• Recruitment overview
• Job description
• Person specification
• Diversity and equality
• Head hunting and poaching
• Advertising
• Applications and short listing
• Testing
• Interviewing
• Selection
• Offer of employment
• Checks

• Case studies
• Resources
• Further reading

• People In Aid Code

Head hunting and poaching

Both head hunting and poaching have short-term advantages – you get the person you want and the staff member usually gets a better contract – but may have longer term disadvantages including:

• breakdown in collaboration with other organisations
• competition driving up salaries to unrealistic levels
• weakening of local and national government as staff are tempted away

In some emergencies, organisations agree neither to head hunt nor to poach national staff especially . If they do make such an agreement, there should be both a commitment to establishing fair terms and conditions, and a mechanism to allow staff to pursue their own professional development, which might indeed require a change of employer.

Think carefully before head hunting or poaching civil servants such as teachers, nurses and doctors, as you risk seriously weakening the government services they provide.