What does a headhunter do to make money?

A person's income is directly related to his cognitive level. The same is true for the operation of enterprises.

How big a company can be depends on the cognitive level of its founders.

Such as the headhunting industry. On the surface, it's simple. On the one hand, we can obtain the recruitment needs of enterprises, on the other hand, we can find suitable talents and match them. If we succeed, we will charge the enterprise.

Some people say that headhunters are like matchmakers in the old days. You see, this is a kind of cognition. He saw the most superficial layer of headhunting business, that is, the information matching between job vacancies and talent needs.

If the founder is at this cognitive level, then according to his logic, if you want to make the headhunting business bigger, you only need to find enough corporate customers, get enough recruitment needs, recruit more consultants with sales ability, and then make a simple match.

At present, there are indeed headhunting companies with this cognitive level in the domestic market. In order to reduce costs, they usually do marketing first, make brands for the company and change brands for customers. At the same time, the internal compensation system is designed flexibly, and even a "chain operation" model, euphemistically called "partner mechanism", attracts more sales who want to make quick money to join.

This is the lowest threshold for headhunting at present, that is, to do business with "marketing+sales". There is no difference between positioning and strategy. Seize the market opportunity to achieve the goal that the founder wants is success. This is a choice and a living method.

If you don't want to live like this, there are many other options in the market. For example, the method of "holding high and hitting high".

This style of play can be traced back to the "masters" of domestic headhunting companies, that is, international headhunting companies.

Most of the consultants of such companies are headhunters, all of whom are industry veterans. They come up with resumes, either CEO or COO, and they have a wide circle of contacts. Even the entry level in these companies is an MBA or a master's degree from a famous university. Their understanding of the industry and insight into human nature can usually reach the frequency of * * * with the decision-making level of enterprises.

This lifestyle of "holding high and fighting high" is determined by the quality and circle of elites themselves, just like high-end luxury stores in shopping malls, it is necessary, but it can't be the most mainstream in the market. In other words, its consumption scenarios and usage scenarios are doomed to be limited. But in general, its cognition has deepened, because it is locked in "the realization of interpersonal relationship".

The bosses of these headhunting companies also put the focus of their operations on "people". Internally, with a more rigorous and reasonable system and humanized corporate culture, attract more high-quality talents who are committed to "realizing interpersonal relationship+intelligent realization".

Of course, this kind of elite-gathering play also needs a stable and mature market to cultivate, in order to support these consultants with high basic salary and high performance. Is the current domestic executive recruitment market mature and stable enough? I don't think so yet, so these international companies will feel a little unaccustomed when they come to the mainland, otherwise they will not be slightly inferior to domestic boutique headhunters in some sub-sectors.

For a while, I felt that the headhunting industry was a little disappointed with these two living methods. Fortunately, a company later jumped out and became my competitor in a segment, which also successfully attracted my attention.

This is a headhunting company founded by Taiwan Province people, and its lifestyle is very interesting. It's just a foreign bank. Moreover, the top management positions in the Asia-Pacific region and China region are almost untouched, and too low-end positions are not filled, so they are "medium". It is equivalent to not hunting the head or feet, but hunting "neck to waist".

The team is very small, 20-30 people, but the internal division of labor is extremely detailed: some specialize in the retail business of foreign banks, some specialize in the corporate business of foreign banks, and even subdivided into teams that only do the middle-office business of public banks and teams that only do the back-office business. Almost every bank's business line is guarded by a special consultant or team, and never misses the opportunity to make money. It relies on this meticulous division, and it also has a revenue of 40 to 50 million a year, and it is comfortable and tight.

However, there are two problems with this style of play:

1. Choosing a subdivision field is tantamount to tying yourself to the rise and fall of this field. In case of any trouble in the market or supervision, the impact is not as simple as pain;

Based on the first risk consideration, the boss must minimize the cost. In particular, the boss of the company is a native of Taiwan Province Province, and he is born with the Foxconn gene. Therefore, he is generous in recruiting academic qualifications, as long as it meets the "low cost"; Over time, Foxconn's internal problems have surfaced, such as semi-militarized management, indifferent corporate culture, slow echelon construction, duplication of work and few creative tasks.

Why are these two questions? Because this is the founder's cognition of headhunting business, he thinks that as long as he accumulates information and data in the segmentation field and then activates these data in the form of low-cost call center, he can reach a deal to earn headhunting expenses. So he focused his business on "information and data", ignoring the cultivation of people, and even ignoring that talents are the carrier and essence of information.

It is not difficult to understand his logic: for the short-term sales behavior under the first surface cognition, the customer relationship cannot be maintained for a long time, so it is better to find a long-term and stable subdivision, devote yourself to it and gamble.

However, what if the customer relationship and talent data you have spent a lot of money on are taken away by resigned subordinates at risk? Then the security of data is the first priority!

It is said that employees are not allowed to access the external network internally, and they should be monitored when sending an email. Because the headhunting system developed by ourselves is powerful and complex enough, it takes at least one week to learn how to use the internal system when you first join the company, because your daily telephone communication, recommending candidates, talking about things and so on must be reflected in the system, and part of your salary is also related to this. Finally, they can't find people with too many ideas to join the internal recruitment, because they may not be able to stand the heavy assembly line tasks every day.

