You want me to manage TIME, too?

Recruiting is a challenging job because there is always something changing. A new requisition, a new client, a new technology or skill, a new candidate, a new problem to solve…it seems the “new” never ends. When I first started out I remember being horribly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of stuff that would fly in from left field throughout the day and that is still an area I struggle with. The biggest challenges are never the requirements and finding candidates, it seems the toughest part is figuring out how to get everything done in the work day. Granted, the work day for a recruiter isn’t 8-5 and we generally work lots of long hours, but even then it seems impossible at times to do it all. That makes time management a critical skill to learn.

One of my early recruiting jobs I worked for a company that made us list out every single phone call and activity we were going to do the following day. It would take an hour just to write it all down and think it all through. I always felt that it was a horrible burden and a waste of what little time I had so I slowly adapted the process to fit my style. Now I spend a few minutes before I leave each day making a short to-do list. It gives me a focus when I arrive at work the next day and focus in the morning is not something that comes easily to me.

I am admittedly not a morning person. I need copious amounts coffee to function. I was a bartender all through college and then went into recruiting – two career choices that require later nights far more often than they require early mornings. Over the years I have learned to never schedule anything before 9 am unless I absolutely have to. I also never schedule interviews before noon if there is any way to avoid it. My brain just doesn’t work early in the day! Since I know that fact, I let it work for me instead of against me.

I schedule my day to allow for responding to email and voicemail first thing in the morning. I can sit with my coffee in front of my computer and not have to interact face-to-face with anyone. I am usually awake and capable of intelligent conversation by 11. After that I will spend the lunch hour making calls to candidates I wasn’t able to reach the day before. I have found that a lot of people will answer their phones during lunch and most of them have had the morning to remind them why they are looking for a new job in the first place. In the afternoon I conduct scheduled interviews and follow up with clients regarding previous submittals and with candidates regarding interviews. Those conversations take brain power and it allows me to conduct them when I am most likely to be on my game. In the late afternoon I source resumes while candidates are on their drive home and in the evening I make calls to schedule interviews for the following day. It is a system that works for me. I don’t presume for a second that it will work for everyone.

My point is that it IS possible to have some control in this crazy, reactive career we have all chosen. We are constantly ping-ponging back and forth on the whims of clients, candidates, co-workers, bosses, etc and that makes it very hard to feel like we can get our job done in a reasonable amount of time. Another trick that helps is to schedule out your work week. For example, Monday is a follow-up day and an administrative day. Since I am the HR Director and the recruiter for my company I use it as a HR day. Obviously, there are HR tasks that arise during the week that won’t wait for Monday, but I can keep the burden lighter by allocating a day to those tasks. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are recruiting days. I am sourcing and interviewing for all the open positions. I am doing submittals and chasing new business. Fridays are administrative days. I generally spend Friday making sure I have everything documented in the tracking system (I know…I should do that as I go. Shoot me.) and sending emails to all my pending candidates regarding status on their req. I send emails to every client with a status on their open positions. That helps to eliminate a lot of the “what’s going on” calls that recruiters generally receive on Mondays. I also spend Friday decompressing from my week. Our team tries to leave early on Friday when we can and that usually means a nice glass of wine at the wine bar that is right downstairs. Ahh…vino…how we love thee!

Time management can also be improved in simple little ways. Here are a couple that work for me:

1. Put a silent timer on your desk and each time you conduct a phone interview try to keep in at thirty minutes or less. It forces you to use your words carefully and to keep the interview on track. I am not suggesting for a second that you don’t take the time to get to know your candidate, but you can do that in a relatively short conversation if you ask good questions and really listen to the responses.

2. Only listen to voicemail or read email during specific windows of time. This isn’t always practical since we are in a very speed sensitive industry, but if you can avoid distracting yourself by responding to every single email or voicemail as it comes in you will find that you are more productive because you are more focused on the task at hand.

Maybe those things will help other recruiters. At the very least it is a place to start. On a side note: I hate it when people tell me to work smarter and not harder and it seems like you hear that a lot in the recruiting world. What does that mean exactly? Does that mean that if you work hard you aren’t smart? Maybe what it means is to manage your time better and you will find that your day goes by a little more smoothly. All I know for sure is that time management in the recruiting industry is beyond critical for your success and the really good recruiters have it down to a science. Personally, I am still trying to master it so any tips you have are more than welcome!