For some job hunters, newspaper want ads and Internet job boards like CareerBuilder.com are all that are needed for a job search.

See the posting, plug your information into the appropriate application blanks, hit "send" and wait for an offer.

For other workers, particularly those aiming for many professional positions, responding to print or online ads should be only one step in a job search. For many professional and executive applicants, it can be a long and frustrating job search if nothing else is done.

Executive search consultants Bill Wood and Steve Snodgrass, who work out of Overland Park, Kan., emphasized that point in a recent conversation.

New jobs can remain out of reach for many top-level job hunters if they rely only on the "send" button to pitch their candidacies.

But, the men added, the hiring process can be equally hard on the employer side if the organization doesn't have the time, information or contacts to recruit candidates who might not be identified in their resume inbox.

Wood and Snodgrass, like other executive recruiters, are paid by employers to find good candidates for hard-to-fill and important positions.

Yet not a day goes by without job hunters "looking for a headhunter" calling them and asking if they can come in for interviews. The answer is no — at least not until we call you.

Executive search consultants may collect job hunters' resumes and cover letters, but they're not in business to find jobs for job hunters. They're in business to find good candidates for jobs that employers pay them to recruit for.

So here are two important takeaways from the Wood-Snodgrass team:

- Professionals and executives — employed or unemployed — should network with executive search consultants to make themselves known.

- Employers might want to develop relationships with search consultants who can produce top-notch candidates.

Front-line applicant screeners may not have the expertise to identify qualified, if not perfect, candidates. That's why search consultants can help both sides.

— Diane Stafford is the workplace and careers columnist at the Kansas City Star. Her blog, http://workspacekc.typepad.com, includes daily posts about job-related issues of wide interest.