As a business owner or hiring manager looking to hire, you’re probably considering two methods for sourcing candidates: hiring a headhunter or leaning on your professional network.
Although headhunters are fast and efficient, they probably don’t know anything about your company or its culture. And you don’t know anything about the candidates they source for you.
For the record, at The Metiss Group, The Hiring Process Coach™ service empowers clients to find their own candidates without the work of a headhunter. So we admit we have a bias. However, we promise to be as objective as possible.
In this article, you’ll learn the difference between hiring outcomes when using a headhunter vs networking. You’ll understand the importance of proactive relationship-building and how that affects the hiring process.
Headhunters vs Networking Defined
Building a network, also called a center of influence, means actively joining groups of like-minded individuals. We’re fans of groups like Entrepreneur’s Organization and Vistage. There are also other peer-to-peer CEO groups, groups by industry, etc. Plus you can attend networking events at your local Chamber of Commerce.
You can also join online groups; however, it can be much more difficult to form deep relationships.
When looking to hire, many business owners can lean on this carefully curated network to seek out candidate referrals. Maybe your network doesn’t know a perfect fit, but someone within their network might know someone.
On the other hand, headhunters are known for finding candidates for their clients, i.e. companies looking to hire new employees. Sometimes they’re also called search firms or recruitment agencies.
Headhunters have historically leaned on their own networks to actively seek out the right candidates for their clients. But now, as many as 95% of headhunters use LinkedIn to source candidates.
Comparing Headhunters vs. Building a Network
The difference between hiring a headhunter vs. building your own network comes down to five categories: price, work, time, guarantees, and end result.
Price
Headhunters are typically paid up to 30% of the candidate’s first year expected total compensation. This includes bonuses and commissions. So if you’re hiring an executive at a total compensation of $200,000, you’ll pay around $60,000 in headhunter fees.
Building a network can be as cheap as a cup of coffee. Depending on which groups you join, though, you’ll easily rack up thousands of dollars a year in membership fees. For example, annual dues for Entrepreneur’s Organization cost $2,630 in 2024.
The ROI of building a network is more than just finding people to hire — you’ll also meet like-minded people who help you learn new ideas and challenge your way of thinking. You’ll bond with the people you meet and will have support in the unique challenges you face as a business owner.
Winner: Building a network
Upfront work
Building a network requires much more work upfront. You can’t just start building your network once you’re ready to make a hire. Imagine going to a new group for the first time, and telling everyone you meet that day, “I’m looking to make a hire! Know anybody?”
If these people don’t know anything about you, how could they recommend candidates? And if you don’t know anything about them, how could you trust their recommendation?
Plus, they’re not going to work very hard to help out someone they just met. They aren’t going to reach out to people within their own networks to help you look for that candidate.
When it comes to building a network, you have to earn the right to ask for a referral. Which means most of the work happens long before you’re looking to make a hire. We’re talking months or years of attending and actively participating in groups and networking events.
And it’s not as easy as shaking hands and introducing yourself. You’ll need to make sure you tell stories about your business, its core values, and times your employees have gone above and beyond for the company.
The goal here is to make sure your connections are deeply familiar with the types of people who thrive in your company’s culture. So by the time you’re ready to ask for a recommendation, they’ll provide you with a perfect fit.
On the other hand, a headhunter has already built their own network. So by the time you go to them looking to fill a role, they can hit the ground running immediately.
Winner: Headhunters
Sourcing time
Sourcing time is the amount of time it takes to come up with a short list of qualified candidates. These are candidates who seem like a good fit on paper. (The next step would be a phone screen.)
This category is tricky to nail down for each side. Sourcing time varies greatly, whether you lean on your own network or use a headhunter.
It takes an average of 10 days for a headhunter to source candidates for a job role, according to Joveo. However, headhunters searching for executive-level candidates may need several weeks to source quality candidates.
This can also vary by industry: according to a report by Corporate Navigators, it takes much longer for recruiters to fill roles in industries such as energy, defense, and engineering, so the sourcing time in these industries could also be much longer. Roles in the automotive and hospitality industries, on the other hand, are typically filled more quickly.
When using your network to find candidates, the sourcing time is heavily dependent on how much work you put in. How much time did you spend actively building your center of influence? And now that you’re hiring, how much work are you putting into calling, emailing, and grabbing coffee with your network to ask for recommendations? Have you clearly defined the role so they understand what you’re looking for in a candidate?
You could hear back from someone within your network within a day. Or you could spend weeks reaching out without anyone sending you quality referrals.
And similar to headhunters, sourcing time within your network will depend on the seniority of the position and the industry.
Winner: Mixed bag
Guarantees
A headhunter will always deliver on their promise to find you a candidate, although it’s not always a perfect match.
And many headhunters have a 90-day guarantee or something along that timeline. This means if your new hire quits or is fired within 90 days, the headhunter will find you a new candidate at no extra charge.
On the other hand, hiring from your center of influence doesn’t guarantee anything. If you’ve put in the work to build a quality network, then they should have a list of people who would love to work with you.
But sometimes the timing isn’t right. Or maybe the position you’re hiring for is too specialized.
Winner: Headhunters
End result
In the end, the people who know you and the culture of your organization may not send tons of candidates your way. But the quality of these candidates will be right on the money.
A headhunter can still have successful end results. We often work with great headhunters to help our clients source candidates.
But when you’re looking at the end results side-by-side, there’s a clear winner. The people who know you will always send better candidates.
Winner: Building a network
The Bottom Line on Hiring a Headhunter vs. Networking
When it comes to hiring, the decision between using a headhunter and leaning on a well-established network ultimately boils down to priorities.
While headhunters offer speed and guaranteed results, building a network will give you candidates who fit seamlessly within your company culture and values.
At The Metiss Group, we help clients master the hiring process without the need for a headhunter. Now that you understand the difference between hiring a headhunter and hiring from your own network, next you should learn the difference between recruiting and The Hiring Process Coach™.