Is your executive search firm still losing hours each week to building manual client reports? The end is in sight…  

 

If you’re like many executive search recruiters, you probably don’t ‘hate Mondays’ like so many office workers claim to do. In fact, you might even like Mondays.  

 

After all, Mondays signal the start of a fresh week of opportunity. Fuelled by inbox replies received over the weekend, a new week of activity opens up to move search projects forward and inch processes closer to completion.  

 

But what about Fridays? 

 

For plenty of executive search specialists, Fridays are a different story altogether. Sure, there’s the weekend ahead. There’s probably even an after-work social, but first – before anyone has any fun – there’s client reporting to do.

 

 

If the thought of end-of-week search reports makes you groan and shudder, you’re not alone. They stand in grim contrast to the excitement and stimulation of the rest of the job. Using none of a recruiter’s people skills, market knowledge, charisma or business acumen, report-building is drudgery at its worst.   

 

 

 

Are you working hard, or working smart? 

 

Time is the most precious resource an executive recruiter has.  

 

Whether winning the next piece of business, securing a fresh assignment, conducting or supervising research or engaging with candidates, executive search productivity is at its peak when low-skill, offline tasks like report-building are kept to a minimum.  

 

Building executive search reports manually is among the lowest-value uses of a skilled recruiter’s time – poring over the week’s developments and painstakingly updating spreadsheets with candidate data, interview notes and scheduling forecasts.  

 

The trouble is, clients expect reports, and quite rightly. Any company paying for specialist retained services has a right to see the progress being made on their project, and keeping clients up to date on search status and developments is a key part of the value that seasoned headhunters bring. 

 

Built right, a detailed executive search progress report not only keeps clients in the loop regarding candidate pipeline, it shares valuable market insight and candidate data that helps shape the overall direction of the search project.  

 

So, building and delivering information-rich reports is definitely working smart. But creating them manually? Not so much…  

 

 

 

Using technology to supercharge your reports  

 

The most effective candidate progress reports don’t just offer a list of names next to a drop-down ‘interview status’ value – they include a wealth of information on candidate profile and interview notes that saves the client from having to jump in and out of different emails, folders and documents to piece together an overall status update.  

 

The data points that add value to reports are varied – candidate bios, interview dates, compensation packages, current employer, next scheduled interview step…  

 

Purpose-built executive search software gives recruiters the ability to choose from a wide range of pre-built system reports, as well as the tools to create custom ones around bespoke data criteria.  

 

Once generated, reports can be instantly exported in a variety of file formats, emailed directly to clients or shared via a secure client portal (along with linked candidate profiles).  

 

With the right tools, recruiters can have the best of both worlds – spend more time working where they add the most value, and still deliver data-rich reports to keep client satisfaction high.  

 

So nobody needs to hate Fridays any more – contact us today to see how FileFinder Executive Search Software can help generate first-class client reports!