What do headhunter companies do is a question I am glad to answer. I will talk of two kinds of recruiters. Contingency Recruiting Contingency recruiters often go against 5 or more other recruiters in the hopes that they can have the candidate that gets hired. Stats show that they win 20 % of the time. Thus, their work is predicated on volume. They need many customers and must chase the projects with the best chance of winning. Because of this, they search quickly trying to develop the biggest pool fastest. They interview for the basic needs and pitch. Speed is key as the first recruiter to propose a candidate owns that candidate. The more candidates they can throw the more chances they have in a kind of lottery. They get lucky more often if find more candidates generally.  Once projects get old, they lose interest as other recruiters have already talked to many, and that is discouraging. If a customer takes interest in one of their candidates, they put all effort toward getting that person through the process. They want their candidate to win and will do much and sometimes too much to get the win. Speed trumps over quality in this model. Retained Recruiting Retained recruiters usually are the only recruiter brought in for a recruiting project. They partner with the customer to get them the best candidate they can. This kind of project leads to more thought and consideration by the headhunter as volume is not the key. Quality is the key. Each interaction and every candidate will get attention, so headhunters put more into it. Because the client had only one recruiter, they have more time to go deeper with the headhunter thus creating a better opportunity for more accurate recruiting that saves both sides time. Process is: * Give Samples** * Search for candidates * Develop candidates * Interview candidates * Sending to client * Follow up* * Assist on offer prep * On boarding *Most companies will have more than one round. Our company deeply background checks every candidate to ensure a good hire every time for our Western Customers in China. **contingency recruiters usually will not give samples. SHI Group always gives samples Recruiting has a lot of pressure as recruiting is not measured by just time.  Sometimes you fall quickly on a good candidate.  Other times, they are ever so hard to track down. Sometimes, a fluke will cause a client to not like a candidate, and a good candidate is lost.  Thus, burnout is common in the industry. The best at handling the pressure and the disappointments can make a career of it. Contingency is the biggest part of the market and burnout is highest there. The value of what recruiters do is clear as companies are in competition for the best talent and headhunters dig them up and bring them in. Because they do this full time, their familiarity with the process is high and that brings value to the client.