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comment by jadedog
jadedog  ·  2678 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Should I get a headhunter or what should I do about my career?

Caveat: I'm a stranger on the internet. Research everything I say before taking action and see if it works for you.

The answer to the question you asked is that it depends on what you mean by headhunter.

Here's what I would do.

I'd set up a new email account that's different than the one you're using. If you do this right, it could get flooded with stuff.

I'd go to Indeed.com (or another job search engine - there are a lot out there) and set the parameters to your area and the types of positions you're looking for. Based on your job descriptions, you've done some data collections, accounts payable, accounts receivable, worker's comp and insurance. You'll have to decide at some point which career path you want to go on, but at this point, you can just collect data on what's available. Put in general descriptions like accounting or insurance or data collections just to get a feel for the job titles, job descriptions and salaries. You can have job listings sent to the new email you just set up.

Places like Glass Door (to get a feel for the employee side of things) and LinkedIn (some good group discussions here) might be helpful as well.

Then ask yourself what career path you're interested in. The accounting path goes from where you are and can go to CFO or higher but you might need some education along the way, but maybe not until you're sure about the direction. The insurance path also has some growth but again you might need some education along the way. Indeed also has salary searches so you can see what people in the field in your area make. You'll also get a sense of the job titles and the duties and responsibilities of the person holding that job.

Then I would set up a free google phone number. This is a number you can give out to people and link to your phone if you choose. I wouldn't answer this number when I was working.

After you've gathered some information on some of the positions, then I'd look on a recruiter site like Robert Half. (roberthalf.com) Filter by your area and the positions you're looking for. Look at the recruiter who owns the lead. Look for the leads by that person. If that person has a lot of leads that look interesting to you, call the office that person works in and ask to speak to them.

If you like them, then you might want to interview in person. They should be able to give you assessment tests if you're interested. If you see any jobs available from the site you like, call your recruiter and see if he/she can get that job for you. If some other recruiter owns the job lead, it might be harder to get so choose your recruiter carefully.

You can go to several recruiters in your area. You can do a quick search for them based on your area, the field you're interested and the word 'recruiter' or 'temp. agency' or 'employment agency'. The downside is that some employers will drop you out of the list if more than one application comes in your name. You can try to make it clear that the agency may not apply without notifying you first, but that doesn't always work, so it's a risk.

Here's what I would NOT do.

I would not pay anyone to get me a job.

Recruiters work on commission from the company. Ask them to make sure. Headhunters are paid a fee of your salary when you get a job. I would not pay a headhunter. I would make very sure that anyone I'm talking with won't be getting any compensation from me at any time.

Good luck! I hope this helps.





byonic  ·  2677 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I think (or at least hope) that you're misunderstanding the headhunter fees. I'm not aware of any case where a headhunter will charge the candidate a fee, if you run into one who does that's a massive black flag and I'd avoid them like the plague.

While their commissions are generally based off of the candidate's starting salary, that's a fee paid by the company to the headhunter, and assuming no one's being shady, it will never come out of the salary itself. The way it's meant to work is that the commission is supposed to act as an incentive for the headhunter to negotiate for a higher starting salary for the candidate, and for the position to be filled faster for the hiring company. Of course, YMMV with how this applies in practice, as it depends on all of the parties involved.

The rest of your advice is solid! I just wanted to vouch for headhunters since I've had good experiences.

jadedog  ·  2677 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    I think (or at least hope) that you're misunderstanding the headhunter fees. I'm not aware of any case where a headhunter will charge the candidate a fee, if you run into one who does that's a massive black flag and I'd avoid them like the plague.

It's just a bit of nomenclature. I'm differentiating recruiters from headhunters.

Recruiters behave the way you describe, getting their commissions from the company. Headhunters charge a percentage of the candidate's salary.

Headhunters work at the executive level where jobs are mostly word of mouth. Some candidates are willing to pay them because finding leads can be really difficult at that level.

Most people don't have access to a headhunter because they're not at that level, so I probably didn't need to make the distinction. I just wanted to make sure that the OP didn't pay a fee to get a job since the word headhunter was mentioned.

ArtemusBlank  ·  2676 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I think I should have asked the question of whether or not to get a recruiter instead of a headhunter. I didn't realize that you needed to be at a certain level for a headhunter to be of great help.