How do executive recruiters meet their sometimes challenging goals of finding elusive candidates and meeting seemingly impossible deadlines? Here are some of the top tools and strategies successful executive recruiters use every day to get the job done. Serious Preparation The more a recruiter knows about the positions to be filled, the companies behind the positions, and the industry itself, the better that recruiter will be able to fill the positions with the best possible candidates. Getting the most qualified candidates will lead to greater productivity for the company and better retention in executive positions. Some research can be done independently online, while other research will need to come from meeting with teams within the company, observing dynamics directly, and talking to individuals to get different perspectives. Skimping on this aspect of recruiting will lead to poor hiring outcomes. 4 Essential Skills of Any Executive Recruiter – Find out what skills enable the best executive recruiters to build relationships and secure successful placements. Candidate Research A wealth of information is now available about most candidates, particularly for executive positions. Candidate research serves as due diligence to uncover which candidates look good on paper but have not actually performed well in their actual day-to-day work. For executive positions, successful project management and people skills are not enough to truly excel. Finding candidates with vision, integrity, and a good cultural fit with the organization they will be joining is essential to success as an executive recruiter. Using Data to Make Decisions Data is becoming increasingly integral to placing executive candidates. Data shows the demand for similar positions, how many people have the skills needed for a given position, and compensation trends for the organization or position’s location. The data you need is usually available, but may not be in a readily usable format. Learning to make sense of raw data and draw conclusions may help you make better use of data. Data analytics can make the difference between following your hunches about which talent will work best for the organization and having the facts to back up your choices. Developing Relationships One thing that makes any kind of recruiter stand out is the sense that you actually care about people rather than just about filling positions. Taking a little extra time to connect and learn about people will increase their interest in positions and may get them to give you their time when they otherwise would not. eBook: Using Social Media for Executive Search – Learn how to leverage social media in your executive search process more effectively. A relationship started today may create a connection that will help fill a position months or years down the road. Over time, these relationships will generate a talent pool to draw from in times of need, but only if you maintain them and keep in touch over the long haul. Keep Track of it All Talent management software can enable you to implement all of the above strategies more easily, quickly, and effectively. A talent management system like ThriveTRM will integrate candidate and organization research and other data with a tracking system to keep track of all your relationships so you can easily remember everything you need to know to put the best executive recruiting practices into play each and every day.