They're Coming For Your Head... But In The Best Way Possible

Last week I had an interesting experience on my hunt for a career. I had my first ever encounter with head-hunters (the business kind).

For those who don't know, head-hunters are kind of like an outsourced HR department. Companies have positions to fill and rather than do it themselves they find a head-hunting firm and ask them to find suitable candidates for them. It is also my understanding that job-seekers can also use head-hunters to help place them into the jobs they're looking for, but I don't know if that happens as often. Anyways, my experience deals with the former.

I'm not going to mention any names here, although I'm sure they wouldn't mind, but it's always better to be safe than sorry.

Here's my experience:

A friend who knows that I'm looking for work heard (really saw) someone tweet about a position he thought I may like and passed it along to me. I messaged the original tweeter and found out that he works for a head-hunting company (they call themselves "executive search and recruitment" but it's the same difference). I sent my resume out to this person and the next day he called and asked me if I could swing by their office later that afternoon. I said yes, despite being unprepared (or dressed) for an interview that day.

When I got there the atmosphere was a lot more relaxed than most interviews I had been to in the past. They said that this was more of a "get-to-know-me" type thing than an interview. They just wanted to get a feel for me to see if I was the right fit for this position they were trying to fill.

So, we chatted for a while. Both about job and non-job related things. I felt very comfortable during the whole thing, which is strange for me because interviews usually make me really nervous for no real reason.

Eventually I got to also meet the account holder for the position they were talking to me about, who was also nice. They gave me some tips on how to change my resume to more suit what their client was looking for, which I thought was amazing and very different than anything I was used to. I assume they did that because they liked me and wanted to pass me along to their client (but lets not get my hopes up).

I changed my resume to their specifications over the weekend and they told me it was much better (I liked my other one better, but they're the experts). So now I must play the waiting game.

Overall, my first experience with being head-hunted was really good. Whether I get the job is another story though.

I would now even consider possibly trying to find myself a head-hunter that will help me find the perfect job for me rather than waiting to be head-hunted for a job.

What are your thoughts on head-hunters?? Have you ever used one to hire someone or find yourself a job? Have you ever been head-hunted? Do you think it would be a good course of action if I tried to find one to help me find myself the perfect job?
Let me know in the comments section.