headhunting

American  

[hed-huhn-ting] / ˈhɛdˌhʌn tɪŋ /

noun

1. (among certain primitive peoples) the practice of hunting down and decapitating victims and preserving their heads as trophies.

2. the act or practice of actively searching for new employees, especially for professionals or executives.

   Every June the electronics manufacturers go headhunting among the newly graduated engineers.

3. the act or practice of firing without cause, especially someone disliked.

   Their periodic headhunting was a contributing factor in the company's failures.

4. the act or practice of trying to destroy the power, position, or influence of one's competitors or foes.

   Headhunting is ferocious in advertising.

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Etymology

Origin of headhunting

First recorded in 1850–55; head + hunting

Example Sentences

Los Angeles officials have hired a Northern California-based headhunting firm to identify and vet candidates to be the next chief of police.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 21, 2024

He lost the case, but the litigation produced documents that he sent to Congress and the Justice Department, including spreadsheets showing commissions attributed to Mrs. Roberts early in her headhunting career, from 2007 to 2014.

From New York Times • Jan. 31, 2023

In the city's Futian district, Candice, a 28-year-old who works with a headhunting business, expressed dismay over the latest lockdown measures.

From Reuters • Sep. 3, 2022

Swanson doesn’t want to be construed as some headhunting reliever.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 1, 2022

The quality of statesmanship in Wood which dealt with these problems and settled them so that from a slave-holding, polygamous, headhunting land there arose a self-governing community is of the highest order.

From The Career of Leonard Wood by Sears, Joseph Hamblen