FAO Dodgy and other agents here...

[realityhack]

Is there any real difference between an agent and a headhunter? Is headhunter not just a posh term for agent?

Should the approach be any different in dealing with either in respect to hearing about/being submitted for/interviewing for roles?

RH

[EternalOptimist]

Well head hunters get you by the head, and squeeze it till its small and put it outside their hut.
Agents go straight for the goolies

[RichardCranium]

I feel a "She was only the headhunter's daughter but..." thread coming on.

[Mich the Tester]

headhunter


Agent


Either way, this chap might be available and his skills might come in handy.

[TheFaQQer]

Is there any real difference between an agent and a headhunter? Is headhunter not just a posh term for agent?

No doubt someone as elitist as DA will have a well thought out definition of the two terms.

[Mich the Tester]

Is a headhunter someone who makes a tulipload of money by placing one very highly paid person per week, while an agent makes a tulipload of money by placing one moderately paid minion per day?

[Pondlife]

Head Hunter is a term used to describe themselves by people who want to big up their role at kelly services.

HTH

[cojak]

Is there any real difference between an agent and a headhunter? Is headhunter not just a posh term for agent?

Should the approach be any different in dealing with either in respect to hearing about/being submitted for/interviewing for roles?

RH

Why RH?

Has someone 'been in touch'?

[pzz76077]

Head hunters are folk who go out and persuade you to leave your current role and work for their client.

Agents are the general dogs bodies of the recruitment and do whatever comes along, generally less strategic than head hunters.

PZZ

[DodgyAgent]

Head Hunter is a term used to describe themselves by people who want to big up their role at kelly services.

HTH

A headhunter works only on a specific assignment entirely on behalf of the client.

An agent/contingency agent works for both the candidate (finds him a job) and the client.

The headhunter is always paid a retainer "up front" an agent isnt paid (unless running an advert -which is called "selection") until the candidate either signs the contract of employment or his/her bum is fixed to the seat.

Headhunters are supposed to explore the finite ends of an entire skills market which is done by "mapping" the structures of competitor employers and then taking the job opportunities directly and personally to the most suitable candidate (the identification of which is quite a skilled job)

Contingency agents deal only with candidates that are active in the job markets and therefore never know how a candidate compares with the remainder of the market.

A lot of contingency agents and candidates like to think that they have either headhunted or been headhunted simply because they have been approached "out of the blue". However usually this is because a name has been given to an agent in order to get rid of an unwanted colleague/employee.

There is indeed a fundamental difference between the two.