Headhunter Job Description Templates for Search Firms and Agencies
6 free templates for the firms that bill on placement: contingency agency desk, boutique retained, technical, executive, research associate, and independent contract headhunter. Download as DOCX.
The first headhunter job description I ever read was a corporate recruiter posting with the word headhunter pasted over the title. It talked about managing a requisition load, partnering with hiring managers, and improving candidate experience. Nothing in it mentioned making sixty calls to people who never asked to hear from you, which is the actual job.
That mismatch is expensive for a small search firm. The strongest agency people read a posting to work out whether the desk is real: what the fee model is, whether there are clients or a blank page, how the plan pays, and how much of the week is business development. A posting that answers none of that gets applications from corporate recruiters who will not last a quarter on a phone.
At FirstHR we write hiring templates for employers without an HR department, and search firms are the clearest case of that reader. The six below cover a contingency agency desk, a boutique retained seat, technical and executive search, a research associate, and an independent contract engagement, each with the commission and classification language the generic versions leave out.
TL;DR
A headhunter job description has to state four things a recruiter posting can skip: the fee model, the outbound activity expected in numbers, the commission plan mechanics, and the FLSA classification. Recruiters sit inside human resources specialists (SOC 13-1071), median $75,940 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Six templates below, downloadable as DOCX.
What a Headhunter Actually Does
A headhunter originates candidates rather than processing them. The seat exists because the people a client wants are employed, paid, and not reading job boards, so someone has to find them by name and start the conversation from nothing.
That changes what the week looks like. An in-house recruiter opens a pipeline of applicants and works down it. A headhunter opens a blank document, builds a list of people who could do the job, and works out how to reach each one. Volume of contact is the input, and conversion is the skill.
Market mapping
Before any outreach
Finding out which companies grow the talent, who sits in the seats, and which of them are reachable. On a real search this is a written document, not a mental note, and it is the part that separates a headhunter from someone forwarding resumes.
Cold outreach
The volume part
Contacting people who are employed, paid, and not applying anywhere. Response rates are low by design, so the seat needs both a message worth reading and the temperament to be ignored repeatedly without slowing down.
Conversion
The skill part
Turning a polite no into a conversation, and a conversation into a candidate who will sit through four interviews and resign a job they liked. Counter-offer management belongs here, and it is where inexperienced desks lose placements.
Closing and billing
Where the money is
Offer structuring, resignation coaching, and the gap between signature and start date. On a contingency desk nothing is earned until the candidate starts, which is why the posting has to be honest about the plan.
Write the Direction of Travel Into the First Paragraph
The single most useful sentence in a headhunter posting says where candidates come from. Something as plain as this works: most of the people we place were not looking when we called them. It tells a corporate recruiter that this is not their job and tells an agency person that it is. Postings that open with partnering with stakeholders attract the wrong half of the market, and you spend the next month screening them out one call at a time.
Headhunter, Recruiter, or Search Consultant: Pick the Word You Mean
The three titles describe different fee models and different jobs, and the fee model decides almost everything else. Headhunter usually means contingency agency work paid on placement. Recruiter usually means a salaried in-house seat working a requisition load. Search consultant usually means retained work billed in installments across an exclusive engagement.
None of these is a protected term, so candidates read the body of the posting rather than the title. What they are looking for is the economics. Our guide to contingency versus retained recruiting works through both models from the buyer side, and the same trade-offs decide how the seat is paid.
A headhunter posting does four jobs: it describes the desk honestly, it filters out people who have never made a cold call, it protects you on classification and commission, and it closes a candidate who probably has two other conversations running. Most postings do the first badly and the rest not at all.
The parts a headhunter reads first
Fee model: contingency, engaged, or retained
Average fee size and typical role seniority
Whether the desk is full desk or delivery only
Whether there is an existing client base or none
The parts that filter applicants
Outbound activity expectations, stated as numbers
Business development share of the week
Concurrent search load
Sector or function the desk actually covers
The parts that protect you
FLSA classification stated on the posting
When commission is earned and when it is paid
Confidentiality and off-limits obligations
Equal opportunity statement
The parts that win the hire
Base salary, not just on-target earnings
The commission plan in plain numbers
Tooling, data, and research support provided
Who the desk reports to and how it is measured
The most common omission at small firms is the state of the desk. Candidates want to know whether they inherit clients or build them, who does the research, and what data and tooling the firm pays for. Vagueness there reads as a firm hiding a hard desk. Our general guide to writing a job description covers the structural basics that apply to any role.
