A message reached me on LinkedIn last week from a “Senior Talent Partner” at a company I’d actually heard of. A wonderful remote role, they said, salary well north of what the work would really pay – and could we carry the conversation on over WhatsApp? When I looked a little closer, the reply address was a Gmail account. I didn’t write back, because whatever that was, it wasn’t a headhunter.
I understand why people do reply, though. Most of us were never taught how the hiring world above the job boards actually works. Headhunting sounds glamorous and slightly mysterious; the traditional recruitment agency can feel like a black box; and into that gap the scammers have poured an extraordinary amount of effort, because a confused job seeker is an easy target. So let me pull it apart – what a real headhunter actually does, how it differs from the recruitment you already know, how you get onto their radar honestly, and how to recognise the fakes on sight.
What does a headhunter actually do?
The single thing to understand is this: a headhunter goes looking for people who aren’t looking for a job.
Traditional recruitment waits for applications. You see a posting, you send your CV, an agency or an in-house recruiter sifts the pile. Headhunting – the industry calls it executive search – works the other way round. A company hires a search firm to find the best possible person for a senior or hard-to-fill role, and that person is usually someone already employed, doing well, and not remotely thinking about moving. These roles are often confidential and rarely advertised anywhere. The best candidate, as one search firm put it, is generally “happy where they are” – and gets approached discreetly, sometimes months before anyone announces the job exists.
So a real headhunter isn’t sorting applicants. They’re mapping a market, identifying specific individuals, and opening a careful conversation with people who never applied.
Retained vs contingency search: what’s the difference?
Within that world there are two models, and the difference tells you a lot about how seriously a search is being run.
Retained search is the exclusive, high-end version. One firm is engaged, paid in instalments regardless of outcome, and tasked with running a deep, structured process – a detailed brief, market mapping, confidential outreach, rigorous assessment, a shortlist of four to six, and often support through the new hire’s first hundred days. Fees run to roughly 25–35% of first-year salary. This is how C-suite, board and mission-critical roles are filled, where confidentiality and fit matter more than speed.
Contingency search is faster and more transactional: “no placement, no fee.” Several agencies may chase the same role at once, and only the one who lands the hire gets paid – typically 20–25%. It’s common for mid-level positions and moves at pace.
Both approach passive candidates; both live on research and networks. The difference is depth, exclusivity and who carries the risk. Worth knowing which you’re dealing with, because a genuine retained search will feel unhurried, thorough and human – the opposite of a rushed, too-good-to-be-true pitch.
How do you get on a headhunter’s radar?
Here’s the part people most want, and it’s also where the mindset has to shift. You cannot apply your way to a headhunter. You become findable to one.
A few things genuinely move the needle:
- Be visibly good at one clear thing. Search consultants map markets by specialism. A profile that says precisely what you do, backed by evidence, is far easier to find and shortlist than a vague generalist one.
- Keep a real, active professional presence. A LinkedIn profile with a genuine history, endorsements from people you’ve actually worked with, and the occasional substantive post is how a researcher confirms you’re real and current.
- Build a track record that shows up elsewhere. Headhunters look for people delivering results where they are now. Talks, writing, projects with your name on them – anything that exists outside your own profile – is corroboration.
- Be reachable and be gracious. The candidate who takes a five-minute call even when they’re not looking is the one who gets remembered when the right role lands. Say no warmly; stay on the map.
- For remote and international roles, make your reach explicit. If you can work across borders, say so plainly – time zones you cover, languages, right to work. The market for genuinely global remote talent is real, and easy to be overlooked for if it’s ambiguous.
None of that is a trick. It’s simply being demonstrably good and quietly reachable, over time.
How to spot a fake recruiter
Now the part that prompted this piece. Alongside the real industry sits a booming scam economy, and in 2026 it’s more convincing than ever, with AI-generated profile photos, deepfake video calls, and automated chat that keeps a “recruiter” talking day and night. The targets are often exactly our audience: people open to remote and international work, where a foreign company is harder to verify.
