Talent Partner / Headhunter – Recruiter Acquisition (UK & Ireland)
Recruiter:
The Legends Agency
Job Ref:
CS63
Date posted:
Friday, May 15, 2026
Location:
Cape Town, South Africa
Salary:
R25,000 – R30,000 basic + £350 per successful deal closed/client brought on
SUMMARY:
This role is focused on proactively identifying, engaging, and converting experienced agency recruiters across the UK & Ireland into independent recruitment models.
POSITION INFO:
Talent Partner / Headhunter – Recruiter Acquisition (UK & Ireland)
Join a high-performance recruitment business focused on helping experienced recruiters transition into independent, entrepreneurial models.
Remote | Potential future hybrid flexibility in Gardens, Cape Town | R25,000 – R30,000 basic + £350 per successful deal closed/client brought on | UK Hours (09:00 – 17:00 UK)
About Our Client
Our client operates within the recruitment and talent acquisition space, focused specifically on identifying and partnering with experienced agency recruiters across the UK & Ireland market. They work consultatively with high-performing recruiters who are considering a transition into more independent and entrepreneurial working models.
This is a highly targeted headhunting environment where success depends on strategic outreach, persistence, market intelligence, and the ability to influence passive talent. The business is looking for someone commercially sharp, process-driven, and confident engaging senior recruiters who are not actively on the market.
The Role: Talent Partner / Headhunter – Recruiter Acquisition (UK & Ireland)
This role is focused on proactively identifying, engaging, and converting experienced agency recruiters across the UK & Ireland into independent recruitment models. This is not transactional recruiting — the role requires strategic headhunting, consultative outreach, and the ability to influence experienced recruiters through a major career shift.
You will be responsible for building structured pipelines, conducting market mapping exercises, managing ongoing outreach campaigns, and driving recruiter engagement through to conversion. The successful candidate will understand recruiter psychology, commission structures, objections around risk and stability, and how to position a non-traditional opportunity effectively.
Key Responsibilities
- Minimum 5 years of solid recruitment/headhunting experience, ideally within Rec-to-Rec or Internal Recruitment environments
- Proactively market map recruitment agencies, competitor businesses, and target companies across the UK & Ireland
- Identify and headhunt high-performing recruiters with 3–15+ years’ experience
- Build and maintain structured candidate/prospect pipelines using spreadsheets, CRM systems, and tracking processes
- Conduct high-volume outreach through LinkedIn, cold calls, email campaigns, referrals, and networking
- Run consultative and strategic conversations with passive candidates
- Manage full attraction and conversion funnels from outreach through to onboarding interest
- Handle objections around leaving employment, self-employment risk, commission structures, and career stability
- Develop personalized, curiosity-driven outreach messaging and follow-up strategies
- Collaborate on market feedback, positioning, and outreach strategy improvements
- Maintain consistent follow-up processes and engagement across all active prospects
About You
- Minimum 5 years of experience within Rec-to-Rec recruitment, Internal Recruitment, or recruiter-focused headhunting environments
- Proven experience headhunting passive candidates rather than purely managing active applicants
- Strong understanding of agency recruitment structures, recruiter motivations, billing models, and commission environments
- Experience placing senior or high-billing recruiters
- Demonstrated experience with market mapping and strategic talent identification processes
- Comfortable conducting cold outreach and high-volume prospect engagement
- Strong follow-up discipline with a process-driven and persistent approach
- Highly credible communicator with strong influencing and commercial skills
- Comfortable selling a non-traditional, entrepreneurial opportunity rather than a salaried role
- Entrepreneurial mindset with strong resilience and confidence operating in performance-driven environments
- Stable career history preferred