6 Headhunter Job Description Templates to Download
Download all six as one file or copy them individually. Each follows the same structure: firm overview, position summary, key responsibilities, required qualifications, a compensation plan summary, a classification and compliance note, an equal opportunity statement, and how to apply. The bracketed fields are the only parts you need to change.
Download All 6 Headhunter Job Description Templates
Agency contingency desk, boutique retained, technical, executive, research associate, and independent 1099 scope of work. All in one download.
Agency Headhunter
Contingency desk
The standard producing seat: outbound targets, business development, a commission plan stated in the posting, and an honest classification note.
Boutique Retained
Engagement delivery
For a small search firm billing in installments: intake, written specification, market map, structured assessment, and origination credit.
Technical Headhunter
Engineering and IT
For desks placing engineers who ignore recruiters by default, with assessment consistency and counter-offer risk written in.
Executive Headhunter
VP and C-suite
For leadership search: board-level intake, discreet approaches, scorecard assessment, and the documented record that protects you.
Research Associate
Sourcing support
The entry seat that builds the maps and the lists, written as the non-exempt hourly role it almost always is.
Independent (1099)
Scope of work
For engaging a contract headhunter: deliverables, fee timing, replacement guarantee, ownership of records, and the classification test.
Template 1: Agency Headhunter, Contingency Desk
The standard producing seat, with outbound targets, business development expectations, and a commission plan summary written into the posting rather than saved for the offer call.
FLSA status: [Exempt / Non-exempt] (see classification note)
Compensation: $_ base plus commission (see plan summary)
ABOUT [FIRM NAME]
[Firm Name] is a [size] search firm in [City, State] placing [function] talent
with [client type] employers. We work [contingency / contingency plus engaged
search], bill [percentage]% of first-year base, and place roughly [number] roles
a year across [number] active clients.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Headhunter owns a desk end to end: identifying passive candidates who are
not applying to anything, opening conversations with them directly, qualifying
them against a live client requirement, and carrying them through offer and
start. This is an outbound role. Applicants who respond to postings are a small
part of the pipeline and never the whole of it.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Map the market for each live role: build a target list of [number] companies
and the people inside them who do the work
•Make [number] outbound contacts per day by phone, email, and direct message
to people who are currently employed and not looking
•Run qualifying calls that cover motivation, compensation, notice period,
counter-offer risk, and any competing processes
•Present a shortlist of [number] candidates per role with written summaries,
not resume forwards
•Prep candidates before every client interview and debrief both sides after
•Manage offer negotiation, resignation, counter-offer, and the period between
signature and start date
•Keep the candidate and client record current in [ATS / CRM] the same day
•Generate new business: [number] client development calls per week and
[number] new client wins per [quarter]
•Hit [number] placements or $________ in billings per [quarter]
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years in agency recruiting, headhunting, or outbound sales
•Demonstrated placements you personally sourced, not inherited from a pipeline
•Comfort with cold outreach and with being told no several times a day
•Ability to qualify compensation and motivation early in a conversation
•Organized enough to run [number] live roles at once without losing candidates
COMPENSATION PLAN SUMMARY (state this in the posting)
Base salary: $_
Commission: [percentage]% of [net fee / gross profit] above a threshold of
$_ per [month / quarter]
Draw: [recoverable / non-recoverable] at $_ per month for the first
[number] months
Payment timing: commission is earned when [the candidate starts / the client
invoice is paid] and is paid on the [next / following] regular payday
Fallback: commission is [reversed / adjusted] if a placement falls inside the
[number]-day guarantee period
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE (read before posting)
Classify on duties, not on the commission plan. A headhunter who exercises
independent judgment on which candidates to present, how to advise clients, and
how to structure offers may meet the FLSA administrative exemption, which
requires a salary of at least $684 per week ($35,568 a year) plus the duties
test. A desk that is scripted, quota-driven, and closely supervised is
production work and is non-exempt: track hours and pay overtime past forty in a
week, calculating the regular rate to include commission earned in that period.
The Section 7(i) commission exemption applies only to retail and service
establishments and does not cover a staffing or search firm. Most states treat
earned commission as wages with mandatory payout timing, so put the plan in
writing and define exactly when a commission is earned. This is general
information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Firm Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Base: $_ plus commission. On-target earnings: $_ (state the
assumptions behind the number.)
