One aspect of executive recruiting that can be difficult for in-house search teams is managing the data involved in a search. Recruiting did not always involve the vast amounts of data that it now generates, but data has become important to executive searches in its ability to quantitatively compare and assess candidates. The Necessity of Data Management Data management is necessary if in-house teams are going to make any sense of the data they collect during an executive search—and if they don’t make use of the data, they will miss out on important information that could inform their search and help them choose the best candidate for their company’s needs. Technology is a necessary partner in any data management efforts—sifting through raw data by hand is unlikely to yield the key insights of technology tools made for that purpose. Tools can not only store and retrieve the data in helpful ways, but they can analyze said data. They can also assure that all members of the recruiting team are always using the same, most current version of data that has been collected. Joe Chappell, managing director, global marketing and communications at Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants, said in a Forbes article, “Technology has impacted every aspect of search especially in finding top talent and assessment. Current assessment techniques are more sophisticated with a suite of technology-based tools combined with in-depth interviewing, role-playing, case studies, and situational responses evaluated by seasoned experts.” What Data Management Tools Can Do When your company has decided to handle executive search in-house, your team will quickly realize that it doesn’t have some of the advantages of a recruiting firm (while in other areas it can be superior). Learning to use data management tools effectively can help to bridge the expertise gap in some ways and begin to level the playing field. One technology tool that is helpful in many aspects of recruiting is Thrive TRM. One of Thrive TRM’s main components is database management, with the ability to input candidate profiles from LinkedIn, Google, and other formats without needing to do manual data entry. Thrive TRM can also compare profiles against each other and show which one stacks up the best according to the data. Team members and other company leaders can give instant feedback to profiles, assessments, and interviews with a messaging feature that keeps communications private between members. And Thrive TRM can also use the data collected about candidates and the search process to create and share instant reports about a candidate or the status of a search, so that everyone stays on the same page as the process plays out. While executive recruiters may use methods other than data analysis to choose the executive that will fill an open position, having the data is still an important step that can’t be overlooked in today’s executive recruiting climate. Schedule a demo of Thrive TRM to see that data management is only one of Thrive’s capabilities for assisting in an in-house executive search. See why you need Thrive TRM on your search team today.