A headhunter is an executive recruiter paid by an employer to fill a role, so a candidate cannot hire one. A reverse recruiter, sometimes called a reverse headhunter, is hired and paid by you to run your search, including presenting you to headhunters.
What a headhunter is
"Headhunter" is the informal name for an executive recruiter: someone who finds senior people for a hiring company, usually by approaching those who are not looking. There are two kinds, and both work for the employer.
A retained headhunter is paid an exclusive fee by the employer, usually in instalments, to fill one senior role from a defined brief. The fee is owed whatever the outcome.
A contingent recruiter is paid only if a candidate they introduce is hired, normally as a percentage of that person's first-year salary.
The handbook's general comparison, reverse recruiter vs recruiter, covers employer-side recruiters as a whole. This page deals with the executive search end of that market.
Why you cannot hire a headhunter
A headhunter's client is always the company. The company defines the brief, pays the fee and is owed the headhunter's loyalty. You are a candidate in the process, and if you fit the brief you will hear from them.
Offering to pay does not change this. A headhunter cannot represent you to companies that have not engaged them, and one who took a candidate's money while running a search for an employer would be serving two sides of the same decision.
What you can do is make yourself easy to find. Headhunters and their researchers search by title, company, location and keywords, so a clear, current profile matters. The glossary entries on recruiter search and LinkedIn positioning explain how that works. Being findable is useful. It is not the same as having a search under way.
What "reverse headhunter" means
"Reverse headhunter" is another name people use for a reverse recruiter, and "reverse headhunting" is another name for Reverse Recruiting. You will also see "reverse executive recruiter". They describe the same arrangement: the methods of executive search, with the candidate as the client. There is no separate profession behind the labels, and the page on what Reverse Recruiting means covers the variants.
None of these labels is protected, so test what is delivered and not what it is called. The question that settles it is who makes the approaches, and in whose name.
Retained, contingent and reverse compared
| Retained headhunter | Contingent recruiter | Reverse recruiter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Client | The employer | The employer | You |
| Paid by | The employer | The employer | You |
| How the fee works | An exclusive fee, usually in instalments, whatever the outcome | Paid only on a hire, normally a percentage of first-year salary | A flat fee agreed in writing |
| Starts from | One role and a defined brief | The open roles on their desk | Your target: role, level, sector and location |
| Who is approached | Potential candidates, including people who are not looking | Candidates likely to be hired quickly | Decision-makers and recruiters, in your name |
| Can you hire them | No | No | Yes |
| What you receive | A place in one process, if you fit the brief | An introduction to an open role, if you fit | A managed search with a weekly written report |
| Work ends when | The role is filled | The role is filled or withdrawn | You accept a position or end the engagement |
On the reverse recruiter's fee, the rule of the National Reverse Recruiter Association (NRRA) is that it is never a percentage of your salary, and nothing is due when you accept a position. The percentage model belongs to the employer's side, where the company pays it.
How a reverse recruiter works with headhunters
A reverse recruiter does not replace headhunters. Part of the job is reaching them properly.
Under the NRRA Standard Process, the market mapping phase includes a recruiter map: the retained and contingency recruiters who place your function and level. In the campaign phase you are presented to those recruiters, positioned for the searches they are running now and the ones they will run later. The full sequence is on How Reverse Recruiting works.
This helps the headhunter as well as you. A relevant senior candidate, clearly presented and matched to the kind of brief the firm handles, is useful to them. An unsolicited résumé sent to every search firm at once is not.
Two limits apply. A headhunter will act only when a brief fits, so this channel moves on the headhunter's timetable and runs alongside direct approaches to decision-makers. And when you are employed, the presentation has to be controlled so that your name does not travel further than you agreed, as the page on confidential searches while employed explains.
Why former headhunters often become reverse recruiters
The skills are the same: mapping a market, identifying the person who decides, writing an approach that gets read, and managing a process to a close. Someone who has built shortlists for employers knows how to get a candidate onto one.
A disclosure belongs here. This handbook is published by the NRRA and edited by Arno Markus, a former executive recruiter and the association's Founding President. Recruiting experience is not a requirement for the role, but it is worth asking about, and the page on what a reverse recruiter does shows why.
Which one you need
It is not a choice between the two, because only one of them can be chosen. Headhunters select you. You select a reverse recruiter.
If you are content to wait for the right call, keep your profile sharp and your relationships with search firms warm. If you want an active search across the companies you would choose, someone has to run it: you, or a reverse recruiter acting for you. The criteria are on the page about how to choose a reverse recruiter.
What to ask a provider
- Have you worked as a retained or contingent recruiter, and at what level?
- Will you map the search firms that place my function and level, and can I see the map?
- How will you present me to those firms, and will I approve the message first?
- Do you also accept employer-paid work, and how would you tell me about a conflict?
- Is the fee flat, never a percentage of my salary, with nothing due when I accept a position?
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I hire a headhunter to find me a job?
No. A headhunter is engaged by an employer, paid by that employer, and can only consider you for the roles they have been asked to fill. Their client is always the company. If you want a professional to run a search on your behalf, the service is Reverse Recruiting, and part of that work is presenting you to the headhunters who place at your level.
What is a reverse headhunter?
A reverse headhunter is a reverse recruiter under another name: a practitioner hired and paid by the job seeker to run a search for them, using the methods a headhunter uses for employers. Reverse headhunting and Reverse Recruiting mean the same thing. Because the labels are not protected, check that the provider makes approaches in your name and shows you the pipeline.
Do headhunters mind being approached by a reverse recruiter?
Not when it is done properly. Search firms deal with advisers, referrers and intermediaries routinely, and a relevant candidate presented clearly for the kind of brief they handle is useful to them. What they dislike is volume without relevance. Ask a provider how it selects which firms to approach and whether you will see and approve what is sent.
Should I still speak to headhunters myself?
Yes. Take their calls, respond quickly and stay in touch with the ones who know your sector, because those relationships outlast any single search. Tell your reverse recruiter who you already know, so that contacts are not duplicated and existing relationships are handled by you.
Related: Reverse Recruiter vs Job Application Service · Reverse Recruiting vs Outplacement · Can You Pay Someone to Find You a Job? · Is Reverse Recruiting Worth It? · How to Become a Reverse Recruiter · Glossary
Editor. Former executive recruiter, Founding President of the National Reverse Recruiter Association, creator of the Reverse Recruitment Method™, Founder & CEO of iCareerSolutions. About the editor · Editorial policy