An executive recruiter will deal with those who are either already working or not and have access to companies that may be hiring but aren't willing to advertise on the open market. There are a lot of advantages you will have by going through an executive recruiter. They find opportunities for you, help you when interviewing, give a realistic view of the salary requirements, and process the whole thing confidentially, both for the employer and for the job applicant.

The good part about using an executive recruitment agency is that you do not pay the fee that they charge, the employer who is looking for an applicant pays it. A recruiter can be paid for making a short list of clients. The kind of success you have in the career field they open to you is relevant to how well they do in coming up with new applicants they can recruit.

The executive recruitment agent is one form of a professional that is called a headhunter. You don't have to be an executive to use headhunters, you just need to have a specialized area with recognizable achievements to your credit. If you are in a popular field, often headhunters might look for you even when you are not looking into moving from your job. Headhunters are used to take talent from one company to another, especially if the talent pool is limited.

If you've never worked with a recruiter, or headhunter, then your best bet would be to find executive recruitment agencies that specialize in placing people. You want to work with one recruiter only. If you are contacted by several recruiters from the same agency, let them know that you are already working with a recruiter in their agency. Since headhunters work on commission, they won't be happy if two people in the same office are presenting you to the same client for the same job. There will be a big disagreement over who got you first and who gets the commission, should an offer be extended.

The reputation of an executive recruitment agent is made by the placement of highly qualified people into a company. If the recruiter has done a good job with a company, they may be asked to find more applicants for a different job. While some recruiters are intimately familiar with the industry that they serve, many others are not. The quality of recruiters varies greatly.

If you are working with a recruiter that understands the employer, but not your area of expertise, you may actually need to educate them a little so that a perfect match is possible. No matter which agency you go through, many opportunities will be made available to you when you take advantage of the benefits of executive recruitment.