The lowdown on what it’s really like. One woman talks about her work and life.

Name: Emma Child

Age: 31

Job title: Headhunter

Top survival tip
Flexibility and good humour.

The day-to-day
I’m a headhunter. Through an exhaustive process of market research, I identify senior level corporate financiers and venture capitalists that fit the needs of our clients.

I normally get into the office between 7.45am and 8.15am. Each day is different, but I spend some of the day meeting candidates and seeing clients. I also spend a significant amount of time on the phone researching relevant people in the market.

The past
When I was about ten years’ old I remember wanting to be an Army Officer. I also had visions of being a famous world-class athlete or downhill skier, but my first thought of a real job was definitely the army.

Getting started
I did go into the armed forces and was an officer for eight years, so headhunting is my second career. I got into it by replying to an advertisement in a magazine specifically designed for officers about to leave the armed forces.

I joined another firm when I first left the army, but knew that I ultimately wanted to be part of The Rose Partnership, my current firm. I joined them in February 2000. I’ve had a fairly steep leaning curve getting into the search business. But I now feel I’m beginning to work a little more to my potential. You have to learn the methodology of the job before you can go on and utilise your full potential.

Typical path?
I don’t think there is one. Some people come straight from university and really have always wanted to become a headhunter. Most come from other industries and effectively fall in to it.

Are you qualified?
There are no specific qualifications. There are however, specific skills that you need to have or develop to be successful.

Skills and personality
You need to be reasonably bright. You need to be confident and be able to speak easily at all levels. You need to be inquisitive, articulate and interested in others. You need attention to detail and to be able to write fluently and descriptively.

It helps to have certain personality traits and these particular ones help me to do my job: I’m a good listener, flexible, conscientious. I’m empathic, open and loyal. I have a strong streak of integrity and good judgement skills.

Freedom and control
Our organisation is relatively flat in structure. I work for two directors who have overall responsibility for the searches on which we all work. However, I look after the day-to-day running of specific searches and spend much of my time investigating potential candidates while maintaining close links to the client. Ultimately, we work as a team and therefore, whilst we all have autonomy to be able to get on with our day-to-day role, we work very closely together.

The hours
I normally work about 10 to 12 hours a day. It depends on the time of the year. For instance, July and August are generally quieter.

The cash
Overall I think I’m reasonably well paid.

Gender split
In my office there are about three women to every man. But I suspect that elsewhere in the profession the gender breakdown is about even.

Men and women have very different qualities. In my job I think investigative skills combined with the softer skills of women are very useful. Women tend to have greater attention to detail and are generally more conscientious than men. These are all very useful skills in headhunting.

The perks
There is a huge buzz when completing a deal. We also work with some pretty influential people and have excellent relationships with senior investment bankers in the city.

The pits
It’s very frustrating when a deal falls through at the last moment.

Coping with stress
I do quite a bit of exercise, which relieves stress, and I have a good group of friends who I can chat to if things get tough.

Seeking inspiration
I chat to some of my work colleagues and hope they can help me out of a non-inspired moment.

Life and work
I would love to say that I work to live, but unfortunately I have to say, at the moment I’m living to work, so my work does affect my personal life. One bad habit I’ve picked up because of work is that I don’t call friends in the evening because I’m on the phone all day. I end up emailing them instead, which just isn’t as good.

The nature of our business is that we have very, very busy periods between September and June. We are generally encouraged to take it a little easier in the summer, ready for the onslaught of the rest of the year.

My work social life is pretty good. We all get on well and try to go out for drinks as regularly as possible. I meet some colleagues as I would friends and introduce them to my general group of friends.

Child-friendly job?
It must be incredibly difficult to juggle children and a full-time professional job such as headhunting. Working unsociable hours is normal and the job is full-on most days. Leaving children to be brought up by a nanny is tough both on the mother and child, but I imagine there is little alternative. I’m inclined to think there should be a happy medium, perhaps having the opportunity to work a shorter week and to work from home at other times. I’m pleased to say that my firm allows as much flexibility as possible without damaging the professionalism and revenue-earning potential of the business.

The future
If I were still with this firm I would like to think that in ten years I would have become a director and probably be married with children.

If I could afford not to work I would probably set up my own business and would try to emulate the things that I like so much about this firm, whilst being my own boss.

The Verdict
I think I’m well suited to this business, as I think I was to the armed forces. My experiences have developed me in a certain way, and on the whole I’m happy with the decisions I’ve made. In hindsight, if I could have my time again, I would have done things slightly differently: been more proactive, got involved in more things as a youngster. I would have thought less about what people think and more about what I felt was right. I would probably have taken more risks and probably learnt more from my mistakes.