To apply, email __ with your resume and three roles you
personally sourced and closed.
Template 2: Boutique Retained Headhunter
For a small firm billing in installments on exclusive mandates: intake, written specification, market map, structured assessment, and origination credit. Compare it against the staffing agency recruiter templates if your desk also runs temp or contract placements.
For desks placing engineers, with target list sources, assessment consistency, and counter-offer risk written in. For an in-house version of the same skill set, use the technical recruiter templates instead.
Technical Headhunter Job Description (Engineering and IT)
TECHNICAL HEADHUNTER JOB DESCRIPTION (ENGINEERING AND IT)
talent with [startup / mid-market / enterprise] clients. Our roles are almost
never filled by applicants, because the engineers our clients want are employed,
paid well, and ignoring recruiters by default.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Technical Headhunter finds and converts engineers who are not looking. The
job is equal parts research and persuasion: identifying the right thirty people
for a role, writing an approach that a senior engineer will actually read, and
then holding a technical conversation credible enough to earn a second one.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Translate a hiring manager brief into a real search: which stack, which scale
problems, which companies produce that experience
•Build target lists from [code repositories, conference speakers, open source
contributors, patent filings, professional networks, community forums]
•Write outbound messages specific to the engineer's actual work, and send
[number] per week
•Screen for depth without pretending to be an engineer: ask what they built,
what broke, and what they would change
•Manage take-home and live technical assessments as scheduled with the client
•Prep candidates on the client's architecture, team, and interview format
•Advise clients on realistic compensation and time to hire in this market
•Handle counter-offer risk explicitly, because it is highest in this segment
•Maintain the search record in [ATS / CRM] with reasons for every rejection
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years recruiting technical talent, agency or in-house
•Working vocabulary in [languages, frameworks, cloud platforms] sufficient to
hold a credible conversation
•Evidence of sourced placements rather than inbound applicant conversions
•Understanding of how technical assessments work and how long they take
•[Experience with visa sponsorship timelines, if your clients sponsor]
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Technical hiring adds one compliance surface most recruiting desks do not carry.
Coding tests and technical assessments are selection procedures under federal
uniform guidelines, which means they must be job-related and consistent with
business necessity, applied the same way to every candidate for the same role,
and documented. Scoring one candidate on a take-home and another on a
conversation is exactly the inconsistency that fails review. Classification
follows the same rules as any other desk: the administrative exemption requires
a salary of at least $684 per week ($35,568 a year) plus the duties test, and a
scripted, closely supervised desk is non-exempt regardless of the commission
plan. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Firm Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Base: $_ plus [percentage]% commission on [net fee / gross profit].
To apply, email __ with your resume and one engineer you
sourced cold, including the message you sent.
Template 4: Executive Headhunter
For leadership search: board-level intake, discreet approaches while an incumbent is still in the seat, scorecard assessment, and the documented record that protects you if a decision is ever questioned.
Executive Headhunter Job Description (VP and C-Suite Search)
EXECUTIVE HEADHUNTER JOB DESCRIPTION (VP AND C-SUITE SEARCH)
Firm: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Managing Partner / Practice Lead]
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: Exempt (verify duties)
Compensation: $_ base plus fee share and origination credit
ABOUT [FIRM NAME]
[Firm Name] runs [VP / C-suite / board] searches for [industry] clients, on a
[retained / engaged] basis at [percentage]% of first-year cash compensation. A
typical search runs [number] weeks, touches [number] candidates, and is
confidential for at least part of its life.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Executive Headhunter identifies and approaches leaders who are performing
well in their current seats and have no reason to take a call. Success depends
on the quality of the approach, the depth of the assessment, and the ability to
hold a peer-level conversation with someone more senior than you are.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Run intake with the board, the CEO, or the hiring executive and convert it
into a written specification and scorecard
•Build the long list personally: [number] leaders across [number] target
companies, with rationale for each
•Approach candidates discreetly, often while the incumbent is still in the seat
•Run assessment interviews against the scorecard and write reports that survive
a board conversation
•Manage referencing, including off-list references, with permission
•Advise on offer structure, equity, severance protection, and start timing
•Handle confidential searches without leaks, including scheduling and expenses
•Keep an auditable record of every candidate considered and the reason for each
decision
•Contribute to origination and client relationship development
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years placing [VP / C-suite] leaders, retained or in-house
•Named searches you personally delivered at that seniority
•Judgment about leadership that clients will pay for and act on
•Discretion under pressure, with references that speak to it
•Written assessment strong enough to be read by a board
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Executive hiring is where age discrimination claims concentrate, because senior
searches run informally and leave the thinnest paper trail. Federal law protects
applicants aged forty and over and applies to the specification, the outreach,
the screening, and the slate, so write requirements as demonstrable competencies
rather than year counts, avoid maximum-experience ceilings and graduation-year
filters, and evaluate every candidate against the same criteria. Keep the
record. A consultant at this level almost always meets the FLSA administrative
exemption, which requires a salary of at least $684 per week ($35,568 a year)
plus a primary duty involving independent judgment. Off-limits obligations to
clients belong in the employment agreement. This is general information, not
legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Firm Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Base: $_ plus fee share and origination credit.
