profitable business. Today, fees for such services amount to 30 - 40% of the annual income of the found specialist.

In Russia, the demand for headhunting is explained by the lack of highly qualified managers and unique specialists. If five years ago these services were offered as an exclusive product from expensive Western agencies, now most of the major Russian recruiting agencies have included them in their list of services.

It is obvious that this excitement was generated not only by the desire of recruiters to earn easy money, but also by the real demand for such services in the labor market.

Unfortunately, we have to admit that the current headhunting boom is associated primarily not so much with the development of the Russian labor market, but with an acute shortage of ready-made, highly qualified and successful professionals.

Comparing the methods of work and the "target composition" of Russian and Western headhunting, you inevitably come to the conclusion: "headhunting" is developing in Russia at such a rapid pace not from a good life.

Being virtually unregulated, the Russian labor market provides plenty of room for behind-the-scenes maneuvers and all sorts of dirty games. At one fine moment, employers, having discovered that the supply of qualified specialists is not at all inexhaustible, and stealing a specialist is much cheaper than investing in a young, promising university graduate for four or five years, turned into clients of headhunters.

In order to understand what headhunting is as a tool, you need to consider in more detail all segments of the highly qualified personnel recruitment market.

Recruiters involved in the selection of senior management and key specialists, placing vacancy announcements in open sources, realized that they were deprived of a significant source of replenishment of their databases, because many worthy specialists do not read newspapers with vacancies, because they are satisfied or simply busy with their current work. The answer to this problem was the use of direct, or active, search for candidates. Its essence is that you first need to determine the places where suitable candidates are found, find out the phones and names, then go to them, arrange a meeting in order to make a profitable offer to change jobs. I had to improve recruiting in terms of search. This, in turn, gave rise to other problems. For example, how to lure a person who is not currently looking for a job? It turned out that the technology needed to be developed further.

Why shouldn't an employer directly engage in headhunting? For several reasons:

1. Most often, specialists are poached from players from their market - competitors. But it is highly likely that the candidate's attitude will work: an offer from strangers - those with whom he competed all the time, fought, and he will refuse.

2. The candidate may fear provocation from competitors. He will leave his existing job, and they will not hire him in another company or will hire him for a smaller position and salary. Such methods of dealing with competitors really exist.

3. "Cold sale". It is possible to not like each other in a short time of negotiations without the appropriate preparation of both parties. A negative impression is almost impossible to correct.

4. In the professional market, direct enticement of personnel is not welcome. You can be sure that they will find out about this. Such information quickly becomes widely known.

In all these cases, a professional intermediary - a headhunter - helps.

Orders to lure a specific person without a preliminary search throughout the entire market for candidates are less than 10% of the total.

Therefore, it is wrong to call specialists who only "hunt for heads" as headhunters.

The job of searching for highly qualified personnel excludes work in a tender. The fact is that the market for highly qualified personnel is very narrow. And it is fundamentally important not to let the wave. One of the ways to protect against an unreasonable customer is an advance payment of 25 to 50% of the cost of the entire order.

Payment is initially built in stages. For the first stage 1/3 of the fee. Based on the results of this stage, the customer receives a large list (from the English long list) - a list of companies and potentially interesting candidates. This work in itself costs money, as it is a kind of marketing research for the presence of strong candidates among competitors and in the market in general. Then the customer pays another 1/3 of the fee. For this money, consultants sift through a large list and make a short list of candidates out of it, i.e. a list of people who really meet the requirements of the customer and can potentially accept a job offer.

The subsequent, remaining part of the fee is usually paid when the candidate goes to work. In reality, there are deviations from such a scheme. But there is always a down payment.

Most companies in the course of their growth sooner or later face the need to attract new successful managers to manage their business. Such an infusion of fresh blood can not only stabilize the company, but also give it an additional impetus for growth and capturing new markets. The question of attracting a professional manager is especially acute at the time of expansion of the company or at the stage of mergers and acquisitions of other businesses by it. After all, the success or failure of the project depends primarily on the qualifications of managers who manage the business. However, even when the decision is made, the customer faces at least three global problems.

There are few potentially attractive candidates for the role of senior managers, and, as a rule, they are not looking for a job.

It is difficult to assess the degree of success, professionalism and adequacy of these candidates to the tasks set by the company's management, and even more so by the recruiter. Often the problem is rooted in the structure of the company and its position in the market, and not in the absence of a suitable candidate. It is practically impossible to conduct an analysis of the situation and consulting with internal resources.

