The new year is officially underway and the signs are everywhere.

There’s a signup sheet for treadmills at the gym, the produce aisle at your supermarket is bustling with people buying kale and other vegetables and your friends have all informed you they are quitting Facebook – “like for real,” this time.

Whether or not you are still committed to your New Year’s resolutions (hopefully you are), Zoho Recruit wants you to know it’s never too late to set and work toward achieving your professional goals in 2015.

So with that in mind, lets look at a few ways you can up your recruiting game in the coming year!

1. Think about your definition of an “ideal” candidate

Newsflash, the “ideal” candidate who meets all your criteria doesn’t exist. Even if you have a definition in your mind of the perfect candidate, the truth is, that definition is fluid.

As a recruiter, it is important to pause and meditate on invaluable traits. Consider candidates from untraditional backgrounds; candidates you may have overlooked in the past. In some cases, the resiliency of a candidates or his or her work ethic is far more important than a master’s degree or years of experience.

2. Spend time on the job posting

The job posting is one of the most overlooked aspects of recruiting, but it’s how you grab a candidate’s attention. Look at the job posting as the headline to a newspaper article or the front window of a department store.

Great recruiters think about how to reflect the company culture in the posting. They think about how they can frame the job posting in a way to appeal to candidates they are specifically looking for. If your company wants a creative candidate or values outside-the-box thinking, the job posting should show that. 

3. Look beyond CVs/resumes/applications

If we are already reconsidering how we define the ideal candidate in 2015, let’s also learn to not get fooled by inaccurate or over exaggerated resumes. An estimated 79 percent of companies have hired a candidate that exaggerated on his or her resume. It’s time to put an end to that.

Don’t get hung up on degrees or employment dates. Instead look at what they accomplished while at their last job.

4. Improve Your Interview Techniques

If you can improve one aspect of your recruiting game in 2015, make it your interviewing skills. That’s because the interview is extremely important and potentially your one chance to find out if this candidate is right for the company.

Research your candidate beforehand and focus on asking less superficial questions that give you an insight to how this person will handle problems and projects in the workplace.

Remember, the best interviews are like conversations. Think about great interviewers. They listen more than they talk, they ask great follow up questions and they do more than just read a list of questions on a sheet of paper.

5. Utilize new technology to find candidates

Recruiting is no longer a passive process where you post a job and wait for candidates to apply. It’s 2015, you can decide who you are looking for and go find them!

Use social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to not only post job openings, but also build relationships with candidates. You can instantly look beyond a candidate’s resume by viewing their social media profiles or starting conversations on these forums.

With these thoughts in mind, it’s time to go out and make it happen. Zoho Recruit hopes this year will be one of your best ever and is here to ensure you achieve your 2015 recruiting goals.