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Headhunting vs Recruiting: How Headhuntly Works

25 September 2026 · Updated 1 October 2026

Headhunting is not recruiting

Headhuntly headhunts rather than recruits: we approach people directly, whether or not they’re looking. There’s no job ad and no pile of applications to sort. We keep no candidate database, don’t screen candidates with AI or keyword software, and take one exclusive search at a time. A typical search runs three to six weeks, and placements that don’t survive probation get re-hunted.

That matters more now than it used to. AI is changing what senior marketing, digital, technology and C-suite leaders actually do, and new seats like the Chief AI Officer are being created from scratch. The people who can fill those seats are usually employed, often under a title that doesn’t describe the work. A keyword filter walks straight past them.

In this guide

In our experience, a fair amount of what gets sold as executive search is a recruitment process with a more expensive name on it. Post the role, wait for applications, sort the ones that land. There are plenty to sort: SEEK’s August 2026 employment report had applications per job ad at peak levels. That process works for hiring people who are already looking. It misses the small number of people who aren’t, and for a senior seat they’re usually the ones you want.

Headhuntly is based on the Gold Coast and hunts nationally. We don’t advertise the role. We go and find the specific people who could do it, whether or not they’ve thought about leaving, and start a conversation with them directly. The person you want for a Chief Marketing Officer or Chief AI Officer role is rarely on a job board and probably hasn’t touched their LinkedIn headline in a year.

Why we don’t let software screen candidates

A lot of hiring now runs through AI and applicant tracking software that scans CVs for keywords from the job ad, then ranks people by how many boxes they tick. It’s fast. We don’t use it, for candidates or for shortlists.

The people who change a business rarely have the CV a keyword filter is looking for. They’ve moved industries. Their current title doesn’t say what you’re hiring for. The best thing they’ve done, like rebuilding a marketing team around AI or running an automation rollout nobody else would own, often isn’t written in the words an algorithm is scanning against. A filter tuned for “AI strategy” passes over the COO who quietly did it and called it operations.

That gap is widest for AI-era roles. Titles like Chief AI Officer and AI Compliance Officer are new, so almost nobody has them on a CV. Finding the right person means understanding the role well enough to recognise the right background in an unfamiliar shape, then judging whether they’re actually good. That’s a headhunter’s job, done by a person.

Why doesn’t Headhuntly keep a candidate database?

Because a database only records who applied to something, somewhere, in the past. It tells you who was looking a year ago, and almost nothing about who’s good today. We don’t keep one, and we don’t work from one. Every search starts from the market as it stands right now: who’s doing the job well, at which company, and whether they’d take a call about doing it somewhere else.

That’s slower to set up than pulling a shortlist off a shelf. It’s also the point. A stored list optimises for speed, and with AI reshaping senior roles this quickly, an old list describes jobs that have since changed.

One client, one role, full focus

We take one search at a time: one client, one role, full attention until it’s filled. You won’t find us racing two other agencies on the same brief, or juggling a dozen open roles in the same week.

There’s no reason to settle for someone good enough before a competing firm does, because there is no competing firm on this brief.

How long does a Headhuntly search take?

A typical Headhuntly search runs three to six weeks from brief to shortlist. Most of that time goes into two things: getting to know the role and the business well enough to recognise the right fit on sight, including what AI is meant to change in the seat, and then finding and approaching the people who match. Most of them aren’t looking and haven’t updated a CV in years.

It’s not instant, and we don’t pretend it is.

What happens if a placement doesn’t work out?

Placements that don’t survive probation get re-hunted. That’s a standing commitment.

The track record

We’ve placed 50+ senior roles over the last five years, and 14 of our 29 clients have come back to hire again. Half of those placements were on base salaries of $150,000 or more.

Based on Headhuntly placements over the last five years. Small sample, base salary only, not a market survey.

We don’t place junior roles. Our work is senior marketing, digital, technology and C-suite leaders, the people now expected to bring AI fluency to the job, plus new AI titles as businesses create them. Headhunting earns its cost when the role is senior enough that getting it wrong is expensive, and reaching the right person any other way isn’t realistic. See our guides to hiring a CMO, a Chief AI Officer or an AI Compliance Officer for what that looks like role by role.

Frequently asked

What’s the actual difference between headhunting and recruiting? Recruiting works from people who applied or are on a database. Headhunting approaches people directly whether or not they’ve applied anywhere, which reaches candidates who aren’t actively looking.

Does Headhuntly use a candidate database? No. Every search starts fresh from who’s doing the job well right now. We don’t work from a list of past applicants.

Does Headhuntly use AI to screen candidates? No. We don’t run candidates through AI or ATS keyword screening. The people who change a business rarely have the CV a keyword filter is looking for, so every candidate is found and assessed by a person.

Will AI replace executive search? AI is good at screening CVs against keywords, which is the part of hiring we don’t think works for senior roles. Judging whether someone unfamiliar is right for a leadership seat still takes a person who understands the role.

Recruiter, headhunter, or promote from within

If a role can be filled well from people who are actively applying, or from inside your own business, that’s usually the cheaper and faster option, and you don’t need a headhunter for it. Headhunting is worth the cost when the right person isn’t applying anywhere, and the price of getting the hire wrong is high enough that finding them properly matters.

If you’re weighing up a headhunter against another round of job ads, tell us about the role and we’ll give you a straight answer on whether it needs one.

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