After realizing this situation, the company's management comes to the decision to involve consultants in cooperation. The main task that consultants set themselves, as in any other consulting business, is to figure out what exactly the client's problem is and how to solve it with minimal losses. At the same time, the proposed solution must be correlated with the business development plans of the client company. The main difficulty in customer relationships, according to consultants, is to find the right balance between what the client really needs and what he wants.

Object of hunting

In order to be on the safe side, you should also roughly estimate which specialists in your company may be of interest to a headhunter. At the same time, do not particularly focus on positions: practice shows that in this case, the uniqueness of a specialist is much more important.

By identifying danger points in this way, you can better prepare for a suspected headhunter attack.

Phone call

When the circle of potentially interesting companies and personalities is determined, the hunter moves on to practical steps. Headhunters usually start their "subversive" activities with a phone call. This is how, one fine morning, a random phone call will be heard in your company, and an innocent voice on the other end of the line will ask the secretary to connect it with one of your employees.

However, how do you recognize what lies behind a simple phone call? In many companies facing this problem, secretaries are responsible for weeding out incoming contacts.

The general level of secretaries today is very low. Especially in the regions. There, in general, from the secretary you can learn anything you want. If the secretary knows how to give a turn from the gate, it is more difficult with him, but by definition there is no such secretary who, in the end, will not connect with the right person.

A trained secretary can tell a real business call from a headhunter's tricks. Of course, secretaries should be specially trained in such working methods, for example, asking them to leave a contact number by which the requested person can contact them.

What to do? Restrict all external contacts of employees and introduce strict censorship?

But such measures do not always help. Headhunters are professionals. They know perfectly well how to introduce themselves, how to charm, how to get to any information. They almost never call directly. In order to get to their potential victims, a legend is developed.

Another way of external defense against hunters is the maximum narrowing of the channels of information about the company's employees in public sources (in the press, the Internet, etc.). A number of companies expressly prohibit their employees from publishing their phone numbers and contact information, giving interviews without the consent of the company's management. The personnel service or the security service of the company can track the range of seminars, conferences, professional clubs attended by specialists.

Work technology

I would like to say a few words about the technology of headhunters. To be more precise, about the ways they search for potential hunting objects. These methods are mysterious and varied.

1. Analysis of customer needs

As mentioned above, a headhunter will start searching for prey if and only if he has clearly formulated the needs of his client. But the client, in turn, quite often accurately outlines the circle of companies whose employees would be of interest to him. Sometimes there are even specific names. In this case, the headhunter's task is to negotiate with maximum tact and efficiency.

2. Competitive analysis

However, it often happens that the client determines only the range of qualities that, in his opinion, a potential candidate should have. They usually include experience in the industry. To solve this problem, the headhunter determines for himself in which prospective companies in the industry specialists who can potentially interest his client can work. And he begins to develop them according to the scheme already known to you.

A headhunter, like any other recruiter, also has its own database. However, in his case, it consists primarily of specialists who are not only interesting to the headhunter in themselves, but can give recommendations on the necessary issues. As practice shows, most of the specialists who find themselves in the headhunter's field of vision subsequently willingly make contact with him. So, by contacting them, a consultant can almost always count on getting a recommendation for a specialist or not too well-known information about the company. Simply put, even if a specialist does not plan to change his job now, he will gladly recommend his acquaintances in professional activities or name a company whose employees, for some reason, are now ready to consider proposals. This creates a chain that sooner or later will lead the headhunter to the right person.

4. Analysis of public sources

And, finally, any experienced headhunter closely follows the business and industry press, attends thematic exhibitions and seminars, and actively works with information on the Internet. All this work is done primarily in order to know which of the specialists in this industry is an expert, which means that they are best oriented in the market. In addition, public events give a lot of reasons to make a personal acquaintance, which, according to the headhunter, will always be used. So, if after a short conversation at the exhibition stand your business card is pocketed by an agency representative, wait for the continuation.

Moscow Industrial and Financial Academy

The target of the so-called "bounty hunters" is exclusively "golden" minds, in other words, highly qualified specialists, experts and gurus in their field. Today, there is a fierce struggle for superprofessionals in the labor market. How can a headhunter correctly set traps and lure a unique specialist into his net?

