A head hunter is a specialist in finding candidates for key, responsible and high positions for the company. The head hunter is looking for candidates among successful people, "one-off" professionals who are not going to change their place of work. This is the difference between a head hunter and a recruiter. Among the objects of attention of headhunters, IT specialists are currently in the first place, for whom there is a special demand. In second place are top managers, followed by bank employees, accountants, lawyers, engineers, technologists. 

Short description
Headhunting is the search and selection of personnel of specialists who are rare in terms of professionalism. The profession of a head-hunter is not only to find the right candidate, but also to be able to lure him to another company. Such specialists are not interested in the usual promise of a higher salary. Head hunters have to show miracles of cunning and resourcefulness, turn on all their charm and acting skills and even spy methods of work at the very first stage to establish contact with the candidate. After all, as a rule, managers and valuable specialists are difficult to access.

It happens that the client appoints a specialist of a certain company to a head hunter in advance, whom he would like to get. But in the conditions of business, the customer, as a rule, requires to find the best specialist for him. And then the work of a head hunter is complicated by the search for several candidates from competing companies.

 
Before starting work, a head hunter must have the minimum basic requirements from the client:

Professional requirements for the candidate;
Goals and objectives of the company's business;
The company's plans and hopes that are pinned on a new specialist.

Specifics of the profession
The work of a head-hunter is:

study of the specifics of the customer's company's business;
creating an image of an optimal manager for the company: his professional and personal qualities, compliance with the corporate culture adopted in the company;
analysis of the activities of successful competitors and organizations in the related industry;
study of the personnel policy of the enterprises where potential candidates work (professional growth and staff reduction; corporate culture; remuneration system; system for ensuring the safety and health of employees; social guarantees provided; incentive programs; labor motivation) to develop the customer's position to meet the requests and needs of potential candidates, their motivation to work for the customer.
search for candidates;
compilation of dossiers on the most successful senior employees;
organization of meetings between representatives of the customer company and a potential employee.
To find an employee to solve a certain task, you need to find a company that has already successfully solved this task, which means that the right specialist is there.

Pros and cons of the profession
Advantages of the profession

 
high level of salary;
Low competition in the professional field, since good head hunters are "one-off" specialists. 

Disadvantages of the profession

the search for the right people in competing companies, ways to establish the first contact with them and their study most often require immoral methods (practically, espionage);
the risk of the candidate's refusal to move to another job, and, consequently, the loss of fees.
Place of work
recruiting agencies;
companies and agencies specializing in head-hunting;
private practice.

Personal qualities
Communication;
entrepreneurial thinking;
inclination to adventurism;
resourcefulness;
sense of humor;
love for spy games;
acting skills;
personal charm and the ability to win over the interlocutor;
eloquence and persuasion.
Important and necessary professional skills:
knowledge of the basics of business;
mastery of the method of targeted search;
knowledge of psychology, including business psychology;
ability to navigate the intricacies of doing business;
availability of its own database of candidates.

Career
The main career steps in the profession of a head-hunter are a consultant and a partner. Further career growth is not due to the title of the position, but to work experience and salary level. For a successful career as a head hunter, it is not necessary to start a career in recruiting companies or recruitment agencies, although in essence head hunters are the same as recruiters. But in mass recruiting, there are completely different principles of finding candidates and working with them. For the work of a head-hunter, knowledge of the basics of business is much more important. Therefore, as a rule, former managers and heads of companies who are perfectly versed in the business of a particular industry become successful head hunters.

The salary of a headhunter working for a company consists of a high salary and a percentage of the annual income of the candidate found. If we take into account that the CEOs of the largest companies have an income of $300-500 thousand per year, then 20-30% of this amount goes to the company's income. 10-20% of this income is received by the head hunter, who was directly involved in this candidate. Head-hunting companies regularly pay quarterly and annual bonuses. The minimum income of a head-hunter is $5-6 thousand per month. In complex cases, several people can work on one candidate, then the percentage is divided among several employees of the company. The income of a head hunter engaged in private practice consists of a percentage of the candidate's annual income in the event of a successful transaction, minus related costs that are inevitable at all stages of work.