Translation guide
The practice of actively recruiting highly skilled or specialized employees from other companies, often for executive or technical roles. In Japanese, this is commonly expressed with the loanword ヘッドハンティング or the native term 引き抜き.
To refer to the act of a company or recruiter approaching and hiring a desirable employee from a competitor or another organization.
The most direct and widely understood term, borrowed from English. Used in business contexts for executive or specialist recruitment.
He was headhunted by a foreign-affiliated company.
I changed jobs through a headhunting agency.
A native Japanese term meaning 'poaching' or 'pulling out' talent. Slightly more informal and can imply aggressive recruitment.
We poached an ace employee from a rival company.
We improved benefits to prevent poaching.
To scout or recruit, often used for talent in sports, entertainment, or business. Less formal than ヘッドハンティング.
We scouted a talented engineer.
A more explicit phrase meaning 'to poach talent'. Used in formal or written contexts.
Poaching talent from competitors carries risks.
To discuss headhunting as a business practice or industry.
ヘッドハンティング is a neutral, professional term often used by recruitment agencies and in formal business settings. 引き抜き can sound more aggressive or negative, implying 'stealing' an employee. Use ヘッドハンティング for standard business contexts.
Requests for headhunting are increasing.
Poaching sometimes leads to lawsuits.
Do not translate 'headhunting' literally as 頭狩り (あたまがり) or similar. This would be nonsensical. Use the loanword or native terms above.
He was headhunted by a major tech company.
Headhunting is common in the finance sector.
引き抜きは業界ではよくあることだ。
Poaching is common in the industry.