Q: I am a senior at a college in Mobile, Ala. I am a journalism major and I am currently pursuing a broadcast major and, like most seniors in this job market, I am struggling.
My mom has been looking into hiring a headhunter. I have asked professors and a few reporters I know in town and some think it is a terrible idea and others think its a great idea. I am now unsure if hiring a headhunter is a good idea or a total waste of money and also don’t know where to begin to find one in such a small town.
Need Help
A: Headhunters traditionally hunt heads — talent — for companies that want help filling positions. You may be looking for an agent. Let me explain the difference.
Headhunters can work to find candidates for a specific position or they can call around, just to see who is looking and then trying to line up a job for them.
Headhunters may be on retainer or they may get paid a rate based on what the company pays the new hire.
This can be expensive, so headhunters tend to be used when it is difficult to find just the right person or when there is a big hurry. When I was a full-time recruiter, a headhunter called to offer up someone. We did not need such a person and the rate the headhunter would have charged made his involvement in this person’s job search be a negative. I easily could have found such a person at no extra charge. But few newsrooms have full-time recruiters anymore.
An attorney I know gets frequent calls from headhunters, all encouraging him to leave his firm and go with one they are working for. Whether they have genuine openings is anyone’s guess.
In your case, a college student looking for an entry-level job, not many companies would use a headhunter. Further, as there are a lot of candidates out there, a company might not want to use a headhunter’s services when it can find people just by posting an ad.
You need something more like an agent — someone who works for you and who you pay — but there are problems with that, too. Agents and talent tend not to match up until later in careers, when the talent can afford to pay more and the agent has a more experienced candidate to offer.
Although I like your mom’s creative thinking, the kinds of jobs you most likely will get right now probably require a direct approach by you, and not a third party’s involvement.
So, as you are having trouble, I would look farther, smaller and in more industries. You might be able to find someone to perform a one-time critique of your resume, cover letter and interviewing style and strategy, but it is too early in your career to take on a hired gun to help you get a job.