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Headhunter, Copyrights and Trademarks follow this blog post

posted by on Oct. 3, 2005
With all the furor associated with professional and college sports teams and their use of Native American nicknames (e.g., Seminoles, Fighting Sioux), I'm sure you can all undertand that associating one organization with the culture of another is just not right (I'm being very serious).
 
Given this, why do we as a profession continue to accept the use of "headhunter" especially when the Asmat tribe of New Guniea has been know to take offense to others using their moniker?
 
I believe an immediate cessation of the term "headhunter" is called for - perhaps this will also assist in the move towards more ethical recruiting and enable Sullivan, Adler, et. al. to have a reasonably clear Inbox at least once in their lives.
 
Same goes for the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame...
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5 comments

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  • 1 point 4 years ago

    ;)

  • 1 point 4 years ago

    ps jamal, insulting my definitions cut/paste post is not a good way to sell me (or any of my clients) your product or service ...

  • 1 point 4 years ago

    what does hirevelocity call people like me? besides headhunter and mr webster ...?

    yahoo inc calls me a "senior sourcer" (not saying its anything better, but i like it better then talentracker or goldminer)

  • 1 point 4 years ago

    Jeremy - with all due respect i don't think all the copying and pasting you did to drill in the fact that the word "headhunter" has many definitions (in a modern context) - was necessary.

    All the copying and pasting was an interesting "Jeopardy-like" tangent, but did not address Steve's initial point/question.

    Now that we have established multiple definitions of "headhunter" - maybe we could revisit Steve's point which has more to do with the Next Generation of Recruitment as a Culturally Concious Corporate shift, than it does with semantics and Mr. Webster.

    Webster definitions as well as coporate business practices tend to mirror the anglosaxon/western imperialistic cultures that creates them.

    However, as we move closer to the year 2050 the corporate identity and the face of recruitment will be much, much more Human, more diverse/inclusive, more culturally concious. If not by choice then by rule of law(suits).

    I have always thought of "headhunters" as elite/highly trained assassins - like straight from a Robert Ludlum or Eric Van Lustbader novel - however -> neither the term "headhunter" nor "assassin" are accurate in describing the nature of what such an indivual does because both headhunters and assassins bring LIFE to the individual hired into an opportunity as well as the client/co. hiring new top-talent. Headhunters/assasins kill & recruiters, at whatever level, bring life, employment resurection, and opportunity. And while a "headhunter" must be aggressive - there is more "Gathering" i.e. planting seeds, nuturing, and Networking than there is "hunting".

    So I think the ACTIONS that DEFINE the role of a headhunter actually shine light on Steve's point to disqualify the existing title of "headhunter" and recreate the term. I see orgs. shifting from Recruiting based self descriptions to Talent Acquisition based ones, and that subtle difference, although just a name, does directly impact attitude and performance.

    What new title would be more of a culturally concious and accurate discription for a "headhunter"???

    >TalentTracker? >GoldMiner? >? >? >?

    Thanks,

    Jamal

  • 1 point 4 years ago

    Definitions of headhunter on the Web:

    A term describing a defensive player who has a reputation for making strong, aggressive tackles on an offensive player who catches passes. www.uncoverthenet.com/football-glossary.php

    a recruiter of personnel (especially for corporations) a savage who cuts off and preserves the heads of enemies as trophies wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

    "Headhunter" is a song by the Belgian EBM band Front 242. It was released in 1988 on the album Front By Front, in two versions (Version 1.0 and Version 3.0). It was released again in late 1999 with multiple remixes on the dual-CD single Headhunter 2000. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headhunter_(song)

    In baseball, a beanball is a pitch, similar to a brushback pitch but actually intended to hit the batter it is thrown at, often in the head. It is rarely used as a strategic weapon, and mostly used to vent anger and frustration. Teams with rivalries often find several beanballs exchanged a season. Beanballs can sometimes lead to fights, charging the mound, and bench-clearing brawls. ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headhunter_(baseball)

    Headhunter is a video game developed by Amuze for the Sega Dreamcast and Sony PlayStation 2 video game consoles. For the majority of the game, the gameplay is that of a third-person shooter as players control protagonist Jack Wade. Jack travels between the main levels of the game on his motorcycle, and these sections take the form of a racing game, with the motorbike's acceleration and braking controlled using the sensitive analogue trigger buttons of the Dreamcast control pad. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headhunter_(video_game)