Dealing with Recruiters/Headhunters

It's very smart to ask this question. I personally believe you have to be very careful in selecting who's representing you as headhunter and who you can actually trust. A lot of these HH lie about their relationships with the firms/buyside xyz they are close to and it turns out complete BS.

A lot of the HH's tactics is all about getting as many CVs as possible and plaster it all into every single fund and contacts they supposedly have and hope one sticks. That is a very bad way of introducing yourself into the firm that's hiring.

It takes time to realise who's good and who's actually got the relationship. There's some element of trial and error. 1. Do your own research. For these companies they say they are close friends with, who are the business developments? Who's CIO and who's HR. A lot of the time a phone call with business developments leads more doors open than HR departments. So verify what the HH is saying to you. Ask them questions about the firm/people and history and verify them to see if they actually know what they talking about. 2. Don't give your CV out randomly to everyone that's contacting you. Do the first step. You don't want your CV. to be the middle of 20 CV that's getting plastered at a fund you are genuiely interested in. 3. They shouldn't be doing this but some recruiters are working on behalf of the company that you are in right now and they are testing waters to see what you are saying about your current position. This is extremely questionable practice but people still get away with this. So be careful.