Drunken headhunter said to vomit over key client

We may be a little late with this, and it may not make for a particularly salubrious headline, but it has come to our attention that one senior headhunter, who shall go unnamed, allegedly vomited over a key account at 'a horse race' a few months ago, and has subsequently lost his job.

"He was very, very drunk, and projectile vomited on the client,' alleges the head of a rival recruitment firm. "He'd been brought in to develop an executive recruitment arm, and the next thing we knew his resignation had been announced."

At best, the incident is an isolated occurrence involving one man and an excessive drinking habit. At worst, it could be seen as symptomatic of a heavy drinking culture across the recruitment and wider financial services industry.

"The recruitment industry is very similar to interdealer broking," claims the head of the recruitment firm. "I know of one place which used to run a 'Thursday night lurch,' where teams would get absolutely smashed and end up in the same bar," he avers.

The head of another search firm says drunkenly vomiting on clients and colleagues is not uncommon, both in recruitment and banking. So too are fights with clients, or fights with bouncers in which clients become involved.

Obligatory heavy drinking is a big part of Japanese culture, where salarymen are notoriously obliged to drink to excess with colleagues in order to gain promotion. According to our intern diarist, attendees were drinking nine pints each at a bank-organised party he attended this summer.

Are bankers and recruiters, therefore, becoming like salarymen - except without the job security and high speed trains back home?