HeadHunting (from the English head - head and hunter - hunter) is a traditional method of direct and targeted search for key high-level specialists. Headhunting is the "luring" of interesting candidates from one company to another. Such specialists are the “golden” reserve of the company. Due to their brilliant ideas, the company develops, achieves success and recognition, breaks incredible jackpots. And they are the main target of headhunters. The percentage of highly qualified specialists in the market is small, and today geniuses are being closely monitored.

It must be said that there are two types of search: in the first case, the headhunter knows the name and surname of the professional, in the second case, the client voices the requirements and wishes for the candidate, describes the "image" of the specialist. With the help of this selection method, the company gets into its hands the most successful professionals, top managers, representatives of rare specialties, who from the first day of work will begin to bring profit to the company.

The largest and most successfully developing corporations, market leaders, usually act as customers for the search for specialists. Note that headhunting is by no means a cheap pleasure. And what principles does a targeted search for candidates include? How should a headhunter act in his work, going on a “hunt”, and what should he be guided by? What difficulties does he have to face when looking for "expensive" candidates? Leading labor market experts answer these and other questions. The specialists shared with Rabota.ru the secrets of headhunting and held a master class on technologies for selecting unique specialists.

Please tell us about the basic principles of headhunting.

“Quality, reputation, confidentiality, knowledge of candidates and understanding of the client's business are important in this business,” says Igor Shekhterman, Managing Partner, Head of Executive Search at RosExpert, a leading management capital consulting company.

“The basic principles of headhunting have not changed over the years. First of all, this is a standard privacy policy for both candidates and clients. Our company takes this issue very seriously. And, of course, respect for the representatives of both sides,” notes Anastasia Filkina, Senior Consultant, Construction and Development Practice, Morgan Hunt.

What does this selection method include? Please tell us about the algorithm of actions, methods and stages of selection.

“There are two types of headhunting. The first and most difficult - the client tells the headhunter the name of the person he wants to see in his team. The second - the client presents his vision of the ideal candidate to the headhunter. The description of the position is often prepared by the “hunter” himself based on a conversation with the customer.

If the client named the name of a specific person, then the headhunter must carefully prepare for a conversation with the only potential candidate - thoroughly study his biography, think over how he is going to motivate him and “sell” the client’s position, collect information about the candidate in the labor market.

If we are talking about the second, most common type of headhunting (executive search), then here the process often begins with creating a position description. This is the result of the joint work of the headhunter and the client. During the whole process, close interaction between the consultant and the client is very important. The following is a list of companies. Perhaps the client has priorities among competitors, certain companies whose specialists he would like to see. Next comes identification - finding out the names of people in those positions that may potentially fall under the qualifications of the desired candidate. After this process is completed, the initial contact with potential specialists begins. The first conversation is very important - it depends on it whether the headhunter will be able to interest a potential candidate, whether their meeting will eventually take place. This is followed by an interview process and the selection of usually three final candidates to meet with the client. The consultant finds out all the missing details of the resume, “breaks through” the reputation of a specialist in the market, supplements his CV with his comments. Before showing a candidate to a client, it is very important to find out his reputation - it is not uncommon for a client to refuse to meet with a specialist because of his bad reputation. If this happens, the client may have questions about the competence of the headhunter he hired.

There is always a one-year guarantee for headhunting services: if a successful candidate leaves the client company within a year, the headhunter is obliged to find a replacement without additional remuneration,” says Polina Kutaeva, independent consultant, executive search & headhunting, specializing in Oil and Gas.

“We start the search process by defining a candidate profile, which includes an analysis of the business and corporate culture of the client company, defining the tasks of the position, requirements for the candidate and the compensation package, and developing a search strategy. Next, we begin implementing the search strategy that we outlined: we form an initial list of potential candidates, discuss it with the client, conduct interviews with candidates, analyze their experience, collect recommendations, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses.

Based on the results of the interview, we present the strongest and most suitable for a given role to the client, advise and help the client make a decision, making a comparative analysis of all the finalists. When choosing a finalist, we help the client in discussing and drafting a job offer, we negotiate with the candidate.

After signing a job offer with a finalist candidate, our work does not end - we conduct consultations on the effective adaptation of a top manager in the company, interact with the candidate and the client, receiving feedback from them, and help build effective interaction and cooperation,” says Igor Shekhterman.

“The search for senior executives is a special area of ​​headhunting. It requires near-perfect knowledge of the market and candidates. Morgan Hunt specializes in industries and areas of activity to maintain a high level of professionalism of each team or work group. The search is carried out in several successive stages.

