Stop Messaging Headhunters Who Can't Help

Senior execs who message 200 firms get 3 replies; 3 quick checks fix that.

Inside this issue:

- The 3 checks that decide whether a headhunter can actually help you (most execs skip 2)

- Why 20 targeted messages beat 200, from someone who sits on the other side of the desk

- 🔒 The Headhunter Fit Scanner: paste a screenshot of any consultant’s bio, get a go or skip score in seconds

You pulled a list of 50 headhunters in your sector.

You sent all 50 the same note.

Only 3 replied, and none of them runs a search you’d want.

I’m one of those headhunters. I see it every week.

Most executives think the way to get headhunted is to reach out to as many headhunters as possible.

Wrong.

Volume is the thing killing your reply rate.

I lead the global life sciences practice at a top 10 retained firm. I run searches in LinkedIn Recruiter every day. And my inbox fills with notes from sharp, senior people I have no way to help.

These are strong operators. They just don’t fit anything live on my desk.

Why most messages get a slow no

A headhunter can only call you for a search that’s open right now.

A consultant like me fills about 10 roles a year, and runs 4 to 8 searches at any one time. Each one has a fixed brief: this industry, this level, this region. Sit outside all of them and there’s nothing to talk about, however strong your track record.

So when a wave of senior people message me and only a handful match my live work, the rest get a slow no. Fit decides the reply. The wording barely moves it.

That’s why 20 targeted contacts beat 200 random ones, every time.

The 3 checks before you contact a headhunter

Just 3 things decide whether a headhunter can help you. Check all 3 before you send a word.

1. Industry, often sub-industry

Search firms organize around practices. A practice is a group of consultants who specialize in one or more industries.

The energy practice runs mostly energy searches. The automotive practice runs automotive.

Life sciences is where executives get caught. Inside it, most consultants narrow further: pharma, or biotech, or medical devices. A life sciences generalist is not the same as a dedicated medtech practice.

The test: if you’re a pharma commercial leader and you write to a consultant who only fills medical device roles, they can’t help you. Right industry on paper. Wrong sub-industry in practice.

One more split. If your role cuts across sectors, like finance, HR, or legal, target the functional practice. If your role lives inside one sector, like sales or P&L leadership, target the industry practice.

2. Level

Some consultants only run C-level and board searches. Some take the occasional C-suite role at a big company but mostly fill C-level seats at mid-sized and smaller ones. Some only run VP and director mandates.

The test: a VP writing to a consultant who places only board directors is a mismatch. So is a sitting CEO writing to someone whose roles top out at director.

The rough rule: C-suite and board sit with the big retained firms and the top alliances. Plenty of VP and director roles sit better with strong sector boutiques.

3. Location

Most consultants own one country or one region: EMEIA, North America, Latin America, APAC. A few run global mandates. Most don’t.

The test: a consultant who places executives in Germany can’t hand you a role in Singapore.

The fix: screen before you send

The fix: stop sending. Start screening.

Before you contact a single headhunter, read their bio and check it against your industry, your level, and your region. All 3 have to match, and 2 out of 3 is a no.

Here’s the friction. The bios are public, sitting on every firm’s website. But they’re written to sell the firm to clients, not to help you screen. The practice, the level, the region are buried in soft language, 3 paragraphs deep, when they’re there at all. Reading 40 of them by hand is a weekend you won’t get back.

So I built a prompt that does it in seconds.

The Headhunter Fit Scanner