What are people's thoughts on headhunting (e.g. Firms like Heidrick and Struggles) as a career move from consulting. Is the pay good? I assume travel is less?An opportunity has come up and I hadn't considered it before.

It could be a very good move - lucrative financially, and with far far less travel than you will be used to. You do need to consider though that at its core it is a sales career, so you will need to be comfortable with that.

It's a great career, particularly if you are a people person. From experience it takes a little time to build up your knowledge of the market but once you've done that and you have a solid base of clients you'll find it a breeze.My salary after just 3 years of headhunting was just shy of 75k and I would say 100k is quite easily achievable within 5-6 years if you can build the client base. Some of my banking head hunting friends earn way in excess of 150k per year.It isn't always the most mentally challenging job in the world though so don't expect to be splitting the atom! :)

The only negative is the relatively narrow exit options. I have literally 100s of contacts in recruitment from IT recruiters up to MDs at Korn Ferry, Egon Zender, etc.Their common gripe is what to do next when they get fed up. At a junior level most of those that get burned out by the sales targets become internal recruiters at big firms. At the senior level it can be hard to find a lateral move...

lateral move for Recruiters... easy peasy, turn intoEstate agents!?!;p

In Borneo, headhunting takes on a whole new meaning :)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headhunting