Insights

There are three categories of  headhunters in the UK: Search, Agency (or Contingency), and Selection.

But, even if you assiduously cover all three channels, there will still be quite a few Asset Managers that you will not be reaching.  This is because quite of the few of the larger Fund Management firms have internalised the headhunting function by hiring former headhunters into the Talent Management role.

Hence this is an important new channel that job seekers need to cover if they want to cover the larger global investment firms.

Sometimes it can be hard to find out which headhunters operate in your sector.  This is a basic guide to which resources and search engine terms to use to help you to compile a list of suspects.

There are three categories of headhunters in the UK: Search, Agency (or Contingency), and Selection.

In the past, each category operated with a distinct methodology.  These days, some of those distinctions are breaking down.  Technology has reduced barriers to entry, allowing Agency recruiters to conduct active searches.  With Agencies offering a slimmed-down Search service, it’s sometimes hard to tell if a company is an Executive Search firm or an Agency – particularly hen many Agencies include the word ‘search’ in their company names, even though they are agencies.

This is a guide to identifying whether a firm is an Agency and, if so, how to manage them.

It’s not always obvious from the job seeker’s perspective; but it’s important to always keep in mind that no headhunter is ever on the candidate’s side: the hiring company is always the client, even when it seems the headhunter is representing you.

There are three categories of headhunters in the UK: Search, Agency (or Contingency), and Selection.

Godliman in an Executive Search firm, so this is a guide on to identify other firms like us and on how to manage us.

Your CV will have more impact if you quantify all your achievements: turnover, fee income, profits, assets under management; as well as fund performance, net sales wins, etc.

For greater impact, your CV should list only the top two or three responsibilities that helped the boat go faster.

Hiring companies are much more interested in reading about your key achievements than long lists of responsibilities.

Your CV will have more impact if you tailor it to specific roles.

You should probably have one ‘master deck’, which lists all the jobs you have ever had; and then various tailored CVs, cherry picking all and only the sub-set of jobs from the master deck relevant to the specific role you are applying for.

For people who want to change roles or industries, or who have less conventional career paths, then a skills-based CV can have greater impact than the traditional CV.

One of the first dilemmas people have when writing CVs is whether it should be a one page summary or spread over several pages.  I recommend having both.