Project Context           

UK and European government policy documents recognise that economic competitiveness relies on the development and management of highly skilled workers.  It has therefore become vital to understand the dynamics of both national but also international highly skilled labour movement.  Whilst there have been extensive studies of other influences on this process, for example the affects of immigration policies, researched has not analysed the importance of headhunting and the services offered by headhunting organizations in highly skilled labour recruitment by Europe’s leading businesses. This research, therefore, provide the first empirical investigation of the activities of global headhunting firms in Europe and, as a result, will advance present understanding of the role, practices and international dynamics of headhunting in Europe as well as the way this type of service firm is theorised. 

Methodology

This research uses a range of research methods to produce original quantitative and qualitative datasets. Specifically the project: 

1. Quantifies, maps and explores the rise of headhunting as an industry in Europe through an extensive quantitative dataset that maps the offices of the thirty largest executive search firms in Europe between 1980 and 2006.

2. Uses interviews to explore the way executive search firms have stretched their operations across Europe. This allows a detailed understanding of the practices of headhunting in Europe’s leading businesses to be understood and the role of professional and regulatory bodies in this process to be unpacked.

Project Funding and Research Team

The project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (grant RES-000-22-1498). More details of the project are available via the ESRC Society Today website. The project team includes:

Professor Jonathan Beaverstock (University of Nottingham)        

Dr. James Faulconbridge (Lancaster University)   

Dr. Sarah Hall (University of Nottingham)        

Dr. Andrew Hewitson (Research Assistant)

Website Content   

This website acts as a portal for accessing a range of outputs from the project:

• Practitioners may find the User Briefings  useful for gaining an insight into the findings of the research.
• Academic Researchers can see scholarly outputs from the project on the Publications page
• Samples of the analysis completed as part of the project can be accessed via the Data page.