The Important Differences Between Headhunters, Recruiters And Hiring Managers

Recruiters, headhunters and hiring managers all play similar but ultimately different roles in the recruiting process, and it's crucial to you as a job seeker to understand what these differences are.

What does a recruiter do?

A recruiter can work for the business or be hired by the company to help fill the position. In the case of the later, they will identify themselves as working for a headhunting or recruitment agency. The recruiter will team up with the hiring manager to define the job’s requirements and understand their ideal candidate. Dave Nerz, President of NPAworldwide, a recruiting network, described the external recruiter’s role bluntly: “Recruiters are really commissioned salespeople. You are the product.”

Sometimes a recruiter will work as a full-time in-house employee. While recruiters can work for third party agencies on behalf of corporate clients — managed in turn, by other internal, in-house recruiting employees. This means that they typically know more about the job role, corporate culture and certainly are more likely to know the actual hiring manager for the open role, itself. An external recruiter may work on commission, and be paid a certain portion of their fee in the form of a retainer with the bulk of their incentives aligned with actually bringing forward to their client a job-seeker who ultimately lands the job and fills the position.

How should you work with a recruiter?

1. Take the recruiter’s initial call. You can say no, but if you don’t take the call, you will never know what opportunity is available.
2. Don’t waste the recruiter’s time. If the job is not a fit, say why and move on.
3. Be honest. Candidates expect this of recruiters, and good ones are truthful. Don’t use a recruiter to get a better offer that you will turn down. 
4. Prepare a good resume/CV. Your resume should be reasonably current, accurate and easy to read.
5. Treat a call with a recruiter like a job interview. Because it is a job interview.
6. Be prepared. Do your homework and learn about the company. Prepare ahead for common questions and have answers that tell the interviewer the situation, the action you took and the results you delivered.
7. Be realistic. About all of it — your salary, next job title and responsibility requirements. If you’re unrealistic in what you say you’re seeking, the recruiter could legitimately question your judgment.

What does a headhunter do?

The term headhunter sounds severe, and they are bounty-hunters to some extent. While the term 'headhunter' and recruiter is somewhat semantic, someone who describes their job as a headhunter is by definition not someone who works for the company that is hiring for the open position. Instead, that job title or self-description implies the person works as a third-party agent on behalf of their client who is the hiring employer.

Employers generally pay headhunters fee based on the percentage of the salary for the position they are filling, and usually, headhunters only receive the commission if and when they successfully fill it. 

How should you work with a headhunter?

What does a hiring manager do?

Unlike a headhunter or recruiter, a hiring manager is a person at the company with a vacancy on their team. They are the closest person to who the job seeker will work with on a daily basis, but unlike a corporate recruiter or executive recruiter, recruitment is only one of their many duties and responsibilities. They are probably not taking the first pass at reviewing resumes, but they probably did take the first pass (or at least edit) the job description, with the help of the human resource department.

How should you work with a hiring manager?

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