In our work, we use a direct search - in our database of specialists and recommendations. Potential candidates are carefully evaluated and selected in accordance with the job description. A comprehensive assessment of the compliance with the wishes of both parties - the employer and the specialist. After all, this is a kind of compromise of interests, which ultimately leads either to an agreement or to the continuation of the search. By presenting to the employer a long list of promising candidates with whom work has already been done, the most promising ones are identified. Morgan Hunt provides a manager to coordinate the work on all issues. It accumulates all the information in the course of the project. As a result, the client is provided with a short list of 3-5 people for a personal interview. An important principle in all work is to maintain constant feedback from both the employer and the candidate. And we strictly adhere to it,” says Anastasia Filkina.

How should a bounty hunter behave? Is there a code of conduct for a headhunter?

“I would name a few fundamental points that are important in working with any client, including in the field of executive search: always act in the interests of clients, without violating ethical standards for interaction with clients and candidates, respecting the confidentiality and objectivity of information; fulfill their obligations to them, inform the client about all stages of work on the vacancy, providing high quality services. Also, the consultant must be “flexible”, but it is also important to be able to reasonably defend his point of view and explain his disagreement with the position of the client, if such a situation arises,” Igor Shekhterman believes.

“Morgan Hunt experts are individuals. What unites everyone, however, is the knowledge of the clients' business in the area in which they operate. Each expert is responsible for one, maximum two industries in which he is the most knowledgeable. He knows the key players in the field, trends and strong candidates. Clients highly appreciate such experts.

The main thing is humanity, customer orientation, reasoned and at the same time delicate defense of one's decision. The expert begins to cooperate with the client, armed with the necessary information: what is the peculiarity of the client's business, what difficulties does the employing company have. Accordingly, there is always the opportunity to try to convince the client of the rationality and success of the option,” shares his experience Anastasia Filkina.

“The first and main rule of a headhunter is the absolute confidentiality of information received from the client and the candidate. It is on this rule that our business is entirely based. The second rule is the untouchability of the client. The consultant must not offer employment to employees of the client company. There was an interesting case in my practice: I worked on a position and negotiated with several candidates from the same company at once. A few days later, the head of this company called me and asked me not to “poach” people from his team. However, the only solution to this problem was to become a client of our executive search company, which he subsequently did.

According to the classical rules of an executive search, a consultant should also never offer a job to a candidate he has already arranged, unless the specialist has left the client company.
Another important rule is constant contact and feedback with both the client and the candidate. The consultant must always keep the people with whom he works on the project informed about what is happening. Often this scheme works better in a "consultant-client" combination, but the classic executive search also involves close work with candidates, since their level in this case is very high, and each specialist is considered as a potential client. In my practice, there was a case when, having found a candidate, we persuaded him for a long time to accept an offer from a client, because we understood that this was a brilliant chance for both our ambitious candidate and an absolute hit in the top ten. As a result, he accepted the offer of the client, six months later he received a significant promotion and is still working in this company, ”says Polina Kutaeva.

Do headhunters have to undergo special training in search and selection of exclusive personnel?

“In order to get the right to work in the field of executive search and competently evaluate high-level candidates, a headhunter must have the appropriate expertise and training,” notes Anastasia Filkina.

“The main learning and deep immersion in technology takes place in the process of working in the company itself. Of course, specialization is also important. Our consultants start out as generalists and end up with industrial or functional specializations that increase their value as experts. Each consultant must be a business partner for the client - to know and understand the trends of the industrial sector and the client's business, to be not only a performer, but also to offer new non-standard solutions," believes Igor Shekhterman.

“It is necessary to explain to the person the principles of the headhunter, the algorithm of actions and the rules for conducting an interview. The rest is a matter of the identity of the "bounty hunter". A headhunter must be curious, without this quality (in the good sense of the word) there will be no true “talent seeker”. The consultant must constantly be on the lookout for non-standard recruitment methods. Undoubtedly, it must be an experienced person. In the West, headhunters are mostly people over 40 years old with rich life and professional experience. Another important quality for a headhunter is to be able to extract the necessary information from various sources, analyze the situation in each specific industry and the labor market as a whole. However, in my opinion, there is no need for any special education here, because, for example, such a bright journalist of our time as Vladimir Pozner is a biologist by education, ”says Polina Kutaeva.

