As a Human Resource professional, I often get the question from job seekers: Should I work with a head hunting firm to land the job of my dreams? As with many questions, the answer is: "It depends".

If you are a recent graduate, looking to land a competitive job, the head hunting firms may not be the best option. This is because the good headhunting firms typically work with hundreds or thousands of candidates. As a less experienced candidate you will be at a disadvantage. The odds are more in your favor, when you choose a top rated local job site. The head hunting companies typically turn to the job sites in order to increase their pool of qualified candidates and are often the largest clients of the career sites.

Why use a headhunting firm in the first place? Let's face it. The head hunting, or executive search firms are paid by well heeled client companies looking to find highly qualified people for specific openings. Typically the hiring companies use more traditional routes such as career sites?to find the bulk of the candidates. For specialized candidate searches, however, they want to outsource part of the hiring and screening process to executive search firms.

The well run headhunter firms, such as Korea Headhunter , follow a well defined process in order to ensure efficiency and results. The process typically includes a questionnaire for the employer to efficiently select the appropriate candidates. The head hunter firms, on approval of the hiring firm, conduct a prequalification interview. Ideally, the candidates have already been screen for qualifications and personality.

The short listed clients from such a process are then passed off to the client firms for a direct interview. Once the employer determines the suitability of the employee, and there is mutual agreement between the candidates as well as the client of the headhunter, the headhunter normally gets compensated for the services rendered.

These head hunting firms add further value by nurturing relationships with the qualified and difficult to find executives. Often, these relationships span months and years and they are maintained, even after the executive has been placed.

Headhunting Process


Meeting with a client

If you request the service by telephone, a site form, e-mail, visiting and so on, we will define motive, environment, background, targets and strategies of your job offer in advance, adjust required capability and skill, age, job career in the corresponding field, academic career, personal quality and so on, then determine the service fee and enter into an agreement. The service fee can be negotiated after counseling with the person in charge depending on the number of persons to be employed and the difficulty level of search for each case.

Analysis and preparation of a preliminary candidates list

We analyze the same or similar industry conforming to the details and the definition of a requested job offer and then prepare a preliminary list including candidates 30 times the required number of persons. 　

Preparation of a primarily recommended candidates list

We analyze and compare the preliminary list of step 2 with the job specification to remove elements of conflict between a client and an employed person in advance, and prepare the primary long list.

Interview with candidates

We meet candidates of the primary long list, check their intention of job switch and the level of motive and interest, and then explain the corresponding job offer background of the client, business purpose and the job description of the position.

Qualification screening and personality screening

We generally evaluate the candidate with the intention of job switch for material and immaterial elements such as job capability, quality, management style, reliability, business performance, reputation by customers, human relationship, view of values, possessed skill, knowledge, language skills and so on. For objective and fair evaluation, a decision is made by several specialists including consultants, advisors and counselors in the corresponding field. The name and detailed information of the client is not disclosed to the recommended candidate before the candidate is determined as a final candidate.

The short list is recommended to the client

After objective and fair evaluation the short list is delivered to the client.

Client interview

This is a step of an intensive interview to confirm the candidate’s capability, quality, the level of interest, attitudes and the like by the chief of personnel department. In some cases, a consultant may participate in the interview as a negotiator or the candidate may have the interview alone.

Determination of employment

In this step, employment conditions by the candidate are proposed and we serve as an advisor for positive employment conditions. This step is for oral agreement. 　

This is the step for both parties to agree on matters such as employment conditions

This is the step for both parties to agree on matters such as employment conditions, annual salary, stock options, incentive, welfare, date of starting work, position and so on, and a consultant may serve as an advisor. This is also the step to verify the reputation in the industry, honesty, human relationship with higher or lower position members in his or her company, reasons of job switch, and human cliques of the final candidate. The evaluation results of the candidate are frankly notified to the client by the consultant in charge who is a third party. The consultant helps documents to be used as references for a fair agreement in preparing a final labor agreement and may sign as a witness. If required, the labor agreement may be replaced by the employment regulation of the employing company.

Follow Up

Even after employment is determined, we periodically manage the client and continuously provide advice and consulting so that the employed candidate can be well adapted to the new environment and exercise his or her best capability. 　

Our Address

Address:Rm.3304 Korea World Trade Center,159-1 Samseong-Dong,Gangnam-Gu,Seoul,Korea 135-729
Business Registration Number:120-86-44174 Topheadhunter, Inc. CEO: Man Shik Seo
Representative Phone: +82-2-555-7234 Fax: +82-2-561-1441 E-Mail: top@topheadhunter.co.kr

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