To apply, email __ with your resume and two searches you
The entry seat that builds the maps and the lists, written as the non-exempt hourly role it almost always is. If the seat is purely research with no outreach, the sourcing specialist templates may fit better.
Compensation: $_ per [hour / year] plus [team bonus]
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Firm Name] runs [contingency / retained] searches in [sector]. Every search
starts with research, and research is a discipline rather than a chore. This
role builds the maps and the lists the headhunters work from, and it is the
standard entry point into a search career at our firm.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Research Associate identifies the population of people who could do a given
job, verifies who they are and where they sit, and hands the desk a clean,
prioritized list with contact routes. Over time the role takes on first-contact
outreach and qualification.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Build market maps: target companies, org structures, and named people in
relevant seats
•Verify titles, tenure, and reporting lines from more than one source
•Maintain the research library so the same map does not get rebuilt twice
•Find contact routes and enrich records in [ATS / CRM] accurately
•Run first-touch outreach sequences under supervision and log every response
•Qualify inbound responses against a written screening script
•Schedule calls and interviews across time zones
•Prepare candidate longlists and progress reports for [weekly] client updates
•Track search metrics: contacts made, responses, conversions, time to shortlist
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Bachelor's degree / equivalent experience: set your bar honestly]
•Meticulous attention to detail and a habit of verifying before recording
•Comfort with search operators, professional networks, and public filings
•Clear written English, since your notes become someone else's decision
•[Number] years in research, analysis, coordination, or recruiting support
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
A research or sourcing associate is production work and is almost always
non-exempt: hourly, overtime-eligible past forty hours in a week, with hours
recorded. The FLSA administrative exemption requires both a salary of at least
$684 per week ($35,568 a year) and a primary duty involving the exercise of
independent judgment on matters of significance. Following a defined research
process and a screening script is not that. Paying a flat salary or adding a
small bonus does not convert the seat, and neither does calling it an associate
role. If the seat evolves into running searches independently, revisit the
classification then and document the change. This is general information, not
legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Firm Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per [hour / year], overtime paid at time and a half,
plus [team bonus tied to placements the desk makes].
To apply, email __ with your resume and a short written
market map for a role of your choosing.
Template 6: Independent Headhunter Scope of Work
A scope of work rather than a job description, for engaging a contract headhunter on 1099: deliverables, fee timing, replacement guarantee, ownership of candidate records, and the classification test. For a fixed-term employee instead, use the contract recruiter templates.
Independent Headhunter Scope of Work (1099 Contract)
INDEPENDENT HEADHUNTER SCOPE OF WORK (1099 CONTRACT)
•Interview scheduling coordination with the Client's named contact
•Offer support through acceptance and start date
•A [number]-day replacement guarantee per placement
FEES AND PAYMENT TERMS
Fee per placement: [percentage]% of first-year base salary, or $_ flat
Invoicing: on [candidate start date / offer acceptance]
Payment terms: net [number] days
Replacement guarantee: if a placed candidate leaves within [number] days for
reasons other than [redundancy / role change], the Contractor will conduct one
replacement search at no additional fee
Expenses: [pre-approved only / included in the fee]
OWNERSHIP, CONFIDENTIALITY, AND OFF-LIMITS
•Candidate records generated for these searches belong to [the Client / the
Contractor: decide and write it down]
•The Contractor will not disclose the existence of a confidential search
•The Contractor will not approach employees of the Client for [number] months
after the term ends
•The Contractor will comply with all applicable data protection and
anti-discrimination requirements in outreach and screening
CLASSIFICATION NOTE (read this before signing)
Misclassification is the single most expensive mistake in this document. The
Department of Labor tests the employment relationship by economic reality rather
than by the label on the contract, weighing the degree of control, the
permanence of the relationship, the worker's investment and opportunity for
profit or loss, the skill and initiative involved, and how integral the work is
to the business. A firm running its own process against a defined deliverable
looks like a vendor. Someone working your requisitions on your schedule, using
your systems, with daily activity targets and no other clients, looks like an
employee no matter what the paperwork says. Issue Form 1099-NEC where required.