In this way, it's really sad to be an employee in it. A few days ago, I heard from a friend that the boss of this company has earned enough money in recent years and devoted himself to real estate, leaving only a chicken feather. That's a real pity.

But in my opinion, his cognition has shifted from "superficial information matching" and "elite gameplay" to "information and data" in the segmentation field, which is already ahead of schedule.

In addition, there is another model that can be brought into the "advanced" cognitive level, that is, the PS model (also called TS model) which was particularly popular in previous years. The PS here is not a Japanese game machine, but a "reverse BD customer model based on the job-seeking needs of high-end candidates". To put it bluntly, it is to help radish find a pit.

Some headhunters even had a whim and set up a PS headhunting company under the banner of subverting the headhunting industry. However, it still charges corporate customers. This is a little strange. I flaunt myself as a talent and belong to the broker mode, but in the end I still have to reach out to corporate customers for money. I can't do such a big face.

This model has two limitations:

First, it inherently believes that candidates' perceptions of industries and enterprises are unchanged.

Under this constant premise, headhunters can only help them find suitable job opportunities. However, is the candidate's perception of industry and enterprise really unchanged? Is it possible that his cognition of the workplace and his cognition of himself will be biased?

Second, this model requires headhunting consultants to have knowledge of corporate customers at the consulting company level, otherwise you will only be engaged in sales.

Imagine that you have a particularly strong CFO candidate. He said he wanted to go to a company listed in Hong Kong. As a headhunter in PS mode, you list all the listed companies in Hong Kong stock market, and then make a phone call to ask the companies if they want this candidate. This is not a sale. What is this? !

If you want to push yourself, you have to get the CFO's resume at the first time. You have roughly judged which company in the market needs his background most. Then make a targeted reverse BD, and point out why the enterprise needs this candidate now, what is the most important problem that the enterprise needs to solve at present, why this candidate can help you solve this problem, what method he will use to help you solve it, and so on. Use rational data and facts to influence your customers. To do this, headhunters should not only have a profound judgment on the candidates, but also do a lot of industry research and enterprise research, and even place insiders in each company to keep abreast of the progress of enterprise strategy and the boss's ideas. At present, even the consultants of the top five headhunters can do this? I have deep doubts about this.

So this model is a flash in the pan after all. At present, few headhunting companies are still talking about the so-called PS model, and its limitations have not made it a mainstream idea after all. But in general, it is advanced. Because it takes into account "people are the carrier and essence of information" and pays attention to what the candidates are thinking, it will be more helpful to the headhunting business. This cognition has gone beyond the surface and gone one step further to the "subcutaneous fat layer".

This is the problem. It seems that these headhunters in the market are scratching their boots after all, and do not directly point to the core essence of this business. What is the essence of headhunting?

With this question, let's restore what headhunting consultants earn.

If you are a headhunting consultant, a client entrusts you to help him find the position of bank president. Then you should usually recommend the resumes of at least three candidates to your clients within two weeks. In the report, you should explain the reason why you recommended him, and even state the background and job hunting intention of many other presidents in the target enterprise to customers.

Therefore, in order to recommend three reports, you may need to contact 100 people, of whom 10 people are interested, but after the interview, you selected the most suitable three.

Then, you need to help customers arrange interviews between candidates and enterprises. /kloc-After 0/round, 2 rounds, 3 rounds or even 5 rounds, usually the higher the position, the more interviews. This cycle will take you at least 1 month. If it goes well, the two parties coordinate the offer, and the candidate accepts and proposes to leave the original company. The shortest separation period is 1 month. After the candidate joins the job, the headhunter asks the corporate customer for money, and the customer pays within two weeks.

Let's calculate all the time consumption together: recommendation time 2 weeks+interview period 1 month+candidate's resignation period 1 month+customer payment 2 weeks =3 months.

Do you see it? Even if you are the most professional and excellent headhunting consultant, it will take at least 3 months from receiving a case to finally charging customers successfully. However, the reality is far more complicated than the theory, such as the business trip of customer executives, the difficulty in coordinating the interview time, the long payment period, and the re-visit caused by the resignation of candidates during the probation period. In some cases, it may take at least 4-6 months to recover the money. From this perspective, headhunting is not a "quick money business" at all.

Moreover, I wonder if you have noticed that there is an extremely high cost factor in the whole business process:

You talked seriously about the candidate of 10, and probably learned the real situation in many banks, but in the end you can only successfully recommend the candidate of 1 and receive the money of 1. Moreover, in the short term, candidates will not change jobs again, that is, your business "transaction frequency" is too low. As for the other nine candidates you spent time and energy making friends with, you spent normal costs on this case. This is a normal cost loss in headhunting business. To be honest, it's a little high.

Therefore, headhunting companies must solve this problem if they want to increase their turnover. Earn110 and solve the cost loss problem of another 910. So it is not difficult to understand why the PS model was born. Because those consultants just noticed the job-hopping demands of nine candidates, they were eager to help them find corporate positions, thus reducing the cost waste in the process.

