headhunter
Americannoun
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headhunters
plural
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a person who engages in headhunting.
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a personnel recruiter for a corporation or executive recruitment agency.
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an executive recruitment agency.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of headhunter
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Within a single family, he says, a grandfather might be a former headhunter, his face still tattooed; two generations later, his grandson might play guitar in a rock band.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
Platner, who had no political experience, was recruited into the race by Daniel Moraff, an Ivy League–educated consultant who served as a headhunter for progressive and unconventional Democratic candidates.
From Slate ● Jul. 11, 2026
ByteDance, which has the biggest AI team in Chinese tech, sometimes pays salaries two or three times the market average to recruit top talent, said industry headhunter Shen Wei.
From Barron's ● Feb. 14, 2026
MWM Consulting, the headhunter working on the search, declined to comment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 2, 2025
“So I called back the headhunter and said, ‘I’m your man.’”
From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman
In 1989, headhunters called again, and he accepted the job of chairman and CEO at RJR Nabisco, which had been acquired by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in a deal that loaded the company up with debt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 29, 2025
In November, Britain's domestic intelligence agency warned that Chinese spies disguised as headhunters had targeted parliamentarians online.
From Barron's ● Dec. 2, 2025
Other headhunters who scout for Indian talent from US universities corroborate this change in sentiment.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2025
"An overhaul creates nervousness among all employees, also among the top performers," said Lars Schweizer, professor of finance at Frankfurt University, adding they often get approached by headhunters with offers from competitors.
From Reuters ● Jun. 12, 2023
Another 18.8 percent used formal means — advertisements, headhunters — and roughly 20 percent applied directly.
From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