For payments made on or after January 1, 2026, the reporting threshold is
$2,000. State tests are often stricter than the federal one, so check yours.
This is general information, not legal advice.
SIGNATURES
Client: __ Date: ___
Contractor: __ Date: ___
Writing the Commission Plan Into the Job
On a producing desk the commission plan is the job description. A headhunter reading your posting is calculating what a normal year pays, and a posting that hides the plan behind competitive compensation gets read as a plan the firm is ashamed of.
State four mechanics and you are ahead of most of the market: the base, the commission percentage and what it applies to, the threshold before commission starts, and when commission is considered earned. The fourth is the one that produces disputes, because a placement can be offered in one quarter, started in the next, and invoiced in the one after that.
Plan element
Common structures
What the posting should say
Commission base
Percentage of net fee, or of gross profit on contract placements
Which one, and how it is calculated
Rate
Flat percentage, or tiered by cumulative billings
The tiers and the reset period
Threshold
Monthly or quarterly billings before commission starts
The number and how it is measured
Draw
Recoverable or non-recoverable during ramp
Which type, the amount, and the duration
Earning event
Offer acceptance, start date, invoice, or cash collection
The exact trigger, stated once and clearly
Fall-off treatment
Clawback or adjustment inside the guarantee period
The guarantee length and what happens to paid commission
Leaver treatment
Pending placements paid, prorated, or forfeited
The rule, agreed in writing before day one
Then hold the seat to numbers once it is filled. Contacts made, response rate, candidates presented per role, presentation to interview conversion, and placements are the chain that shows where a slow desk is actually stuck. Our guide to recruitment KPIs covers the measurement side, and recruitment costs covers what a placement is worth on the buyer side of the same transaction.
Overtime, Commission, and Contractor Risk
Classification on a search desk turns on duties and salary, never on how someone is paid. A headhunter exercising independent judgment about search strategy, candidate selection, and offer advice can meet the administrative exemption, which requires at least $684 per week ($35,568 a year) on a salary basis plus the duties test.
A scripted desk or a research associate usually fails that test and is non-exempt, which means hours tracked and overtime paid past forty in a week. If you are unsure which side a seat falls on, our breakdown of exempt versus non-exempt classification works through the tests in order.
A commission plan does not decide exempt status
The exemption test looks at salary and duties, and nothing else. To be exempt under the administrative exemption a headhunter must be paid at least $684 per week ($35,568 a year) on a salary basis and must have a primary duty involving the exercise of independent judgment on matters of significance. A consultant who sets search strategy, decides which candidates a client sees, and advises on offer structure usually clears that bar. A desk working a script, hitting a call quota, and escalating every decision usually does not, however the commission plan is designed. The mistake that costs money is assuming that a big earner must be exempt. Classify the seat on what the day contains, write the classification into the posting, and revisit it when the duties change. This is general information, not legal advice.
Non-exempt commission changes the overtime math
If the seat is non-exempt, commission does not sit outside the overtime calculation. Commission earned in a workweek is part of the regular rate, which means the overtime premium has to be recalculated once the commission is known and paid retroactively for the weeks it covers. The Section 7(i) exemption that lets some commissioned employees skip overtime applies only to retail and service establishments, and a staffing or search firm is not one, so do not reach for it. Track hours for every non-exempt desk, including the evening calls that catch candidates after work. The recordkeeping obligation is yours, not the employee’s, and reconstructed timesheets are worth very little when someone asks for them.
