Executive candidates have characteristics that other jobs candidates may not share. Because of their executive status, they are often more impatient than others when it comes to waiting. Think about it: most employees do everything in their power not to keep executives–their bosses–waiting for anything. Over time, executives simply become unaccustomed to waiting. Unfortunately, the executive search process is often a waiting game. Recruiters do their job of finding candidates, and then must turn the process back over to the client, who may not be as quick to choose which candidates to interview or to decide which candidates will make it to the next step after an interview. To be fair, executive hiring teams are usually made up of other executives and board members with many demands on their time. If you have a panel of six fellow executives on the hiring team, it may take days for everyone to give their feedback about an interview or choose between several interviewed candidates, no matter how many times you prompt them or remind them. Here are some ways recruiters can keep executive candidates interested while they wait. 1. Maintain regular communication even when there’s no news. Sure, executive recruiters already make enough phone calls, but if you don’t want candidates to give up and move on to the next opportunity, you need to regularly update them, even if there’s no news to share yet. Thrive TRM can help with this process by setting reminders to prompt you to make that next phone call or by sending out updates automatically. 2. Have more contact with the hiring team. Thrive TRM can enable all members of the corporate search team to share information and feedback without having a face-to-face meeting, and everyone can be included in every interaction, which can speed up the time it takes to get feedback so you can move on to the next step. If you can get back to candidates faster, you are less likely to lose them. 3. Include inside information in your updates. Giving little-known information about the company or the hiring process will encourage executives to hang on and maintain their interest in the process when it takes longer than it really should. Giving this information may also help the hiring team become more interested in the candidate, who is now even more prepared for that next step, whatever it may be. 4. Make the process as streamlined as possible. Not only will a more streamlined process make it faster in most cases, but it will also allow the company to make a good impression on the candidate and keep their interest levels high. When the process is organized, thorough and lean, candidates will be impressed and will hang on a little longer to see if they can become part of this impressive organization. Thrive TRM can assist with many aspects of executive search including maintaining the interest of candidates throughout the process. Schedule a demo to see Thrive TRM in action and explore what it can do for your executive search process.