What can you say about the benefits of headhunting? Are there any downsides to this selection method? What difficulties do you face in the exclusive search for specialists?

“An indisputable advantage for an employing company that is aware of the need to attract a top manager is professional assistance from a specialized agency for the search and selection of top managers. The latter can offer candidates that have proven themselves in the market, and it is difficult to enter them quickly and efficiently on their own. In this regard, the credibility and reputation of a headhunter in the market works. If we talk about the minuses, then I would call them differently - difficulties. For example, the difficulty of choosing when there are several candidates left on the short list, each of which is valuable for the employing company: it is difficult to make a choice in favor of one or the other. In such cases, more face-to-face meetings with the candidate may be needed,” says Anastasia Filkina.

“The undoubted advantage of headhunting is the author's creative approach to the execution of each project. There are no standard solutions in the search for a candidate, sometimes they are in the most unexpected places. Once, for example, I found a successful candidate while on vacation and met a married couple on the beach. It turned out that we worked in the same industry, and after asking for recommendations on one of the current projects, I got the contacts of a smart specialist.

The disadvantages include the high cost of the services of a professional headhunter and the duration of the order. A senior executive recruitment project can take up to a year. It is also the fact that the work of a “bounty hunter” is connected from two sides with working with people. Something unexpected can happen on either side: the client can cancel the search or change the requirements for a successful candidate, in turn, the candidate can refuse the position offered to him at the last moment, and then the search must start all over again.

In the era of the Internet and the availability of information, thanks to networks such as LinkedIn, clients have access to candidates directly, making it increasingly difficult for headhunters to have a unique database of candidates. This does not replace the work of the bounty hunters, but makes it more difficult. The second difficulty is the so-called “access to the body”. The level of candidates in headhunting is sometimes so high that it can be quite difficult to break through the shield of secretaries. However, for this, headhunters have their own arsenal of tricks, which I will not reveal, ”says Polina Kutaeva.

“The advantage of contacting an executive search company is that headhunters are well aware of the candidate market, have serious analytical resources and can find the right candidate much faster, taking into account the business development strategy and the client’s current tasks. For mass recruitment, this personnel search technology (direct search) is too expensive a story that requires serious time and money.

HEADHUNTING TECHNOLOGY AS ONE OF THE METHODS FOR SELECTING KEY EXPERTS OF THE ENTERPRISE

Nikishina Antonina Lvovna
Togliatti State University
Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Organization Management

annotation
The article is devoted to one of the most relevant areas of personnel management - the selection of key specialists of the enterprise based on the use of Headhunting technology. The peculiarity of headhunting agencies is considered, the competencies of a professional headhunter are described, the algorithm for implementing the search strategy and the stages of candidate selection are presented.

HEADHUNTING TECHNOLOGY AS ONE OF METHODS OF SELECTING KEY PROFESSIONALS OF THE ENTERPRISE

Nikishina Antonina Lvovna
Togliatti State University
candidate of pedagogical sciences, associate professor of the department of "Management of the organization"

Abstract
The article is devoted to one of the most topical areas of human resources management - the selection of key specialists of the enterprise based on the use of Headhunting technology. The peculiarity of headhunting agencies is considered, the competencies of the professional headhunter are described, the algorithm for implementing the search strategy and the stages of candidate selection are presented.

Bibliographic link to the article:
Nikishina A.L. Headhunting technology as one of the methods for selecting key specialists of an enterprise // Modern scientific research and innovation. 2017. No. 3 [Electronic resource]..03.2019).

"Cadres decide everything" - the formula of all times and peoples. At this stage of economic development, the issue of selecting highly qualified personnel is more relevant than ever in our country today. At the moment, there is a shortage of qualified personnel, which forces the heads of firms to act decisively. Business is developing rapidly, and there are very few specialists with higher education and work experience. Since most companies need specialists "here and now", it is impossible to solve the problem by in-house training of personnel. Therefore, the way out of the problem can be the use of such recruitment technology as Headhunting. This technology provides for a targeted search and attraction of the most valuable and promising personnel.

Headhunting is a technology for selecting rare or key specialists, according to the direction and level of professional activity. The objects of increased attention of headhunters include heads of enterprises or specialists involved in a narrow profile of activity.

A feature of headhunting agencies is a narrow focus on the direct search for high-class specialists, senior managers who do not intend to change jobs at the moment. It must be remembered that headhunting is different from recruiting.

