Head Hunting

[lucas_]

Hello everyone,

im in my final year in RMIT SIM Banking and Finance, currently working in a foreign bank doing ops. Upon having a slight gist of how the banking industry works, it seemed like the working hours are really long, like 8am-8pm. Secondly, it seemed like my personality does not suit those jobs that require you to sit down in the office all day long, typing and looking at the computer. I have been on the job for about 1 month plus, and it's pretty driving me crazy.

I have done 3 months of internship with a recruitment company, and i pretty much enjoyed myself during the time there. Quotas yes, but i was pretty much enjoying what i did, so i was doing quite okay as an intern there.

Right now, I'm entering my final year, and I'm thinking if its a feasible option to head over to headhunting firms as a headhunter, or probably to start off with an internship with a headhunting company to understand how it works.

Can any headhunters or anyone with experience in the headhunting field share with me their experience there? How's it like and is the environment a cut throat environment?

What are the difference between a headhunting firm, such as michael page, hays, robert walters as compared to kelly services, recruit express?

Originally Posted by lucas_

What are the difference between a headhunting firm, such as michael page, hays, robert walters as compared to kelly services, recruit express?

Wow your banking ops hours are sucky. I work in middle office and my hours are 9 - 5.30 and I hardly need to stay late

Difference between michael page, hays, robert walters and kelly services, recruit express etc is just the branding. The former ones are international (actually kelly services is international too) well known names while others like recruit express, GMP recruitment etc are local headhunting firms. Some of the bigger well known ones like kelly services handle mass market recruitment like temp jobs, contract jobs etc as well as more senior positions under their kelly selection segment.

Working as a headhunter is basically a sales job and you are selling people to the organizations. Usually you get assigned candidates on a round robin basis and the only throat cutting is from other headhunting firms where everyone vies to put their candidate into the position. Note: there really are ALOT of headhunting firms in Singapore.

Originally Posted by lucas_

Hello everyone,

im in my final year in RMIT SIM Banking and Finance, currently working in a foreign bank doing ops. Upon having a slight gist of how the banking industry works, it seemed like the working hours are really long, like 8am-8pm. Secondly, it seemed like my personality does not suit those jobs that require you to sit down in the office all day long, typing and looking at the computer. I have been on the job for about 1 month plus, and it's pretty driving me crazy.

I have done 3 months of internship with a recruitment company, and i pretty much enjoyed myself during the time there. Quotas yes, but i was pretty much enjoying what i did, so i was doing quite okay as an intern there.

Right now, I'm entering my final year, and I'm thinking if its a feasible option to head over to headhunting firms as a headhunter, or probably to start off with an internship with a headhunting company to understand how it works.

Can any headhunters or anyone with experience in the headhunting field share with me their experience there? How's it like and is the environment a cut throat environment?

What are the difference between a headhunting firm, such as michael page, hays, robert walters as compared to kelly services, recruit express?

I'm confused. Do you want to join headhunting firmsor recruitment agency? These 2 industries are different and you seem to be using them interchangeably.

If you are talking about recruitment agencies like michael page, hays, robert walters, kelly services, recruit express etc. then there is not much difference. All these agencies operate on a drawdown plan with a bill sharing of 15-35% depending on your portfolio.

Agents hop around pretty much every few months to 2 years, so just try a few of them and see which one you like better.

If you are serious in joining headhunting, that will require much more work in social and professional networking in particular niches. Of course pay & prosepcts will be much higher, but it's a different ball game altogether.

Originally Posted by lucas_

Hello everyone,

im in my final year in RMIT SIM Banking and Finance, currently working in a foreign bank doing ops. Upon having a slight gist of how the banking industry works, it seemed like the working hours are really long, like 8am-8pm. Secondly, it seemed like my personality does not suit those jobs that require you to sit down in the office all day long, typing and looking at the computer. I have been on the job for about 1 month plus, and it's pretty driving me crazy.

I have done 3 months of internship with a recruitment company, and i pretty much enjoyed myself during the time there. Quotas yes, but i was pretty much enjoying what i did, so i was doing quite okay as an intern there.