Here is the one rule that cuts through almost all of it: real hiring stays on professional channels. A genuine recruiter reaches you by LinkedIn, company email, phone or a proper video call. The moment a conversation jumps to WhatsApp, Telegram or personal text – and especially when the “company” email is a Gmail, Outlook or a look-alike domain rather than the company’s own – you are almost certainly not talking to a real recruiter. No recruiter at a real company emails you from Gmail. Full stop.
At a glance, here’s the same thing side by side:
| Real recruiter | Scam / fake | |
|---|---|---|
| First contact | LinkedIn, company email, phone | WhatsApp, Telegram, out-of-the-blue text |
| Email address | The company’s own domain ([email protected]) | Gmail, Outlook, or a look-alike domain |
| Interview | Video or phone, real people, real questions | Text-only, or “hired” with no interview at all |
| The role | Listed on the company’s own careers page | Nowhere official; vague, and suspiciously overpaid |
| Money & data | Never asks you to pay; no bank details before a signed offer | Buy your own kit, cash a cheque and refund the difference, share ID/bank up front |
| The profile | Real history, genuine connections, endorsements | Days old, few connections, a too-perfect photo |
The other reliable red flags:
- An “offer” with no real interview – text-only, no video, no one who can answer detailed questions about the role.
- Pay that’s well above market for a vague job description, and pressure to decide fast.
- A profile that’s days old, with a handful of connections and a headshot that’s a touch too perfect (run it through a reverse image search).
- Being asked to buy your own equipment and “get reimbursed,” or to deposit a cheque and send back the difference – always a fake-cheque theft.
- Any request for your ID, bank details or national insurance / social security number before a signed, verified offer exists.
If in any doubt, verify independently: find the role on the company’s own careers page by typing the address yourself rather than clicking their link; check the email domain letter by letter; call the company’s main number from its website and ask if the person and the role are real. And if it doesn’t hold up, don’t engage further – block and report it.
I’ve written a fuller guide to this, because the tactics keep evolving and they prey on hope: Remote work scams: spotting fakes, frauds and exploitation. If you’re job-hunting, it’s worth ten minutes.
Where to find legitimate recruiters
The frustrating irony is that while the fakes flood your inbox, the genuine opportunities can feel out of reach. So let me point you at a real one.
We work with a vetted recruiter who is actively hiring European talent for US companies – with a particular appetite right now for AI-native and technical professionals: developers, data, engineering and adjacent skills. It’s exactly what a legitimate pathway looks like: a named partner, a proper process, real roles, and not a Gmail address in sight. If you’re based in Europe, fluent with modern tools, and open to remote work with US firms, you can put your name forward here:
Register your interest → remoteworkeurope.eu/remote-jobs-us-companies
And when a genuine interview does come around, make it count – here’s how to succeed at a remote interview.
The hiring world above the job boards isn’t closed to you. It just runs on being visible, being verifiable, and knowing – the instant a “recruiter” slides into your WhatsApp from a Gmail account – that the real ones simply don’t work that way.
Ever thought about doing this work yourself? Recruitment and executive search are far more remote-friendly than most people realise – here’s a look at the careers, and how to break in.
Frequently asked questions
Do headhunters charge candidates? No. A real headhunter or recruiter is paid by the employer, never by you. Anyone asking you to pay for placement, “training,” verification or equipment is running a scam.
Can a real recruiter contact me on WhatsApp? Rarely – and almost never as a first, unsolicited approach. Genuine recruiters reach you on LinkedIn, company email or the phone. An out-of-the-blue WhatsApp or Telegram message, especially paired with a Gmail address, is one of the clearest scam signals there is.
What’s the difference between a recruiter and a headhunter? A recruiter usually works from applications to fill advertised roles. A headhunter (executive search) proactively approaches specific people who aren’t advertising themselves as available – usually for senior or hard-to-fill positions.
How do headhunters find candidates? Through research and networks: they “market-map” a role, then reach out directly. They find you – you don’t apply to them. Being visibly good at a clear specialism, with a real professional presence, is how you get onto their radar.
Can you get headhunted for a remote job? Yes, and increasingly so – cross-border and fully remote roles are a growing part of the market. Make your remote availability explicit (the time zones you cover, your languages, your right to work) so a search consultant can find you for them.
