A funding round
could be your next mandate.

01

How do headhunters usually find new clients?

For independent headhunters and senior search consultants, new clients rarely come from cold calls. More often, they come from watching a few familiar sectors closely, noticing which companies are expanding, and working their network to reach the person who has the final say. Broadly, it comes down to five steps:

1. Watch for signals

   Funding news, new roles on a company’s careers page, leadership changes, new business lines and new plants can all be signs that a company is about to hire.

2. Check they really are hiring

   A role on a careers page is not a mandate. First find out whether it is still open, whether the headcount has been approved and why they are hiring now.

3. Find the hiring manager

   Work out who leads the team, who has the final say, and which part of the process HR owns.

4. Find a route to an introduction

   Decide whether to go direct or ask for an introduction. Among your long-standing clients, the investors you know and your former colleagues, who knows the hiring manager well enough to put in a word?

5. Do your homework before you talk

   Learn what the company does and who the team is missing before you reach out. You are more likely to be taken seriously than if you mass-mail a CV.

02

The hard part isn’t making the call. It’s knowing who to call.

• Signals are scattered

  Funding news is in the media, roles are on careers pages, people moves are on professional networking platforms. It is hard for one person to check them all every day.

• The details don’t line up

  The same company goes by different names in different places, and the same person has different titles on different platforms. Reconciling them takes a lot of time.

• The moment is easy to miss

  By the time you notice a company is hiring, another consultant may already be in talks with them.

• Research doesn’t stick

  The companies and people you looked into last time are scattered across notes and spreadsheets, so next time you start again from scratch.

03

How does HunterBuddy help with business development?

Here again is the Xingchuan Robotics example from our homepage, one step at a time.

1. Checks your sectors every week

   Tell it which sectors and companies you follow, and have it check for you on a schedule, say every Monday at 9 a.m. When a company raises funding, posts a new role on its careers page or has a change of leadership, it lets you know. Duplicates are merged, and when there is nothing new, it leaves you alone.

   Xingchuan RoboticsThis Monday, it lets you know that Xingchuan Robotics has just raised a Series B.

2. Matches up the news

   It reads the funding news alongside the careers page on the company’s website, to confirm both are about the same company and the same event. Every conclusion names its source, so you can click through to the original.

   Xingchuan RoboticsXingchuan’s careers page has added a Head of Computer Vision role, and both sources line up: the careers page and the funding news.

3. BD client research: is it worth pursuing?

   It puts the funding news, the founding team, the open roles and other business signals side by side to judge whether the need is real, whether they can afford a search fee and whether working together carries any risk, then maps out the decision chain and priorities. Whatever is backed by a source names it. Whatever is not is marked “To confirm”.

   Xingchuan RoboticsReal need and ability to pay are both backed by sources: a fresh Series B and a new role on the careers page. Risk to the relationship is still to confirm: whether they have worked with headhunters before, and who signs off, is not yet clear.

4. Finds the hiring manager

   It finds the person who leads the team from public information. Anything without a reliable source is marked “To confirm”, and guesses are never passed off as facts.

   Xingchuan RoboticsQing Xu, the Technical Lead in charge of the vision team, is very likely the hiring manager for this role. Her direct contact details are still to confirm.

5. Finds an introduction in your network

   It checks your clients and contacts for anyone who knows the hiring manager well enough to put in a word, and lists that route along with the reasons.

   Xingchuan RoboticsYuan Zhang is a long-standing client of yours and also an investor in Xingchuan. You could ask him for an introduction.

• Role found · 2 sourcesNew on the careers page: Head of Computer Vision

  The careers page and the funding news agree.

• BD client research · SourcedReal need, ability to pay

  A fresh Series B and a new role on the careers page. Risk to the relationship: to confirm.

• Possible hiring managerQing Xu · Technical Lead

  Leads the vision team. Direct contact details to confirm.

• Backup · Route to an introductionYuan Zhang → Qing Xu

  A long-standing client of yours, and a Xingchuan investor.

04

What do you get, and what is yours to confirm?

A lead on a role that two sources agree on, a person who is very likely the hiring manager, and a backup route to an introduction. Whether to go direct or ask for an introduction, and what to say, is your call. Only once you have the job description (JD) and have agreed a mandate does it become one of your live searches.

Every company, role and person researched this time is saved, ready to build on when you map the org chart and look for candidates next.

• Is the role really open? Has the headcount been approved?
• Contact Qing Xu directly, or ask Yuan Zhang for an introduction?
• Will it be exclusive, and how will you negotiate the fee?

HunterBuddy never contacts anyone on your behalf, and never makes promises for you.