Recruitment activity is at the heart of making more placements as a professional recruiter or executive search consultant. Actually, allow me to clarify that statement. The right recruitment activity is at the heart of more placements.
And it doesn’t matter if you’re “swimming” in job orders or search assignments right now. That does NOT guarantee more placements. You have to make sure that you’re working on the right search assignments. If not, then you’ll waste precious time, and as a recruiter, time is your most valuable asset.
Unfortunately, there are distractions everywhere. This was the case before the COVID-19 pandemic and it’s more the case now. Throw in the greatest mass resignation in history, plus the tightest market for talent that the world has ever seen, and what you have is a tremendous potential for career billings. Or, if you allow yourself to become distracted, the tremendous potential for . . . wasted potential.
Recruitment activity and eliminating distractions
To help us navigate the seemingly endless minefield of distractions is recruiting and staffing trainer Barb Bruno, CPC/CTS of Good as Gold Training. Barb is in agreement that distractions are at an all-time high.
“A lack of focus will destroy any chance you have at developing good time management skills,” said Barb. “This can be compounded if you are working from home, where there are more personal distractions.”
To help illustrate this, Barb suggests imagining a scenario in which you arrive at work and your entire office is covered with $100 bills, from the floor to the ceiling. And then you hear over the loudspeaker (or whatever device might convey this information) the following: “Between the hours of 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., you can keep all of the $100 bills that you can gather . . . no strings attached!”
In such a scenario, Barb suggests that you ask yourself the following questions:
- Would you wait until 9:00 am to start?
- Would you really go to lunch?
- Would you take personal phone calls?
- Would you send or read emails?
- Would you go on social networking sites?
- Would you even go to the bathroom?
“You probably answered ‘No’ to most of those questions because you would be extremely focused on gathering and keeping as many $100 bills as you could,” said Barb. “In reality, those $100 bills are in your office right now. In fact, they are on your desk attached to your telephone. If you are on the phone making planned, result-oriented calls, then you can make more money than you have ever thought possible.”
Planning, focus, and production on your recruiting desk
Let’s face it: distractions abound. There are candidates, clients, and co-workers. And if you’re a member of a recruiting network, then your split partners could also be a distraction. (Albeit a necessary and sometimes welcome one.)
“If we’re being quite honest, we often distract ourselves when our attention switches from work to family, friends, vacations, etc.,” said Barb.
According to Barb, the best way to prevent distractions is to plan out you day before leave work each evening. If distractions or urgent issues take you away from your plan, you can easily get back on track focusing on results-oriented activities.
“If you are not currently planning 100% of your outgoing calls, then the first step to become a planner is to write down the six things that are closest to money,” said Barb. “These are things that you need to do the following day. You commit to completing them before you leave work. Each subsequent month, add 10 outgoing calls. You want your planned outgoing calls vs. the incoming calls to control your destiny.”
With this mind, Barb suggests informing your friends and family that the best hours for you to make money are between the hours of 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. (Or whatever hours you designate for your recruitment desk.)
“During the hours when you have the best opportunity of contacting your clients and candidates, you don’t want to be distracted by personal phone calls,” said Barb.
Although they might mean well, family members, friends, and co-workers may not realize that they’re figuratively taking money out of your pocket when they distract you during prime selling hours. (Although, depending upon what kind of family and friends you have, it might be literal.) This is why it’s critical to let them know when they can contact you . . . and when they should not.
Furthermore, Barb recommends holding yourself accountable by asking the following three questions every Friday:
1. What did I do right this week?
Remember that what you did right is typically defined by the 20% of work that produced 80% of your results. Of course, this is the recruitment activity upon which you should sharpen your focus. And then, when you identify these things, do more of them next week!
2. What wasted my time?
This is the recruitment activity that did NOT lead to more production on your recruiting desk. Once you identify these things, stop doing them immediately, since they’re only going to hamper your progress.
3. What new idea am I implementing?
According to Barb, you should set a goal of implementing one new idea on your recruiting desk each month during 2022. She believes that if you’re able to do that, then you dramatically increase the chances that you will enjoy a record year.
For another activity, Barb suggests that for the next seven days, write down when distractions occur that take you away from your primary focus. After all, if you can’t measure it, then you can’t improve it.
“Review this list and then write down solutions to eliminate those distractions the following week,” said Barb. “When you limit distractions, you can focus on results-oriented activity which will increase your success and income.”
Recruitment activity and your ATS
One way to help ensure that you’re planning your day and your “prime time” selling hours appropriately and focusing on the right recruitment activity is by using the right recruiting software and ATS. The good news is that Top Echelon offers just such a software!
The TE Recruit™ Planner allows you to keep track of your activities and see what you need to do within a specified day, week, or month. Top Echelon’s recruitment CRM makes communicating with your clients and candidates simple and easy with the following tools and features:
- Email templates
- Email integration
- Calendar integration
- Activity Scheduler
- Texting
Right now, you can get a FREE 15-day trial of TE Recruit™. Test-drive our top ATS and recruitment CRM with no obligation and no credit card required.
Click HERE to start your free trial.
Or you can request a live demo and one of our representatives will be happy to show you the ins and outs of the software and answer all of your questions.
Click HERE to request your live demo.
Top Echelon has been providing tools and services to help professional recruiters and executive search consultants make more placements for more than 30 years . . . and we can help YOU, too!