Earned commission is usually wages
Most states treat commission as wages once it is earned, which brings mandatory payout timing, restrictions on deductions, and penalties for late payment. The plan document has to define the earning event precisely: at offer acceptance, at candidate start date, at client invoice, or at cash collection. Each choice is defensible and each produces a different answer when someone resigns mid-cycle, so write down what happens to commission on placements that start after the recruiter leaves. Clawbacks for fall-offs inside a guarantee period are common in search, but they need to be in the written plan, signed, and consistent with state deduction rules. A verbal plan is a dispute waiting for a trigger.
Contractor status is decided by economic reality
Engaging a headhunter on 1099 is legitimate when they run their own process against a deliverable, carry their own tools and overhead, and work for other clients. It stops being legitimate when you set the schedule, assign daily activity targets, supply the systems, and treat the person as a member of the team without other work. The Department of Labor weighs control, permanence, investment, opportunity for profit or loss, skill and initiative, and how integral the work is to the business. Several states apply stricter tests than the federal one. The reporting threshold for Form 1099-NEC is $2,000 for payments made on or after January 1, 2026. Decide honestly before the engagement starts, because reclassification is retroactive.
Two traps catch search firms specifically. The first is the Section 7(i) commission exemption, which applies to retail and service establishments and not to staffing or search firms, so it will not rescue a non-exempt commissioned desk from overtime. The second is contractor status: the Department of Labor tests the employment relationship by economic reality rather than by the contract, and a 1099 headhunter working your requisitions on your schedule is an employee. Both rules sit under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which covers firms of every size.
What to Pay a Headhunter
There is no federal wage figure for the title, because the Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish headhunter, or recruiter of any kind, as a separate occupation. Recruiters are counted inside human resources specialists, and the survey does not separate agency desks from corporate ones inside that classification.
Two Benchmarks, Because a Desk Pays Like Both
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), human resources specialists (SOC 13-1071) had a national median wage of $75,940 a year, or $36.51 an hour, with an annual ladder of $47,180 at the 10th percentile, $58,610 at the 25th, $99,380 at the 75th, and $128,720 at the 90th. Sales representatives of services (SOC 41-3091), the closest commission-weighted comparison, had a median of $69,990 with a ladder from $37,980 at the 10th percentile to $148,840 at the 90th. Human resources managers (SOC 11-3121), the reference for a practice lead, had a median of $149,280 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS national estimates).
Read the ladder rather than the median. The sales classification has a wider spread than the HR one at both ends, which is exactly what variable pay does to a distribution: a weaker year lands below the HR median and a strong one lands well above it. Set the base deliberately low or deliberately high, and say which you did.
Seat
Base benchmark anchor (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
What sits on top of the anchor
Research / sourcing associate
$47,180 to $58,610, the 10th to 25th percentile
Team bonus; non-exempt, so overtime as well
Agency headhunter, first desk
$58,610 to $75,940, the 25th percentile to the median
Commission above a threshold, often with a ramp draw
Agency headhunter, established desk
Around the median, $75,940
Commission carrying most of total earnings
Technical headhunter
$75,940 to $99,380, the median to the 75th percentile
Higher fees per placement in scarce skill markets
Retained or boutique consultant
$99,380, the 75th percentile
Share of billed fees plus origination credit
Executive headhunter, senior producer
$128,720, the 90th percentile
Fee share on larger mandates; sales ladder reaches $148,840
Practice lead or desk manager
$149,280, the HR managers median
Override on team production rather than personal billings
Publish a good-faith range where pay transparency laws apply, and state explicitly whether the range is base or on-target earnings. On a search desk those two numbers can differ by a factor of two, and a candidate who discovers the gap at offer stage usually walks and tells people why.
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Off-Limits and Confidentiality Language Every Search Posting Needs
Two obligations belong in every headhunter posting and in the employment agreement behind it: confidentiality about searches, and respect for off-limits commitments made to clients. Both are hard to teach after a hire and expensive to discover afterward.
Off-limits agreements restrict which companies a firm may approach, usually covering current clients for the life of the relationship plus a stated period. A headhunter who recruits out of a client loses the client, not the candidate, and in a small market that is a material share of revenue. State the obligation in the posting so nobody arrives assuming their old target list travels with them.
Outreach Is Recruiting, and Recruiting Is Regulated
Direct approach feels informal, which is exactly why it drifts. Federal equal employment law applies to sourcing and outreach as much as to interviews: targeting a candidate list built around age, sex, race, national origin, religion, or disability is unlawful even when no application is ever filed, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission treats recruitment and advertising practices as covered conduct. Age is the live risk in executive search, where protection starts at forty. Write requirements as demonstrable competencies rather than year counts, avoid graduation-year and maximum-experience filters, apply the same screening questions to everyone on a search, and keep the record of who was considered and why. This is general information, not legal advice.
