Isn’t a direct search illegal?
No. Some judgements suggesting that a direct approach at the workplace conflicted with fair competition have gone through the press. It has meanwhile been confirmed several times (most recently by the German Federal Court of Justice on 09.02.2006 - I ZR 73/02) that a call enquiring for the first time of a staff member about his/her interest in a new job, briefly describing this, and where appropriate discussing a possibility for making contact outside the company, is admissible and not in conflict with fair competition.