The essence of recruiting is to find a candidate for the position that best suits the employer's application. Headhunting, on the other hand, is an “exclusive job”, the purpose of which is a subtle personal approach to each candidate.

The services of headhunting agencies are mainly used by representatives of almost all business areas, both large and medium-sized private companies. For domestic companies, the hunt for "minds" is primarily associated with an acute shortage of highly qualified professionals and is practically not connected with the development of the Russian labor market.

As a rule, a headhunter is a good psychologist who can see a lot in a potential candidate at a glance. A professional headhunter is a specialist of the highest qualification, possessing not only a professional audit in the field of recruitment, but also irreplaceable communications, leadership qualities, charisma and the gift of persuasion.

In addition, he must have the talent of conducting a confidential conversation, correctly and in a timely manner to ask the right questions, be able to listen and hear the interlocutor. A competent headhunter is able to professionally analyze a person's biography, his "family scenario", life and work path. An important advantage of a headhunter is the mastery of physiognomy, which makes it possible to understand the character of a person by his face, appearance in general, by “clothes”.

A professional "bounty hunter" can only be a person with great professional and life experience. This experience helps him to better understand people, as well as to be for them a competent person in his field, who enjoys authority in this professional field. This is also important because a headhunter communicates not just with the “head”, but with a very smart “head”. And therefore, extra-class specialists can entrust their professional fate only to such a person.

The literal translation of the concept of "Headhunting" means "hunting for heads" or "hunting for stars." The concept of "Headhunting" in business Russian has various interpretations:

• executive search technology
• one of the stages of work on this technology
• type of recruiting agency
• recruitment services segment.

According to Roman Solovyov, headhunting is assistance in solving the problem of a managerial crisis of varying degrees of complexity. He describes this assistance as the activity of experienced consultants to develop new management structures and search the market for specialists who are able to realize their plans.

In practice, two main types of headhunting are used, which are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Type of headhunting

In the first case, the headhunter is obliged to study the biography of the right person, determine what might interest him and select the most effective motivation for him. He must carefully prepare for the meeting with the candidate and think it over carefully.

The second case is the most common. After talking with the customer, the expert creates a description of the positions. A successful search is possible only when the interaction between the expert and the customer is close. At the next stage, identification takes place, that is, information about people who fall under the description of the qualifications of the required employee is studied.

The next stage involves the initial contact with the candidate for the position. The results of the first conversation determine whether the expert can interest the candidate and therefore whether the meeting takes place.

This is how you find out the details that are missing in the resume of candidates. The task of a headhunter is to check the reputation of the selected employee in the labor market. Based on the analysis of the reputation of potential candidates, the headhunter gives his comments.

So, we can distinguish the following stages of the selection of a candidate:

Figure 2. Candidate selection stages

To start determining the profile of the required candidate, the customer's business is analyzed, as well as the corporate culture of the company. Together with the customer, tasks, requirements for the desired employee are determined and a search strategy is developed. Then the strategy is implemented in accordance with the algorithm presented below.

Figure 3. Strategy implementation algorithm

After the interview is conducted, the most suitable employees are provided to the customer. A comparative analysis of all applicants is created.

As soon as the headhunter has agreed with the best candidate, a consultation is held, which helps the employee to adapt quickly. A meeting between the candidate and the customer is held, feedback is received from them, assistance is provided in effective interaction and cooperation.

At this stage, the headhunter's work does not end. He gives a guarantee for his work, which lasts 1 year, so if a new employee refuses the position, the expert is obliged to find a replacement for him, and free of charge.

When using Headhunting technology, it must be remembered that this recruitment method has a number of disadvantages, such as a long and complex recruitment process and high financial costs.

But, despite this, Headhunting is one of the most effective recruitment technologies. Therefore, in most cases, customers receive a positive and effective decision to search for rare or key specialists. And as a result, the company finds the necessary employees, but not every company can afford large financial costs and a long and complicated process of finding candidates.

Thus, before resorting to Headhunting technology, it is necessary to analyze the organization's budget so that, as a result of using this technology, it does not cause significant material damage, lose the found personnel, and also prevent downtime of equipment, labor and the work itself.

Belenko P. “Search, evaluation and motivation of top personnel. Technologies ExecutiveSearch and Headhunting. Moscow, from KYUG, 2011

Financial newspaper: “Headhunting: an expensive necessity or an extra waste?” Article by Roman Solovyov. №2 (120), March-April 2011

Belenko P. Headhunting: principles and technologies. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2012. - 192 p.

