Employer services
Appoint Simon Wilkins as your headhunter
Some roles are too senior, too confidential or too specialist to fill from an advert alone. Simon Wilkins is a former housebuilding Director with 23 years of specialist headhunting experience and a LinkedIn audience at the centre of UK property moves. Having met over 7,000 housebuilding professionals, he brings a deep understanding of every role and the company cultures that make hires succeed. The headhunting service is particularly useful for clients who wish to use a covert search or a formal executive search for any senior job role. You can appoint Simon Wilkins, The Headhunter for Housebuilding, to run a direct search on your behalf. This is a separate service to advertising on Housing-Jobs, with its own terms of business.
When headhunting is the right route
- Board, director and head of department appointments
- Confidential replacements where an advert is not an option
- Covert or formal executive searches for senior roles
- Scarce technical, land, planning or commercial skill sets
- New regions or divisions where you need a whole team
- Roles you have already advertised without the right result
How the engagement works
- Retained and exclusive search, agreed in writing before work begins
- Fee based on a percentage of first-year basic salary
- Staged payments across engagement, shortlist and placement
- Agreed rebate and free-replacement period
- Named consultant throughout — no handover to a delivery team
Covert & executive search
A covert search protects your organisation and the incumbent, while a formal executive search delivers a rigorously managed shortlist for senior, high-stakes appointments. Both are led personally by Simon Wilkins and can be structured as retained and exclusive engagements.
The search process
- 1
Briefing
A detailed conversation covering the role, the team, the package and the type of person who will succeed in your business.
- 2
Mapping
A targeted map of the market: competitors, adjacent businesses and the specific individuals doing the job today.
- 3
Approach
Discreet, direct approaches to passive candidates who are not on any jobs board — including yours or anyone else's.
- 4
Shortlist
A written shortlist with interview notes, motivations, notice periods and salary expectations, delivered to an agreed timescale.
- 5
Offer and onboarding
Offer management, resignation support and contact through the notice period to protect the placement.
Separate terms apply
Headhunting is not covered by Housing-Jobs advertising rates, job credits or rolling bundles. Fees, payment stages, exclusivity, rebate terms and off-limits arrangements are set out in a separate terms of business document, issued and signed before any search begins. Advertising spend with Housing-Jobs can be credited against a search fee where agreed in writing at the point of appointment.
Discuss a search
Send the brief below and it goes directly to Simon Wilkins — usually answered within one working day.