With 2017 disappearing in the rear-view window, savvy executive recruiters are turning their attention to ways they can optimize their performance in 2018 and beyond. We’ve already covered a few executive recruitment trends to keep an eye on in 2018, but here, let’s focus on how you can position your organization to take advantage of these opportunities and stay ahead of the curve. Here are New Year’s resolutions every recruiter should be making. Bolster Your Diversity and Inclusion Efforts Diversity is no longer just a buzzword. It should be an active and deliberate aspect of any well-rounded recruiting and HR strategy. Moreover, 2018 should be the year that you start focusing not only on diversity but also on inclusion efforts if you have not already done so. Keep in mind that while diversity is what happens on the hiring end, inclusion is what happens when you try to represent a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives in your business. This is not mere tokenism; companies that embrace diversity in their hiring processes are seen to be 15 percent more profitable in a recent McKinsey study. Improve Your Job Descriptions A clear, well-written job description can often serve as a potential new hire’s first exposure to your organization’s recruiting efforts. With this in mind, job descriptions have the potential to make or break your chances for attracting the most qualified talent to a role. Job descriptions should be concise, easy to understand, and avoid confusing jargon. They should also be mindful to avoid bias in the language they use. To better understand this, try running a writing sample through this gender decoder; the results may surprise you. Make Social Media Work for You While many businesses maintain social pages for their customer relations and marketing, few have genuinely harnessed its power for recruiting. This is slowly changing. In fact, you may recall that social recruiting was a hot topic last year. In 2018, social recruiting needs to become more than a trend. Let 2018 be the year you start your social recruiting strategy, if you have not already, or expand your existing efforts. For example, instead of just using social channels to post job openings, think about new ways you can use them to showcase your company culture and the employee experience. eBook: Using Social Media for Executive Search – Learn how to leverage social media in your executive search process more effectively. Focus on the Candidate Experience Put yourself in the shoes of a job seeker and try to provide the experience you would want in that position. Focus on building an attractive, user-friendly career page with an intuitive application process. Make sure that communication is friendly, clear, and informative without being spammy. Understand that recruits are often busy and consider doing away with unnecessary features that make the application process too long or onerous such as requiring candidates to include a cover letter. Most importantly, remember that on the other side of every application is a unique person; make sure you are designing your candidate experience from an empathetic perspective. Want to take your recruitment strategy to the next level in 2018? Thrive TRM has all the tools you need to make the coming year the best one ever. Contact us now to demo our products and learn about our unique expertise.