"Headhunters," executive search firms & staffing agencies versus Beacon Hill

When you need help with a job search, it can often be beneficial to work with a specialized executive recruiting company or search firm (sometimes colloquially referred to as a “headhunting” firm). But other times, depending on your experience and circumstances, a full-service staffing firm (regularly referred to as a “staffing agency”) might be a better option. Then again, some businesses have all the benefits of each under one roof! Let us show you one of those businesses, Beacon Hill.

So, let's start with what executive search firms and staffing agencies do ...

Executive search firms (“headhunters”)

Executive search firms specialize in niche recruitment and are engaged by client companies to find talent for full-time positions. Specifically they:

1. Find already employed talent that may want a change
2. Recruit for senior-level or highly specialized full-time positions
3. Work on either a retained or contingency basis

Executive search professionals typically focus on upper-level talent and excel at building exclusive networks within their industry. They are premium-level networkers, establishing relationships with key decision-makers at companies and professionals in the marketplace so that they can connect with employers and job seekers when the time is right.

Staffing firms (“staffing agencies”)

Staffing firms match job seekers with employment opportunities on a full-time, temporary or contract basis. It's as simple as that!

Unlike executive search firms that focus exclusively on full-time positions for client companies, staffing agencies hire and employ skilled professionals to place on temporary, contract, or consulting work assignments at client companies. Their focus is not on executive-level roles alone. They work on a wide range of roles, including entry-level ones.

How they work can be pretty nuanced. For example, they might be contracted to help hire entire teams or a single position. Depending on the situation, they may recruit candidates from their company's database and from candidates already employed. They may also seek applications by posting jobs on sites like LinkedIn and Indeed.

Many staffing firms offer full-time job placement services (sometimes referred to as “perm placement” or “direct hire”), in addition to temporary or contract placement and are thus considered to be broad service providers of varied employment services.

While some would bill Beacon Hill as "another staffing agency," it might surprise you that we don't all love those words internally. Why? We help people hire talent, but our real focus is building long-term relationships with job seekers and employers on a human level.

So, what's Beacon Hill?

Beacon Hill is anything and everything for job seekers and employers.

Services and expertise

As far as types of hiring, we offer staff augmentation, contract to hire, direct hire, executive search and consulting/project solutions.

But what's also exciting is that we have many areas of specialization beyond our offerings. Some agencies have niche areas they know well. For example, some would only source accounting professionals. We, on the other hand, maintain recruitment professionals capable of hiring people in lots of different, nuanced industries. These are the categories we uphold.
 

• Administrative & Professional
• Digital & Creative
• Financial
• Government
• Healthcare
• Human Resources
• Legal
• Life Sciences
• National Security
• Technology

And for those niches, we also offer project consulting services and workforce solutions to assist our client partners further.

Our overarching brand and solutions subsidiary brand, OneBeacon also specialize in:
 

• Managed Service Provider (MSP)
• Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)
• Integrated Talent Solutions (ITS)
• Project Management
• Global Talent Services & Onshore Consulting
  
   

The friend who helps you job search

We're thought leaders! We don't have to help you find a role directly if you don't want us to, but we care enough to offer advice at any point in your journey. That's why we value creating resources like these. Think of us as a helpful friend who wants the best for you and just so happens to know a lot about talent acquisition.

People first

We're humans. We care about people. Even during downtimes, we prioritize people. We know they're the reason we continue to grow.

“At Beacon Hill, genuine connections are at the heart of everything we do,” said Amy Van Sicklin, Chief Culture Officer of Beacon Hill. “We invest in our people—our internal teams, candidates and clients—because relationships built on trust, care and collaboration drive real success. When people thrive, we all succeed.”

Genuine connection

We're networkers, but not spammy ones. We're not after the end goal if it isn't valuable for everyone. We care about making connections, and if they work out for others, that just makes us even happier. It's why we excel at placing candidates. We care about making them happy.

So yes, Beacon Hill does headhunting, offers executive search, and is technically a staffing agency. We are not just one thing. If you want concierge-level service to solidify your future, start by applying for an open role. If there's a match, we'll start our relationship.

Find Your Future