by Lana Stockton

Created on: January 27, 2010   Last Updated: April 04, 2010

While working as an employment agency counselor, I was part of the job-search for my clients. One of my co-workers, Rick (not his real name) had spent hours behind closed doors in heavy phone negotiations. Then came the good news. Rick had reeled in a big job order for a high-paying executive position with a prestigious company out east.

The bad news was that Rick would be leaving the agency. It turns out that Rick not only landed a big account, but it was such a lucrative job opening that he marketed himself for the position and was hired. Hiring a headhunter,  well being the headhunter in this case yielded great results.

A good account executive will go to bat for you. He will call prospective employers that trust the agency's decisions and market his client's credentials. If there isn't a position available he will try to create a job opening where none existed before.

Many companies are now taking advantage of the services employment agencies provide in screening applicants. Employee-seeking companies have realized that the agency saves them money and stress by pre-screening applicants. This has become so cost-effective that certain companies will only hire through a particular agency.  There is no other way to apply with that company.

As a job seeker you could go through all the traditional hoops of searching online, knocking on business doors and mailing out resumes only to discover you will be completely ignored unless you apply at the company's designated employment agency. Which means these job opportunities never see the light of a search engine or newspaper ad. There is no way to discover the job unless you secure the services of an employment agency counselor.

Headhunters have job connections you will not find elsewhere. Not only do businesses directly contact the agencies when a job opens up, but the headhunters actively strike out searching for new job orders.

Headhunters have 4 main responsibilities:

1.) Make phone calls to the buyers of area companies in an attempt to secure a job order. 

2.) If there is no job opening, try to create one.

3.) Interview applicants

4.) Match applicants to job orders

As skilled as you may be at job-hunting, you do not have the business connections an agency does for landing an interview or the job that interview is attached to. The fact that businesses bypass newspaper ads, online ads, Yahoo jobs and CareerBuilder, means your only stab at getting certain jobs is by striking up a business relationship with a competent employment agency headhunter.

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