When a company first brings executive search in-house, there can be a lot of excitement and motivation to craft a top-notch search team and process. As time goes on, however, the situation can change. Problems and difficulties can and will crop up and the initial excitement will often fade, leaving the team to feel like it is slogging through the process and not accomplishing its goals.

Even if the process is positive and successful, boredom can set in and other priorities can crowd out the search process until its effectiveness may eventually be called into question. As various teams and processes are evaluated, the risk is that the company will decide to go back to using a search firm because of the challenges of sustaining an effective executive search process. This doesn’t have to happen, however, because there is plenty a company can do to avoid losing focus and allowing entropy to set in.

What Companies Can Do

While there can be situations when it may be appropriate to return to using an executive search firm to fill these top positions, more often it’s the case that the search team needs to learn how to sustain its functions and with a few adjustments, in-house become effective and rewarding once again. Here are some things companies can do to stay the course with in-house executive search.

Keep Learning

Executive search is always changing and evolving. Best practices are different in key ways today than they were even a decade ago. An executive search team should have ongoing training in order to keep its practices fresh and up to date, as well as to improve its existing process. Continuing education has been proven to prevent teams and departments from getting stale and set in their ways, which is one of the biggest obstacles to effectiveness.

Become (or Stay) Candidate-Centered

If your company’s executive search process hopes to be successful, it must offer candidates a positive user experience. This means keeping applications and paperwork to a minimum, encouraging frequent communication through the search process, and creating clearly defined steps that will help candidates know how to follow up and where they stand. If your executive search process is beginning to flounder, chances are your candidate experience needs some work too.

Add Functionality

Executive search involves many different components besides just candidate sourcing and interviewing. A search team that’s getting stale may be revived by taking on a new function that will improve the overall process, such as employer branding or succession planning. While doing more may seem nearly impossible for some teams, it can be done by adding additional team members or delegating certain tasks to other teams within the company.

Use Technology

Technology tools like Thrive TRM can help your team do more in less time, and can also prevent many problems by automating parts of the in-house executive recruiting process. Thrive TRM provides instant communication, reports and data analysis, and even help with candidate sourcing through integration with LinkedIn and Google. Contact us for more information on what Thrive TRM can do to boost your in-house search team.

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