But we have just analyzed that none of the above models can fundamentally solve the problem of business efficiency improvement+cost waste.

Then can we solve the cost from another dimension? If you can't find the answer temporarily, guide yourself by asking questions.

Why can headhunters make money?

A: Because we can match the recruitment needs of enterprises with the job-hopping needs of applicants. (shallow cognition)

Why do companies believe that you can solve this problem? Why does the candidate trust you to help him find a good career destination and entrust his resume to you?

A: Because headhunting consultants can have a business trust relationship with them, we can make money by realizing interpersonal relationships. (deep cognition)

Then why can headhunters conclude business trust relationships with customers and candidates? What does the other person see in you?

A: Yes, we always have updated information and data that the other party doesn't have. The other party thinks it is valuable to know us. (advanced cognition)

How do headhunters accumulate and extract valuable information?

A: That depends on our continuous knowledge of industries, enterprises and occupations. We use a rational logical clue to string together these pieces of information and data, extract them into each other's understanding, and finally affect our customers.

All right! Here, the answer is finally clear! Since we have no better way to quickly realize the 9/ 10 interpersonal relationship, we have accumulated a lot of "cognitive surplus" for this industry through interviews and communication, and we only need to realize the "cognitive surplus"!

This will not rush to sell those nine people in order to make money, giving customers a feeling of buying and selling hard; Will not let our candidates continue to miss opportunities and be disappointed frequently; We won't let us and the applicants wait helplessly when there is no more suitable job opportunity in the market.

From this, we come to the conclusion that headhunting is a cognitive business. Headhunting consultants all make money by cognitive surplus.

Cognition here means: professional cognition+self-cognition+interpersonal cognition. In other words, as a headhunting consultant, you know more about industries, enterprises and occupations than your clients and your candidates. They also have objective evaluation and cognition of their abilities, attitudes and values; Even for the possibility of their interpersonal communication, you should make a clear cognition and judgment. With these three, show your major, and then make a deal.

These perceptions, in fact, many professional headhunters and HR people of the company have accumulated a lot of dry goods intentionally or unintentionally. Moreover, it can be used not only in headhunting services, but also for fresh graduates and young people who have just entered the workplace and are still in a state of ignorance.

Saijie Consulting was born based on this concept.

Strictly speaking, Saijie Consulting is not a headhunting company. Although we started as headhunters, we are actually engaged in the business of "professional cognition" (professional cognition = cognition of industry, enterprise and occupation).

We look at customers, candidates and our internal colleagues, which are actually part of the cognitive circle.

Externally, we are the first professional cognitive institution in China. What we export to the public is "professional cognitive service".

Sometimes, it appears in the form of headhunting; Sometimes in the form of training; Sometimes it may appear in the form of content products.

As headhunters, we are equivalent to the cognitive service of 1 to 1. I help our candidates and clients better understand the workplace and themselves through telephone calls and interviews again and again, so that they can meet people and win * * *;

When we do training, it is 1 cognitive service for many. We hope to effectively teach cognitive methodology to more audiences and make professional cognitive methods a compulsory course for entering the workplace. To this end, we also wrote a book called "This is the correct way to apply for a job", which explained the methodology of professional cognition in detail. Hold your future career development firmly in your own hands;

When we make content products through official WeChat accounts, apps, etc., it is 1 for N service. We hope to establish the largest workplace community in China through professional cognition. Through the content output, I will take you to know all kinds of industries, various head enterprises and occupations that you may be interested in, not only to understand the superficial information, but also to take you into their "unknown side". Let the whole workplace ecology of China be as clear as the clothes in the window.

Let us be rational, confident and invincible when choosing a job, preparing for a job, developing the workplace, making key job-hopping, expanding resources and grasping the future!

Of course, our "cognitive career" needs more people to join.

There are many vacancies in our training department, new media operation department, consulting department and headhunting department. You don't have to have "sales awareness", let alone try to be an "elite" before joining. In the big family of Sage, each of us is the carrier of cognition. You will fully feel your upgrade from knowledge reserve to thinking mode here, and you can explore with us how to make this unprecedented thing "professional cognition" to the extreme! You need your passion, your rationality, your creativity and execution.

The "professional cognitive alliance" we have established also needs the active participation of more like-minded HR and headhunters. In the alliance, our cognition can be shared and promoted with each other, and eventually become the largest workplace learning society in China, exporting our cognitive value to more domestic white-collar workers;

If you are an expert in a certain field, you are more welcome to contribute to us, give us suggestions and become our external consultant. At present, the company has started angel round financing. In the process of team expansion, we urgently need a lot of external brains to illuminate our way forward.

In a word, Saijie is like a high-speed train to the future. Each segment has its own power and output energy, and each segment is also interrelated, and Qi Xin works together.

I hope that through our efforts, every China person can finally find the most suitable career goal when he enters the workplace, without confusion and hesitation, and strive to achieve that goal effectively and rationally at all times. By that time, what height will our country's productivity reach, what level will human civilization advance, and will it be a step closer to the ultimate goal-happiness? ! We will wait and see!

Founder Partner of Saijie Consulting: Gong Yu.