Behind the Curtain: How to handle executive search firms

In the years I spent conducting thousands of agency interviews as a senior search consultant, I developed a comprehensive list of the ways candidates undermine themselves in conversations with recruiters. The most striking thing about that list is how consistent it was. The same mistakes, made by different people, over and over again.

Most of them stemmed from a single misunderstanding, that a recruiter is on your side. They are not. They may be warm, informal, entertaining company. You may have met them for coffee several times. You may genuinely like them. None of that changes the fundamental dynamic. A recruiter is a first-stage interviewer. Their job is to identify candidates who will close quickly and stay in the role. Your job is to understand that, and to behave accordingly.

Know which kind of recruiter you are dealing with

Not all recruiters are the same, and the differences matter. An in-house talent acquisition professional works directly for the organisation trying to hire you. Their objective is straightforward; find the best person for this role. If you’re applying directly, their interests align meritocratically with yours. All you need to do is convince them you’re a great candidate.

An agency recruiter is a different proposition. Their commercial priority is a placement fee, which will have been drummed into them by managers who make the sergeant from Full Metal Jacket look like the teacher from Good Will Hunting. The fastest route to that fee is not necessarily the best outcome for you or for their client. They will typically try to establish a salary baseline early in the conversation, anchor you to a figure, and then close the employer at that number. When they tell you that their commission percentage means it is in their interest to push your salary higher, that is technically true and practically irrelevant. Their interest is in closing the deal quickly. The difference between a 2% uplift on your salary and a faster placement almost always resolves in favour of speed.

Executive search consultants, sometimes called headhunters, operate differently again. They are retained by the client organisation, typically on an exclusive basis, to find the best available candidate for a specific role. They have a genuine interest in quality because their reputation depends on it. They are also, however, still working for the client rather than for you. Understanding whose agenda you are actually serving in any given conversation is the foundation of working with recruiters effectively.

What not to say, and why

The most damaging things candidates say to recruiters are almost always said in moments of misplaced candour. An informal setting, the friendly manner, the shared drinks at a networking event; these can all create the impression of a conversation that is off the record. It is not. Here are the specific areas where senior candidates most reliably hand the advantage to the other side of the table.

• Where else you are interviewing. This recruiter is looking for leads, not making conversation. The best answer is that you are keeping your process confidential, delivered pleasantly and without apology.

  
  

• Salary, handled poorly. Refusing to discuss salary at all tends to end conversations. But there is a significant difference between giving a thoughtful answer and anchoring yourself too early to a specific number. Use broad market ranges to buy yourself negotiation time. Make clear that you are looking for the right role at the right level, and that compensation will follow from that.

  
  

• Any version of desperation. "At this point I’m open to most things." "I’d consider a step down if the role was interesting." This type of statement signals that your value as a candidate is low and your options are limited. Even if true, saying them out loud reduces both your credibility and your leverage immediately.

  
  

• Highlighting gaps or missing competencies. It happens with surprising regularity. A candidate, trying to manage expectations, volunteers a weakness or a gap in their experience before anyone has asked. "I’m not sure I have enough X for this role" is not a useful thing to say. Your job is to make the strongest possible case for your relevance, not the other way round.

  
  

• Long-term plans that do not include staying. A recruiter’s client is paying a significant fee on the assumption that the person placed will remain in the role for a reasonable period. If you mention plans that suggest otherwise, you are creating a risk that a recruiter has no incentive to carry.

  
  

• Negativity about a current or former employer. The recruiter you are talking to may have placed people at that organisation, or may want to in future. And candidates who speak disparagingly about former employers raise a question about how they will speak about their next one. Spin positive, always.

How to spot a good recruiter

The quality of recruiters varies enormously, and the variation is not always obvious. It’s worth finding out how long they have been in the role and at the firm. Longevity in recruitment, which has a notoriously high turnover, usually indicates someone who has built genuine client relationships rather than churning transactions. Do they seem to have a real understanding of the sector they are working in, or are they pattern-matching on keywords? Can they tell you something specific and credible about the client organisation beyond what is on the company website?

A good recruiter is a genuinely useful ally. They have inside knowledge of the role, the hiring manager and the process. They can prepare you properly, advocate for you in the right moments and give you honest feedback. They are worth investing in and worth being straight with. The dynamic is not adversarial, it is just not unconditionally friendly either. Treat it as a professional relationship between two parties with partially aligned interests, and you will navigate it well.

You are always being interviewed

The coffee meeting, the informal catch-up, the industry drinks where the recruiter happens to be are all assessment opportunities. The recruiter is noting how you present yourself, how you talk about your career and how you handle an open-ended conversation about where you want to go next. They are deciding whether they would be comfortable putting you in front of a client. Everything you say and how you say it contributes to that judgment.

This does not mean being guarded or performing. It means being consistent, clear and considered. Know your narrative before you walk into any conversation with a recruiter. Know what you are looking for, what you bring, and what you are worth. Be direct and reliable. Change your position as rarely as possible. And remember that the person sitting across from you, however casual the setting, is forming a view of you that will determine whether you ever meet their clients.

The recruiter is not the enemy

Understanding how recruiters work, what they want and what they respond to is not about gaming the process. It is about engaging with it clearly. The executives who do best with recruiters are the ones who are easy to place; well-prepared, straightforward about what they want, realistic about the market and consistent in how they present. None of that requires any kind of performance. It just requires understanding what kind of conversation you’re in and what the priorities are on both sides of the table.

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