# Anybody know a good "headhunter" website? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 24, 2007, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-a-good-headhunter-website/389262 "2007-01-24T16:48:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Abbagail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@Abbagail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbagail)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-a-good-headhunter-website/389262/1 "2007-01-24T16:48:38Z")
I’m looking for a reliable, paid if necessary, employment website that does more than just resume distributions. Has anybody had good results with any in particular? Thanks in advance, Abbagail ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-a-good-headhunter-website/389262/2 "2007-01-24T17:24:59Z")
Sounds like you’re looking for a recruiter. They tend to specialize in one field, so you’ll have to do a little searching to find one who can help you. To the best of my knowledge, no reputable recruiter will charge you for their services, so keep an eye out for anyone who does. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-a-good-headhunter-website/389262/3 "2007-01-24T23:48:35Z")
Since the OP probably doesn’t have a single factual answer, let’s try IMHO. **samclem** GQ moderator ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-a-good-headhunter-website/389262/4 "2007-01-25T08:05:44Z")
What kind of field, what location. I know several good ones for IT jobs in Europe, but they won’t do you much good if you’re an economist in Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Lars\_Aruns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Lars\_Aruns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lars_Aruns)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-a-good-headhunter-website/389262/5 "2007-01-25T10:08:00Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] What kind of field, what location. I know several good ones for IT jobs in Europe, but they won’t do you much good if you’re an economist in Australia. [/QUOTE] Would you care to post some of them, please, or let me know privately if you think that’s off topic here? I am looking for an IT job here in the UK, but I might have been unlucky in my search for decent recruiters. ---
**Author:** ![tirial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@tirial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tirial)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-a-good-headhunter-website/389262/6 "2007-01-25T10:43:11Z")
> [@](#): > > I am looking for an IT job here in the UK, but I might have been unlucky in my search for decent recruiters. Sorry if this is off topic. I know a few good ones in the UK, but it depends what you are looking for. Apologies in advance if you have already tried these. Contract work, you might want to consider looking at [contractoruk.com](http://contractoruk.com) or the PCG ([pcg.org.uk](http://pcg.org.uk)) For permanent roles you might be able to find some good agencies or recruiters advertising jobs on [jobsite.co.uk](http://jobsite.co.uk) and [jobserve.com](http://jobserve.com) (be careful of jobserve - some recruiters post non-existant jobs to harvest CVS.) Unfortunately most of the recruiters I know tend to contact you when they have a vacancy, rather than headhunt on your behalf, but if you contact me privately I can pass some details on. ---
**Author:** ![Lars\_Aruns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Lars\_Aruns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lars_Aruns)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-a-good-headhunter-website/389262/7 "2007-01-25T11:47:38Z")
[QUOTE=tirial] Unfortunately most of the recruiters I know tend to contact you when they have a vacancy, rather than headhunt on your behalf, but if you contact me privately I can pass some details on. [/QUOTE] You have an email, **tirial**. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-a-good-headhunter-website/389262/8 "2007-01-25T12:15:08Z")
**Lars** , you’ve got mail. ---
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-a-good-headhunter-website/389262/9 "2007-01-25T16:23:47Z")
Where you’re located makes a huge difference, as does the type of position you’re seeking, etc. In general, however, “headhunters” don’t find jobs for people, they find people for jobs (hence the name). They’re paid by the company to find and screen potential candidates for specific positions. If they think you’re the right person for a position they’ve been hired to fill, they can be your best friend. If they don’t have an active listing you’re a good fit for, their interest in you is limited to being a name in their database who might be able to provide a referral to someone who is a fit for their current listings. The best overview of the way headhunting works that I’m familiar with is still Nick Corcodilos’ [Ask the Headhunter](http://www.asktheheadhunter.com) site. Some of the material is a bit dated in that it dates back to, and to some extent reflects the job market of, the boom-time 1990s, but in general his descriptions of what’s wrong with the way companies fill jobs and people search for them, his explanation of how the headhunting business works, and advice on how you can effectively take charge of the job-hunting process are still valuable. Most of the companies I’m familiar with these days use one or more of the big names in the market to post positions: Monster, HotJobs, Yahoo!, etc. [DICE.com](http://DICE.com) sees a lot of action in the tech industry. But none of these sites are ultimately much more than a place for employers to post openings and candidates to post resumes. Lots of companies fill jobs this way. Ask anyone who’s been to a goat rodeo before, however, and they’ll tell you that the best jobs come through networking. You can certainly do that on your own, without any online help. But business-oriented social networking sites like [LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com) can be very useful in this. For example, when I decided to change jobs last year, I started looking through the listings posted on LinkedIn carefully, and made note of who I knew that knew someone at companies I wanted to work for. Within a week of starting, I noticed a listing from a local headhunter who was a connection of one of my connections, so I contacted the headhunter through a referral from my connection to him. That led quickly to a round of very successful interviews and an outstanding job offer. I ultimately decided to accept a different offer, made directly by a former colleague, from a company that I felt was in a much stronger position in its market. But I was operating from a position of strength in that I had two offers on the table, either of which would have been excellent opportunities, and one of them I wouldn’t have had without the connections made through LinkedIn.