Contacting Head hunters directly

Headhunters do respond to people contacting them directly, it just needs to be done in a targeted way

You can find a list of headhunters in the industry bible – The Executive Grapevine At almost 300 UK pounds it’s not cheap, but it is available at libraries.

A much more targeted (i.e. effective) way of finding relevant headhunters is to speak with people who work in the same industry as you.

Make sure the headhunter does actually cover your particular skills area. If you’re a CEO of a tech company sending your details onto a headhunter which specialises in banking you are likely to be wasting both yours and the headhunter’s time

Find the right person to send the CV. Avoid sending emails to ‘generic’ email addresses such as [email protected]  [email protected] etc. You can often source the name of the consultant off the headhunter’s website. Also many headhunters maintain personal websites on social networking sites like LinkedIn

If the headhunter has a website where you can register your details, do go ahead and do it, but don’t let that stop you contacting a specific name

Don’t be afraid to follow up your submission with a phone call. This can be a good way to get feedback on your CV. Don’t be afraid to follow up with a reminder a number of months later. In both cases be very, very careful to position this so that you don’t over keen.

When contacting headhunters avoid presumptive statements like ‘I will contact you to arrange a meeting’ or similar. Good candidates are a headhunter’s life-blood – if you have found the right person to send your details through to and your skills are right you will be contacted.

Finally if you know someone who works in a similar capacity to you and who has worked with a headhunter, get a referral from that person into the headhunter.