Mumtaz Bhalla, a Delhi-based partner at Economic Laws Practice, had an amazing experience with a headhunter. She shares that the headhunter understood her expectations well and set up an interview accordingly. “One interview and I landed the perfect job,” she says. “You just have to be lucky to find the right person hunting for you.”
On the hiring side, Bhalla is happy with headhunters. “Hiring through a headhunter is lessening the margin of error and not burning bridges.”
Chaudhuri shares this positive view, noting that he has found headhunters to be “more diligent as business is concerned” and “better at sourcing candidates”.
“As a jobseeker over my career, I have found some who have really been interested in my story, while there are others who just want to get the right numbers in,” he says.
Malik agrees, saying headhunters “tend to follow up persistently without fully understanding the specific requirements of the position. This lack of precision can be frustrating and counterproductive.”
Mandal, sharing his mixed experience as an employer, says: “Some headhunters have shown strong domain knowledge and a real ability to read between the lines of a mandate, helping us identify the right fit quickly, especially for specialised or senior roles. However, there have also been instances where recruiters asked for excessive information, some of which felt unnecessary or commercially sensitive,” which slowed the process and raised confidentiality concerns.
As an employer, Singh worked with a medium-sized firm that, he felt, was more focused on closing the position quickly than on finding the right quality of candidate. Preferring in-house teams for hiring, he remarks, “In-house recruiters are more company focused, their vision is to see the hired person grow, they know better what the organisation needs.”
Adding nuance between the two options, Malik says: “Headhunters often have a broader network but lack the focus and energy to dig deep into the specific needs of the role. In-house teams, while understanding the company culture better, often lack the dynamism and resources to attract top talent.”