Melnik A. Personal headhunting // Journalist. No. 10. - 2012. - S. 88.

Nikishina A.L. Research of modern recruitment technologies // Modern scientific research and innovations. 2016. No. 7 [Electronic resource]. - S. 164-171.

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Handhunters are hunting exclusively for real gurus, super-specialists in a particular field, which every employer wants to get. So, how does a bounty hunter need to most effectively set traps so that they fall into a unique highly skilled professional?

The term "HeadHunting" is of English origin and is translated as a traditional method of targeted and direct search for highly qualified specialists (head - head and hunter - hunter). This process involves "poaching" key workers from one company to another. Such specialists represent the "golden" reserve of the organization, because it is thanks to their brilliant developments and ideas that it successfully develops, gaining leadership positions. The number of truly talented specialists today is small, each of them is closely monitored and it is they who become the target of bounty hunters.

A headhunter searches for a specialist according to two predefined criteria: having data on the name and surname of the employee, or simply having information about the requirements for him. Thus, the company entices the most talented specialists, top managers, successful professionals, who from the first days of work will bring profit to the company.

Clients for headhunters are usually successful companies that occupy a leading position in the market, because services for headhunters are not at all cheap. So, what principles do they follow in their work? What should be their actions in the process of targeted search? How difficult it is to find an "expensive" candidate. Let's try to understand the technologies for selecting leading specialists and other secrets of headhunting.

Principles of activity of a headhunter

Undoubtedly, everything is important for such a business - quality, reputation, strict confidentiality, excellent knowledge of candidates, and, of course, an understanding of the customer's business.

The most important aspect of the headhunter's activity is the privacy policy, which is mandatory when working with both candidates and clients. And, of course, mutual respect.

Algorithm of actions, methods and stages of headhunting

There are two types of headhunting. The most difficult is the first option, when the customer indicates the specific name of the person he wants to see in his company. The essence of the second selection method is that the headhunter receives information about the requirements for the candidate, and then independently creates a holistic image of his “target”.

If the client has given the specific name of the required person, the headhunter prepares in the most thorough manner for the upcoming meeting with the only suitable candidate. Since he has no right to make a mistake, the expert carefully studies the person's biography and thinks over what motivation will be most effective in this situation.

Speaking of the second method, called " executive search”, which is more common - in it, for a start, based on the conversation with the customer, a description of the position is created. Moreover, close interaction between the consultant and the client gives much more chances for a successful search. It is possible that the customer has certain priorities among competing companies whose key employees he would like to get. The next step is identification, that is, the study of information about people in positions that fall under the description of the qualifications of the required employee. Further, the headhunter proceeds to a very important stage - the initial contact with the desired candidate. The outcome of the first conversation determines whether the headhunter is able to interest the candidate, and, most importantly, whether they will meet. After that - an interview and selection of 3 potential candidates that meet the requirements and wishes of the customer. Having learned all the missing details of the candidate's resume, the headhunter finds out the reputation of this employee in the market and adds his comments to the CV. It is imperative to find out the reputation even before meeting with the customer, because there are cases of refusals to meet with the candidate due to his bad reputation. Yes, and about the competence of the headhunter, in this case, questions may arise.

However, a headhunter gives a guarantee for his services that lasts 1 year, therefore, even if a new employee leaves the client organization, they must find a replacement for him absolutely free of charge

The search begins with determining the profile of the required candidate, for which the business and corporate culture of the customer company are carefully analyzed, the tasks of the position, requirements for the employee are determined, and search strategies are developed. After that, the planned strategy is implemented: selection of potential candidates, which are discussed with the customer, conversation with them, collection of recommendations, analysis of their professional activities, as well as an assessment of strengths and weaknesses.

After the interview, a few of the most suitable employees for a given role are presented to the customer, helping him in his choice. In the process of determining the finalist, a comparative analysis of all applicants is given.

Having agreed with the best candidate, the headhunter’s work does not end, ahead is holding a consultation that would help the new employee quickly adapt, interacting with the client and the candidate, receiving feedback from them, as well as helping to build effective interaction and cooperation.

A particular area of ​​headhunting that requires perfect knowledge of candidates and the current market is search for senior managers. There are several stages in the search for the necessary candidates.