Screening for this is possible if you ask directly. Ask about a confidential search the candidate ran and what they told people about why the role was open. Standard background check practice applies here as to any hire, and a reference from a client rather than a manager tells you more.
Hiring a Headhunter Without an HR Department
Small search firms fail at this hire in three predictable places: the posting oversells the desk, the compensation plan never gets written down, and the paperwork lands on whoever is least busy. Each has a fix.
The posting describes a desk that does not exist yet
Small firms write the job they wish they had. The posting promises an established client base, research support, and a warm pipeline, and the new headhunter arrives to find a list of lapsed contacts and a shared inbox. That hire leaves inside six months and takes the ramp investment with them. Write what is actually there: how many active clients, how many live roles, who does the research, what data you pay for, and how much of the week is business development versus delivery. A headhunter who accepts a hard desk with clear eyes will stay through the hard part. One who was sold a soft desk will not, and the reference they give afterward is expensive in a small market.
The compensation plan is explained in a conversation and never written down
On a producing desk the plan is the job, and a plan that lives only in a conversation produces a dispute within the year. Put the mechanics in the offer: the base, the commission percentage, the threshold, the draw and whether it is recoverable, the earning event, the payment timing, the treatment of fall-offs inside the guarantee period, and what happens to commission on placements that start after someone resigns. Publish a good-faith range where pay transparency rules apply, and say clearly whether the range is base or on-target earnings. Those two numbers can differ by a factor of two on a search desk, and a candidate who discovers the difference at offer stage walks.
Every new hire is also an administrative burden the firm has not planned for
A small search firm hires in bursts and drops the paperwork on whoever has a free afternoon: offer letter, commission plan acknowledgment, confidentiality and off-limits agreement, data protection terms, tooling access, payroll forms, handbook sign-off. FirstHR was built for exactly this. The onboarding wizard runs the same sequence for every hire, e-signature covers the offer and the commission plan acknowledgment, document management stores the signed originals against each employee profile, and task workflows hand the pieces that belong to other people to those people. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR. Note that FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a payroll provider.
The screening discipline you want is the one you are hiring for. Ask for two placements the candidate personally sourced, and for the message they sent to the person who got hired. That single question separates originators from processors faster than any interview scorecard. Our guide to talent sourcing covers what a real sourcing path looks like, and passive candidates covers the population a headhunter lives in.
Key Takeaways
A headhunter originates candidates by direct approach rather than processing applicants, so the posting has to state the direction of travel in the first paragraph or it attracts the wrong half of the market.
The fee model decides the job: contingency desks carry activity targets, business development, and commission, while retained engagements carry written specifications, market maps, and delivery quality.
State the commission plan in the posting: base, percentage, threshold, draw, earning event, payment timing, fall-off treatment, and what happens to pending placements when someone resigns.
Classification turns on duties and salary, not on the commission plan: the administrative exemption needs $684 a week ($35,568 a year) plus independent judgment, and research associates are almost always non-exempt.
The Section 7(i) retail commission exemption does not cover search or staffing firms, so a non-exempt commissioned desk is owed overtime with commission included in the regular rate.
Recruiters sit inside human resources specialists (SOC 13-1071) at a median of $75,940 with a 90th percentile of $128,720, while the commission-weighted comparison, sales representatives of services (SOC 41-3091), spreads from $37,980 to $148,840 (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
A search desk starts with more paperwork than most hires: the offer, the commission plan acknowledgment, the confidentiality and off-limits agreement, and system access. FirstHR runs the same onboarding sequence every time, with e-signature for the agreements, document storage for the signed originals, and task workflows for the steps that belong to other people. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
A headhunter finds and converts people who are not applying for anything. The work starts with market mapping: identifying which companies produce the talent a client needs and who sits in those seats. Then comes direct outreach by phone, email, and message to people who are currently employed and were not looking, followed by qualification against a live requirement, presentation to the client, interview management, and offer and resignation support. The distinguishing feature is direction of travel. A recruiter processing applicants works with people who raised their hand. A headhunter works with people who did not, which is why the seat is measured on contacts made and candidates originated rather than on time to review an application queue. Counter-offer management matters more here than anywhere else in hiring, because the candidate had a job they were content with when the conversation started.
