“The only thing that matters in the headhunting business is that you know important people in a certain industry very well, and that they know you. If you have a good relationship with 60 managers, in two-three weeks you will know them all,” said George Butunoiu, one of the best-known headhunters in Romania.
Butunoiu has no doubt that he can get in touch with any top manager in Romania with two or three phone calls. According to the headhunter, in more than 90 percent of the cases, the recruitment decision is extremely subjective, which means that it is not necessary to have special human resource (HR) skills, only experience as a manager and connections to get to the right people.
Anca Podoleanu, former HR Manager of Vodafone Romania, started her own consultancy business six months ago, of which headhunting activity makes up about 30 percent.
“The crisis is the best time to start a business, if you have the courage and you know what you want. In consultancy, networking is extremely important,” Podoleanu said. The official’s initial investment was some €20,000, and now she has the pleasant surprise of seeing the business evolving better than expected.
The fee collected by headhunters usually depends on the annual gross salary of the manager he or she recruits. In good times, this percentage amounted to 30 percent, although it has fallen dramatically lately.
