I am looking for a change into the commercial environment. In looking at potential services to assist me in my career search, I have found that there are two services I find difficult to differentiate between - the technical recruiter and the headhunter. To most people in our industry, there is no real difference between the terms technical recruiter and headhunter. A technical recruiter is an individual who specializes in locating and recruiting technically qualified candidates for their clients.
Many technical recruiters have hands-on technical.
Using the service of a recruiter costs the candidate nothing - the client pays all the fees. Incidentally, don't worry that because the client pays, there is a conflict of interest. Recruiters are paid to recruit qualified candidates that will benefit from going to work for their client. It is a win-win situation. If you want to use the services of a technical recruiter, do some research to find one.