What is the difference between a headhunter and a recruiter?
The difference that matters is the fee model and the sourcing method, not the vocabulary. Headhunter usually describes agency work paid on contingency, where nothing is earned until a candidate starts and the desk competes with other firms and with the client’s own pipeline on the same role. Recruiter is broader and often means an in-house seat on salary, running a requisition load through an applicant pipeline with screening, scheduling, and offer administration included. The second difference is where candidates come from: a headhunter originates them by direct approach, while an in-house recruiter usually converts inbound applicants and referrals first. Those differences change the job description substantially. The headhunter posting carries activity targets, a commission plan, and business development. The in-house posting carries requisition load, stakeholder management, and hiring process ownership. Write for the model you actually operate.
How are headhunters paid?
Most headhunters are paid a modest base plus commission, with the commission carrying the majority of total earnings on a producing desk. Contingency firms typically charge a percentage of the placed candidate’s first-year base salary and pay the recruiter a share of that fee or of gross profit, often above a monthly or quarterly threshold and sometimes against a recoverable draw during ramp. Retained firms bill in installments across the engagement and pay consultants a share of billed fees plus origination credit for clients they bring in. The details that cause disputes are always the same four: when the commission is earned, when it is paid, what happens if the placement falls inside the guarantee period, and what happens to pending placements when someone resigns. Put all four in a written, signed plan before the first day, because most states treat earned commission as wages.
Are headhunters exempt from overtime?
It depends on duties and salary, not on the commission plan. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act the administrative exemption requires a salary of at least $684 per week ($35,568 a year) and a primary duty involving the exercise of independent judgment on matters of significance. A headhunter who sets search strategy, decides which candidates a client sees, and advises on offer structure generally meets that test. A desk working a call script under close supervision, and a research or sourcing associate, generally does not, which makes those seats non-exempt: hourly, overtime-eligible past forty hours in a week, with hours recorded. For a non-exempt commissioned recruiter, commission earned in a week counts toward the regular rate, so the overtime premium has to be recalculated once the commission is known. The Section 7(i) retail commission exemption does not cover search or staffing firms. This is general information, not legal advice.
How much does a headhunter make?
There is no federal wage figure for the title, because the Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish headhunter, or recruiter of any kind, as a separate occupation. Recruiters are counted inside human resources specialists (SOC 13-1071), which had a national median wage of $75,940 a year according to the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), with an annual ladder running $47,180 at the 10th percentile, $58,610 at the 25th, $99,380 at the 75th, and $128,720 at the 90th. Because a producing desk pays partly in commission, the closest structural comparison is sales representatives of services (SOC 41-3091), with a median of $69,990 and a 90th percentile of $148,840, a wider spread that reflects variable pay. Benchmark the base below the median on a commission-heavy desk and state on-target earnings separately, with the assumptions behind the number.
Can I hire a headhunter as an independent contractor?
Yes, when the engagement genuinely looks like a vendor relationship, and no when it looks like employment with different paperwork. The Department of Labor tests the relationship by economic reality rather than by the contract, weighing control over the work, permanence, the worker’s investment and opportunity for profit or loss, skill and initiative, and how integral the work is to your business. A headhunter running their own process against a defined deliverable, using their own tools, working for other clients, and billing per placement is a contractor. Someone working your requisitions on your schedule with daily activity targets, using your systems, with no other clients, is an employee whatever the agreement says. Several states apply stricter tests than the federal one. Form 1099-NEC reporting applies at $2,000 for payments made on or after January 1, 2026. Use a scope of work rather than a job description when the engagement is genuinely contract.
What should a headhunter job description include?
Seven things, and most postings state fewer than half of them. The fee model (contingency, engaged, or retained) and the average fee size. The desk shape: full desk with business development, or delivery only against someone else’s clients. Outbound activity expectations as real numbers rather than as adjectives. The sector or function the desk covers and the seniority band it works at. The compensation plan in plain terms: base, commission percentage, threshold, draw, earning event, and payment timing. The FLSA classification. And the confidentiality and off-limits obligations that come with client work. Add the equal opportunity statement, name a real person to apply to, and ask for two roles the candidate personally sourced and closed. FirstHR handles the onboarding sequence once the offer is signed. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
