Okuzeka
Job Interviews & Careers vocabulary · Job Ads & Job Search

Headhunter

Meaning in job interviews & careers, with examples

/ˈhedˌhʌntər/nounCommon term

In job interviews & careers, headhunter means: A recruiter, usually from an agency, who finds and approaches people for senior or specialist jobs, often when they are not actively looking.

In Turkish: headhunter, yönetici arama danışmanı, kafa avcısı

How it is used

An informal word for an executive search consultant. A headhunter usually contacts you, not the other way round, and the hiring company pays the fee, not the candidate. The verb form is common: 'I was headhunted by a rival firm.'

Example sentences

  1. A headhunter called me about a finance director role in Istanbul.

  2. She was headhunted by a competitor after the product launch.

Common collocations

  • be headhunted
  • approached by a headhunter
  • executive headhunter
  • work with a headhunter
  • recruiterA person whose job is to find and select people for jobs, either inside a company's HR team or at an external agency.
  • LinkedIn profileYour personal page on LinkedIn, the professional networking site, showing your photo, headline, experience, skills and education.
  • networkingMeeting and keeping in contact with people who work in your field, so that you can share information and hear about opportunities.
  • job offerA formal proposal from an employer to give you a job, usually stating the salary, start date and main conditions.

More terms: Job Ads & Job Search

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: