Agencies vary greatly in the training given their employees, the contacts they have, and how much they can do for you as an executive job hunter. Even within a single agency, the capabilities of individual head-hunters will vary. Therefore, it is important to check out an agency and its employees thoroughly. An inept headhunter not only will waste your time but may make serious mistakes that hurt your campaign.
You can check out an agency by calling your local Better Business Bureau and asking if any complaints have been registered against the agency. You can also ask friends and members of professional organizations to recommend agencies in your area. Finally, you can simply call the agency and speak with the specialist in your functional area or industry. Ask how the specialist works and get an idea about his honesty and representation of your interests to the agency's clients.
Why You Shouldn't Reveal Your References Immediately
Most of the agencies and search firms you contact will ask for references. Again, you should not reveal references until mutual interest with a PE has been established. Even someone you consider a solid reference will be bothered by repeated calls. Explain to the headhunter that you have excellent senior references and are willing to make them available. However, you do not want your references bothered until you and your PE have expressed interest in each other. This will guard against your references becoming lukewarm by the time you really need them.
Headhunters are likely to be more insistent than PEs about receiving references immediately. Do what you can to withstand the pressure. Many headhunters will respect your wishes. If they insist on the information before proceeding, try to find out if a definite position exists. Get the headhunter's assurance that your references won't be called until you agree. If you have any doubt about working with a headhunter, don't give out your references.
How to Handle an Interview with an Agency
There is a crucial piece of information about headhunters that most executive job hunters overlook. You must find out whether the headhunter intends to work with you. Remember that many headhunters are paid only on a contingency basis. They do not have time to see most candidates more than briefly and to put their resumes on file. It is your job to convince the headhunter that you are a highly marketable commodity with a high probability of placement Find out if the headhunter considers you in this category. Some headhunters will come right out and say that you have little chance of being placed with their clients. Do not be discouraged by this information: remember, the headhunter's criteria for placement are not the same as yours. But don't waste more time with a headhunter if you come up against a dead end. If the headhunter does not volunteer the information, ask him directly about your chances of being placed.
Obviously, it is in your interest to convince the headhunter that you have a good chance of getting an offer from one of his clients. The same techniques you use with a PE are applicable here. If you are successful in convincing the headhunter that you can be placed rapidly, he will line up interviews for you. If not, your resume will be buried in a file and you may never hear from the headhunter again.
To succeed in an agency interview, you must impress the headhunter with your interviewing ability. Let the interviewer know that you are eager to find a job and are prepared to act quickly to accept the right position. Do not volunteer the information that you are working with other agencies or that you are conducting your own job campaign.
If you are asked how long it will take you to move from your present job to a new one, do not give an excessively long period. Three weeks is about maximum. If you are asked where you think you will be six months from now, the only acceptable answer-if you are serious and confident about getting a new job-is in your new job.
If the interview does not go well and the interviewer seems uninterested, find out why. In general, headhunters are less reluctant than PEs to tell you what's wrong. Therefore, ask the interviewer directly: "You seem to feel that I do not have much chance of getting an offer from one of your clients. Can you tell me why you feel this way?"
What You Should Not Do When Dealing with Agencies
Do not let any agency scatter your resume over the countryside, sending it to "hundreds of companies." Although this may seem like a great idea, it can hurt your job campaign. Widespread distribution of your resume will work against your precise, on-target sales letter campaign by providing PEs with general rather than specific information about you. The information could even appear to be conflicting. Further, an unsolicited resume from an employment agency can devalue your worth to PEs. Many a well-qualified candidate sent out by a headhunter has been rejected by a client because the client had received resumes on the candidate from several different agencies.
If you are currently employed, it is obviously dangerous to let an agency send your resume to firms you do not know. Finally, remember that you are conducting your own job campaign. Even though you use headhunters as part of this effort, you must retain control over the situation. You should have final say on what firms are contacted in your behalf.
Some agencies will ask you to provide a list of companies that you have already contacted. I recommend that you do so only if you have already interviewed with a company and did not receive a job offer. Some unscrupulous headhunters will, without your knowledge or permission, use such a list to solicit job orders; they may even submit other candidates to companies that you are negotiating with. For this reason, you should give the headhunter only the names of companies you are no longer interested in. Also, do not tell the headhunter that you are currently negotiating with any company. Generally, if you have contacted or are contacting PEs on your own, you will not be attractive to the agency headhunter, who gets paid only if he places you.
