noun

headhunter

HEHD-huhnt

noun

A recruiter who seeks out and approaches skilled professionals, especially executives, to fill jobs at other companies.

"A headhunter contacted her about a director role at a rival firm."

"The company hired a headhunter to fill its vacant CEO position."

Historically, a member of a group or tribe that took and kept the heads of enemies as trophies.

"Old travel accounts describe headhunters in parts of Borneo and Papua New Guinea."

How to Use Headhunter

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishSomeone paid to find and poach talented staff for other employers.

Common mistake

In modern business use it almost always means a recruiter, not the older tribal sense — context makes it obvious which is meant.

Common pairings

hire a headhunter contacted by a headhunter executive headhunter

headhunters plural

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Can you complete this real example?

A _____ contacted her about a director role at a rival firm.

A straightforward compound of head and hunter; the recruitment sense is a 20th-century figurative extension of the older, literal one.

hunter bunter punter Gunter counter encounter