“ALL HEAD HUNTING IS RECRUITMENT BUT, ALL RECRUITMENT IS NOT HEAD HUNTING”

 

WHAT IS 'HEAD HUNTING'?

Every organization wants to hire 'the best' employee for their workplace. But finding the best employee is not that easy. What they could do is to find and screen from the top performers of the market. Recruitment is a continuous process and finding the best employee for the job is not easy. 'Head hunting' is a process of recruitment of a prospective employee, who is working in other organization and who has a relevant work experience for a particular job profile. Head hunting is carried out by the HR of a company or is outsourced to an agency or job consultant. Head hunting is one of the most effective methods for sourcing & getting candidates for top positions, who might not necessarily look for a job change (MBA Skul Team, 2006).

Every organization look for the best candidate with a good amount of experience and professional competency to be chosen for their job vacancies. They may not be able to post their each and every vacancy directly due to maintain the confidentiality. That is to filter the 'best' among the market. We can see head hunting works on a certain time frame to find specially the executives or top management as and when the organization needed.

 

ORGANIZATIONS DO HEAD HUNTING WHEN,

• Certain position / designations lying vacant and nobody interesting applied,
• When they are looking for certain niche skills (competencies) and don’t want to waste their time placing advertisements where unworthy candidates would apply for,
• When a certain position is rather confidential and they don’t want to list it publicly on the market. Example, certain strategic roles, position that requires making tactical decisions. (MBA Skul Team, 2006).

TYPES OF HEAD HUNTING- 

1. Direct: It is a method of calling the candidates directly, either by calling on his / her number, or else meeting them at their homes or at their office. This is done after entire research has been done upon that person, and the role he is being hired for.

2. Indirect: Leaving a reference for the person to be headhunted, so that he may contact, in case he is willing.

3. Third Party: The process of headhunting is outsourced and when a company need to recruit a candidate, contact a head hunting agency or a head hunter, to find the best selection. 

EXAMPLES FOR HEAD HUNTING-

We can specially see head hunting in financial institutions in Sri Lanka. When an employee, specially an executive of one organization performs better than the other organizations in the area, they need to recruit that person to their own organization and they believe that, the person will perform as same as he did in his own organization. Therefore, they offer more benefits, salary package + allowances with a higher position (promotion) and recruit to their company. Nowadays, 'Linkedln' is also one of the most common way of head hunting. Employees of various organizations can make their own profile with their qualifications / experiences and once an organization wants to hire a candidate, they can choose the best among the market.

DISADVANTAGES OF HEAD HUNTING-

According to Penny Haw (2011) there are advantages as well as disadvantages of Head Hunting. It is clearly understood that an organization can choose the best candidate with rare skills which are currently not available in the organization. Krishna Reddy says, "Mistakes are bound to happen, but recruitment is one such sector where mistakes are not at all acceptable". However, there are some disadvantages too. Some of them are,

• Headhunting involves individuals who are not necessarily looking to change jobs, there is usually a premium to be paid for this talent. Employers are likely to pay more for these candidates than they would for people recruited through traditional methods
• New talent is attracted only by the promise of greater financial gains and does not give enough consideration to other employment needs.
• There is always a risk that new employee move to another organization a couple of months later. Sometimes, the new employee simply biding his time until the next offer comes to him. 
• Create workplace tension. In some cases, employees feel resentful towards ‘headhunted’ individuals, because of their premium earnings and the fact that they are often – particularly in the early stages of employment – treated as “special”.

CONCLUSION-

Organizations can gain success with head hunting only when use it properly and efficiently. Making each target feel that the organization offers them a wonderful and appropriate opportunity is the way to succeed. Wrong hires can cost the organization a lot not only in terms of money, training but also time.

references-

Krishna Reddy, Headhunting Tips and Techniques for effective recruitment

https://content.wisestep.com/headhunting-tips-techniques/

MBA Skool Team, 2016, Head hunting 

https://www.mbaskool.com/business-concepts/human-resources-hr-terms/16843-head-hunting.html

Penny Haw, 2011 ,Pros and Cons of Head Hunting.

https://pennyhaw.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/the-pros-and-cons-of-headhunting-employees/