Headhunting hits new highs

By Debra Bela

Headhunting once belonged to the upper echelons of executive management, used to find candidates for those $400,000-a-year jobs that are rarely advertised.

Now Brisbane headhunters are poaching people for $80,000-$100,000 middle-management positions as employers get frustrated with a lack of quality applicants.

Mark Phillips, of executive headhunting firm Dean and Ling, says it’s a sign of the times.

“Roles that you’d usually just advertise for really aren’t getting much of a response at the moment,” he says.

“We have to go out and proactively source talent.

“And that is finding passive candidates or talent as opposed to active candidates. And everyone is a potentially passive candidate if you offer the right package.”

Dean and Ling, which operates throughout Australia and employs 15 staff, spends 95 per cent of it’s time researching candidates for jobs in the $300,000-plus bracket.

Two years ago it spent 2 per cent of its time researching candidates for jobs in the $100,000-plus bracket. Research activity in this salary bracket has now increased to 55 per cent.

Some recruiters have urged caution, saying headhunters often have a vested interest in filling the position. Mr Phillips says, conversely, having a third party approach a potential candidate can address misconceptions someone has about being poached and the workings of the competing firm.

Sinead Hourigan, Brisbane area director at Robert Walters Recruiting, says headhunting is driven more by the search for a particular skill set than a salary bracket.

“Tax is a specific area where it’s not easy to find candidates, also engineering and project directors,” she says. She says employees should see headhunting as an opportunity.

But using an initial contact as leverage to ask the boss for a pay rise was a risky move as headhunting is about making an initial introduction, not a firm offer of commitment.

Article from The Courier Mail, August 2011.