In the following question [OED Appeals: Antedatings of “headhunter”][1] ELU users did a good job finding evidence about early usages of "headhunter" in the recruiting sense.

[Etymonline][2] as well as other sources [suggest][3] that the current usage is from the '60s, but earlier usages appear to date back to the mid-'40s.

What strikes me is the direct jump from the original meaning of the practice of hunting down and decapitating victims, preserving their heads as trophies to the more urban practice of recruiting managers.

Though the "macabre" metaphor is quite clear I wonder if there was some intermediate passage in usage of the term headhunter with a different and less violent connotation that lead to its current and more common usage.

The only reference I could find was this entry [Green’s Dictionary of Slang][4] which suggests an intermediate usage between the meaning of decapitation and recruitment of managers.

• [1920s] (US) a person who tracks down wanted criminals.

Questions:

Is this AmE police slang usage the origin of headhunting meaning recruiting or are there other earlier or later meanings in which the term was used that likely lead to the current sense? [1]: OED Appeals: Antedatings of "headhunter" [2]: https://www.etymonline.com/word/head-hunter [3]: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/head-hunter [4]: https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/xifpqmq