Right now, I'm entering my final year, and I'm thinking if its a feasible option to head over to headhunting firms as a headhunter, or probably to start off with an internship with a headhunting company to understand how it works.

Can any headhunters or anyone with experience in the headhunting field share with me their experience there? How's it like and is the environment a cut throat environment?

What are the difference between a headhunting firm, such as michael page, hays, robert walters as compared to kelly services, recruit express?

I'm confused. Do you want to join headhunting firm or recruitment agency? These 2 industries are different and you seem to be using them interchangeably.

If you are talking about recruitment agencies like michael page, hays, robert walters, kelly services, recruit express etc. then there is not much difference. All these agencies operate on a drawdown plan with a bill sharing of 15-35% depending on your portfolio.

Agents hop around pretty much every few months to 2 years, so just try a few of them and see which one you like better.

If you are serious in joining headhunting, that will require much more work in social and professional networking in particular niches. Of course pay & prosepcts will be much higher, but it's a different ball game altogether.

Originally Posted by lucas_

im in my final year in RMIT SIM Banking and Finance, currently working in a foreign bank doing ops. Upon having a slight gist of how the banking industry works, it seemed like the working hours are really long, like 8am-8pm.

dude if you think just 8am-8pm is long hours, better go join the public sector. it is normal for a recrutier to do business development during normal office hours, conduct interview and meet candidates from 6-9pm and go back office to finish up admin until 11pm. if the client is not base in SG, sometimes need to do midnight calls.

if u just want office hr go home 6pm sharp, sales is the wrong place to go.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

dude if you think just 8am-8pm is long hours, better go join the public sector. it is normal for a recrutier to do business development during normal office hours, conduct interview and meet candidates from 6-9pm and go back office to finish up admin until 11pm. if the client is not base in SG, sometimes need to do midnight calls.

if u just want office hr go home 6pm sharp, sales is the wrong place to go.

Let me rephrase myself I think to do what I am doing or somewhat related to what I am doing now from 8 to 8 is abit too much. Im fine with ending my work late because I have to meet the candidates or clients till late. But I am definitely not OK with sitting in front of the computer the whole 12 hours or so.

Originally Posted by Max_99

I'm confused. Do you want to join headhunting firm or recruitment agency? These 2 industries are different and you seem to be using them interchangeably.

If you are talking about recruitment agencies like michael page, hays, robert walters, kelly services, recruit express etc. then there is not much difference. All these agencies operate on a drawdown plan with a bill sharing of 15-35% depending on your portfolio.

Agents hop around pretty much every few months to 2 years, so just try a few of them and see which one you like better.

If you are serious in joining headhunting, that will require much more work in social and professional networking in particular niches. Of course pay & prosepcts will be much higher, but it's a different ball game altogether.

Yes I am actually trying to find out the difference between a head hunting firm and a recruitment company. I understand that for recruitment firm you have to telemart to get clients but isn't it the same as headhunting firm? What I understand is that for headhunting, its more for mid entry or high end positions but for recruitment firms, it can be for temp and contract position.

Technically for both recruitment firm and headhunting, you co call for clients and look for candidate Just that the level is different? Correct me if I am wrong cause I am still quite fresh.

[lucas_]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Wow your banking ops hours are sucky. I work in middle office and my hours are 9 - 5.30 and I hardly need to stay late

Difference between michael page, hays, robert walters and kelly services, recruit express etc is just the branding. The former ones are international (actually kelly services is international too) well known names while others like recruit express, GMP recruitment etc are local headhunting firms. Some of the bigger well known ones like kelly services handle mass market recruitment like temp jobs, contract jobs etc as well as more senior positions under their kelly selection segment.

Working as a headhunter is basically a sales job and you are selling people to the organizations. Usually you get assigned candidates on a round robin basis and the only throat cutting is from other headhunting firms where everyone vies to put their candidate into the position. Note: there really are ALOT of headhunting firms in Singapore.

