Mark Richmond (graduated 04) gives a candid account of life in the executive search industry.

When and why did you decide to become a headhunter?

Well, it was my childhood dream to become a headhunter! But seriously, when I left university I had no idea what I wanted to do. I wanted something which would pay me well, be a little different, and have a significant element of human interaction within it. The idea of playing with spreadsheets all day, with a bunch of arrogant d&$!s in a financial services business didn’t appeal (as it bizarrely does to so many of my peers….). I applied for a few different industries as well, got offered a job in a smallish firm, liked it, and three and a half years later I’m still in the industry.

Is it what you expected?

I expected it to be a lot more cloak and dagger than it is. We’re pretty open and transparent about what we do. Also, successfully recruiting senior executives is a lot harder than it initially sounds – there are so many things that can go wrong before someone signs on the dotted line.

What kind of firm is your firm? Can you give us a brief outline of the differentials between executive search companies....

I work at a boutique firm – meaning we only work in the technology sector (telecoms, software, internet) and we only recruit director level and above candidates. There are, of course, larger, multi-sector headhunting firms. Think of us as a Saville Row tailors, compared to a large department store.

What kind of work does recruitment involve? Can you give us an idea of a typical day or week?

Depending on the type of recruiter you work for, and your level of experience, you will do different tasks. A graduate entering the headhunting industry will spend a lot of time identifying candidates, and then headhunting them – initially on the phone. Clearly there’s an element of selling to these candidates and also assessing their suitability against your client’s requirements. As you gain more experience in the industry, you will spend more time interviewing candidates face-to-face as well as trying to win business by selling to potential clients.

What do you tend to have more of at any one time, candidates or job openings?

Definitely more candidates! At my old firm we had over 80,000 candidates on our database, and that was just technology candidates in the UK. When you headhunt for senior level roles (which is the more interesting end of the market), you probably won’t be working on more than 5 projects at any one time.

How hard is it to find candidates and get people interested in new opportunities? How do you go about it?

Identifying potential candidates are is relatively easy given a little experience and a few techniques. Networking websites like Linkedin.com are very valuable tools, as are industry contacts, and industry conferences. Pitching to candidates is harder, and requires more industry knowledge and confidence. Clearly it would be much easier to attract candidates to some roles rather than others. I imagine headhunting for Northern Rock would be an interesting challenge!

Any good anecdotes from your experiences so far?

One of the partners I used to work with was known for putting his foot in it. He was interviewing a candidate with a colleague, and chatting to the candidate before the interview. The candidate was talking about how his son had been working in Germany and was fluent in the language, and joked that he couldn’t tell if his son was English or German anymore. To which the partner asked “Yes, but does he fuck in German?”, to the stunned candidate.

On a couple of occasions I have tried to call candidates and found out they have recently died. It’s always an interesting one explaining to the widow that you were intending to headhunt their deceased spouse.

Ok, to finish up: any advice for current students/recent grads on a career in headhunting?

Headhunting is well suited to those with good analytical minds and good people skills. It offers something different to the usual management consulting / financial services options that a lot of Oxbridge graduates are presented with, as well as the opportunity to make some good money. Being relatively bright in the world of headhunting is definitely an advantage!