Headhunters, Recruiters and Temp Staffing Agencies: How Are They Different?

If you are like the millions of Americans who have lost their job due to the pandemic, recruiters, headhunters, and temporary agencies can be great resources for your job search. Many people use the terms headhunter and job recruiter interchangeably, but there are actually some subtle distinctions between the two. Learning about these differences can help you on your job hunt.

In addition, temporary staffing agencies can help you find a job. Continue reading below to learn more about these three types of job resources, how they can help you and how they differ from one another.

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What Is A Headhunter?
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If you are like me then you probably thought that “headhunter” was just an old fashioned word for recruiter but, that is not the case. Headhunter is still the correct term for someone who helps find job candidates to fill open positions for their clients. While both headhunters and recruiters help place people in jobs, they are not the same position. 

A headhunter is usually a third-party role, meaning that they work to fill open job positions on behalf of a headhunter staffing business. Headhunters are not employed by the actual company that has the open job. 

A headhunter generally works for a headhunter agency whose sole purpose is to find candidates to fill employment positions at outside companies.

You can think of a headhunter’s responsibilities as similar to that of a talent agency. They search and screen potential candidates for jobs but they do not make the final decision on whether that candidate actually gets the job. Instead, they refer candidates to the hiring companies who then will conduct interviews and decide whether that person gets hired. 

One of the major distinctions between headhunters and recruiters is that a  job recruiter often works internally within a company’s HR department and as a result, they may have an actual say in whether someone is hired. A headhunter does not have any say in whether a candidate is actually placed in a position.

A headhunter’s payment often depends on whether their referrals actually get hired. Once a headhunter successfully places a job candidate, the company who hired the candidate usually pays the headhunter a fixed fee or a percentage of the hired candidate’s salary for the first few months or initial year that they are employed.

Learn more about what a recruitment officer does.

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