Yes understand that its a sales job. Basically have quotas and billings to hit also. Those perm staffs are quite hardcore here. I'm not too sure if they stayed past eight cause on several occasions I did, and they were still here! The next morning they are here earlier than me. But facing the computer for 12-14 hours everyday is not something I would look forward to.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Yes I am actually trying to find out the difference between a head hunting firm and a recruitment company. I understand that for recruitment firm you have to telemart to get clients but isn't it the same as headhunting firm? What I understand is that for headhunting, its more for mid entry or high end positions but for recruitment firms, it can be for temp and contract position.

Technically for both recruitment firm and headhunting, you co call for clients and look for candidate Just that the level is different? Correct me if I am wrong cause I am still quite fresh.

For those who are new to the industry, a bit of history is in order here.

In the past before the late 1990s, headhunter was a term used exclusively for niche specialists who are experts in recruitment of senior executives. These people build up their networks to get to know business leaders in various industries through trade functions, executive get together, social and country clubs as well as in their day to day business dealings. When an executive needs to be placed, they will actively contact their wide networks to meet up with a host of executives and put up a business case to try and convince them to consider a move, hence the term “hunters”. They generally know their client’s businesses, the candidate’s businesses and the industry they are in inside out.

During the late 1990s, some recruitment agencies started to falsely brand themselves as “headhunters”. Ever since then we have an endless parade of staffing agencies who go about selling themselves as headhunters, but their jobs and clientele remain largely the same, that of a staffing agent. Real headhunters do not do silly things like surfing linkedin, putting up job ads in various places, scrawling on job portals, calling up people like an operator, running mass market job fairs or meeting people at Starbucks for coffee.

Currently in Singapore the only real active headhunting firms of reasonable size are Henderick & Struggles, Korn Ferry, Egon Zender and Wills. They generally target C level executives with annual pay >500k although sometimes with clients they have a long standing relationship, they will help out at lower level positions as well.

You can see the difference between headhunting and recruitment agency somewhat analogous to that of Private Banking and Consumer Banking. The key difference lies in the sort of clients and the dynamics of selling.

If you are interested in developing a career in headhunting, much more needs to be done on your end then just depositing CVs. But if you are looking at normal staffing agents, they are a dime in a dozen and most operate on somewhat similar commission plans, just join one that meets your basic expectations and go on from there. The good thing about recruitment world is that turnover is so bad that nobody will treat your leaving in a few months as a black mark. Most of your colleagues have probably had a few stints in a few competitors in the past few years. It's a musical chair business.

shut up if u have no idea what the headhunting biz is abt.

Originally Posted by Max_99

For those who are new to the industry, a bit of history is in order here.

In the past before the late 1990s, headhunter was a term used exclusively for niche specialists who are experts in recruitment of senior executives. These people build up their networks to get to know business leaders in various industries through trade functions, executive get together, social and country clubs as well as in their day to day business dealings. When an executive needs to be placed, they will actively contact their wide networks to meet up with a host of executives and put up a business case to try and convince them to consider a move, hence the term “hunters”. They generally know their client’s businesses, the candidate’s businesses and the industry they are in inside out.

During the late 1990s, some recruitment agencies started to falsely brand themselves as “headhunters”. Ever since then we have an endless parade of staffing agencies who go about selling themselves as headhunters, but their jobs and clientele remain largely the same, that of a staffing agent. Real headhunters do not do silly things like surfing linkedin, putting up job ads in various places, scrawling on job portals, calling up people like an operator, running mass market job fairs or meeting people at Starbucks for coffee.

Currently in Singapore the only real active headhunting firms of reasonable size are Henderick & Struggles, Korn Ferry, Egon Zender and Wills. They generally target C level executives with annual pay >500k although sometimes with clients they have a long standing relationship, they will help out at lower level positions as well.

You can see the difference between headhunting and recruitment agency somewhat analogous to that of Private Banking and Consumer Banking. The key difference lies in the sort of clients and the dynamics of selling.

If you are interested in developing a career in headhunting, much more needs to be done on your end then just depositing CVs. But if you are looking at normal staffing agents, they are a dime in a dozen and most operate on somewhat similar commission plans, just join one that meets your basic expectations and go on from there. The good thing about recruitment world is that turnover is so bad that nobody will treat your leaving in a few months as a black mark. Most of your colleagues have probably had a few stints in a few competitors in the past few years. It's a musical chair business.