There are two basic approaches to executive search: being reactive or being proactive. Someone who is reactive waits for something to happen before they act. Reactive people are typically stressed out because they are always trying to catch up to what has happened and are dealing with it after the fact. Being proactive, on the other hand, means planning ahead and trying to prepare for what is likely to happen, before it happens so you’re ready when the time comes. Obviously, being proactive is a better approach to both recruiting and life. Who doesn’t want to be ready for what will come? In the world of executive recruiting, being proactive isn’t an option: it’s mandatory. How Executive Recruiters Can Be More Proactive Proactive recruiting requires advance planning. Executive recruiters can do this in several ways. First, it is vital to pin down the hiring team as precisely as possible about the job description and candidate expectations before you begin to source candidates or present them for consideration. If you want to be even more proactive in recruiting, you may want to ask long-time or repeat corporate clients to complete succession planning and other advance planning about when they are likely to need to hire an executive candidate. Knowing that certain positions may need to be filled in the near future will give you a leg up to begin preparing and sourcing candidates and keep you ahead of the game. Another way to be proactive is to communicate at each step of the recruiting process, making sure the hiring team remains on board and knows what actions you’re taking at each stage. Thrive TRM makes it easy to do this instantly, because everyone involved will get messages in real time through the dashboard without having to maintain complex email lists or texting chains. Setting up your recruiting process ahead of time and knowing exactly what has to be done at each step will make it as close to automatic as executive recruiting can be, and is a great proactive investment in recruiting. It will take more time initially to set up your process, but it will also save time after it is done. Proactive recruiters may also want to conduct training for hiring teams about candidate sourcing and referrals so that employees know what constitutes a good referral and hiring teams learn how to use referrals to their best interest. Why Be Proactive? When you get to the point where you automatically begin to think about how you can get ahead of a situation or a part of the recruiting process, you know you are becoming a proactive recruiter. Being proactive makes recruiting less stressful and more successful at the same time. Thrive TRM fits right into a proactive recruiting plan, helping you use data to create reports that can show each step of the process as well as streamlining it to make it more automatic and easier to complete. Discover solutions for search firms to see how we can help you be more proactive in your recruitment efforts.