In the process of work, a direct search is used - according to our own database of talented candidates and according to their recommendations. Having at its disposal the description of the position, a detailed assessment and selection of the necessary candidates is carried out. Further, we bring the wishes of the customer and the candidate in line, because this is a kind of compromise of interests, either they correspond, or the search continues further. The most suitable candidates, with whom we have already worked, are determined by a selection method from a long list presented to the employer.

Headhunter Code of Conduct

Here are a few key points that apply in the field of executive search, and in any other work with clients: always act in accordance with the interests of the client, while adhering to ethical standards for interaction with candidates and clients, respecting confidentiality; provide a quality service, informing the client about all stages of work. The consultant must be “flexible”, but able to defend his point of view in case of disagreement with the client.

The most important thing in the work of a headhunter is the 100% secrecy of the information received from the candidate and the client. This business is based on this rule. The second important rule is the untouchability of the client. The expert does not have the right to involve employees of the client company.

According to the executive search rules, the consultant does not have the right to offer a job to the candidate he was recruiting, unless the specialist himself left the client organization.

Maintaining constant contact and feedback with the candidate and the customer is another rule. The client must be aware of everything that is happening regarding the project. In most cases, this works best in a "consultant-client" relationship, but since executive search is characterized by close cooperation with clients and candidates (because their level is very high), each candidate can then become a client.

Special training for a headhunter

Of course, in order to work in the field of executive search and to competently evaluate highly qualified top-level candidates, a consultant must have the appropriate experience, knowledge and undergo the necessary training.

However, only in the process of work can you fully and completely immerse yourself in technology. Of course, no one denies the importance of specialization. Consultants often start out as generalists, gradually acquiring industrial or functional specializations that greatly increase their value as specialists. The relationship between the client and the consultant should be based on a business partnership. An expert is not only a project executor, but also a source of new non-standard solutions”

A person needs to be familiarized with the algorithm of actions, the basic principles of the headhunter, as well as the rules for conducting an interview. Everything else depends on the personality of the person. A "bounty hunter" is simply obliged to show curiosity, because without this quality it will be difficult for him to achieve success in mastering the profession of a headhunter, and also to constantly look for new non-standard ways to select candidates. Human experience is also a very important aspect. For example, Western experts are people whose age is much older than 40 years, who have rich professional and life experience. It is very important for such experts to be able to find various necessary information in sources, to conduct a thorough analysis of the situation, both in specific industries and in the labor market as a whole. In general, there is an opinion that for this work there is no need for any special education.

Advantages and disadvantages of headhunting

The advantage for a client who has realized the need to attract an employee is the help of professionals from a specialized agency in the selection and search of top managers. Such an agency will help you quickly find key employees of competing companies, which would be difficult to find on your own. In such a situation, the reputation and authority of the headhunter in the market play an important role. Are there any downsides? - rather difficulties. For example, it is very difficult to choose the best from a short list of candidates, each of whom deserves respect. Conducting more face-to-face meetings with candidates will help resolve this issue.

A non-standard creative approach to work is an undoubted advantage of headhunting. In the search for a candidate, there can be no standard scenarios, because sometimes they can be found in the most unpredictable places. So, for example, there was a case where a successful candidate would be found on the beach while on vacation.

The disadvantages of headhunting are only the rather high cost of the services of a professional expert, as well as the duration of the order (sometimes it can last about a year). In addition, such activity is, first of all, work with people. And something unforeseen can always happen: either the client changes his mind about looking for an employee, or the candidate refuses the proposed new position at the last moment. In this case, the search must be started from the very beginning.

Today, with information shared by everyone on the Internet, through networks such as LinkedIn, customers have the ability to select candidates directly. Naturally, although this does not replace the work of headhunters, it significantly complicates it. The second difficulty is “access to the body”, namely: the protective shield of the secretaries of candidates of such a high level is so not penetrating that it can sometimes be very difficult to talk to him. But even in this case, headhunters have their own tricks.

A clear advantage of contacting a recruitment company is that its specialists are perfectly familiar with the candidate market, have a serious analytical resource and will quickly be able to find the necessary specialist in accordance with business development strategies and the current tasks of the customer. For the mass recruitment of company employees, the technology of direct personnel search is very expensive and time-consuming.

Increasingly, headhunters are faced with such a difficulty as a shortage of truly worthy leaders. Moreover, this applies not only to Russia, but to the whole world. That is why many companies, in order to replace a departed employee, are preparing a replacement from among the company's staff, but this is a topic for a separate discussion.

• Recruitment and selection, Labor market

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