How to Overcome Stress in Recruitment

As agency recruiters, our job is exhausting, high-stakes, and so fast-paced that sometimes we may drive ourselves crazy by the dizzying speed of the changes on a constant basis. There is no doubt that, without strong mental, professional, and personal processes to deal with stress, your recruitment job can become a nightmare.

Here are a few tips on how to manage the stress in your career in recruitment:

#1. Create a detachment process to distance yourself emotionally from any setback.

This is a survival mechanism meant to save you from knee-jerk reactions to traumatizing events that could lead to further regret and missteps on top of an already-negative situation. In our job, we'll send the wrong emails, make mistakes on submissions, perhaps even divulge information we weren't supposed to, or get into interpersonal conflicts with our clients or candidates, all that could hurt our livelihood and future in our business and role.

This threatening of our being is unique to us as recruiters. As revenue-generators, we take things personally because anything can hurt our chances for success which endangers our livelihood. When you put so much at stake, it can lead people to think irrationally and behave in overly emotional ways. The best way to react to the stressors and daily issues we come across is to stop for a moment, contain our emotions, and compartmentalize.

#2. Remember why we chose to do this career: your why.

Every time bad things happen, we have to put things into perspective. There's a reason why most of us got into this career. We were told: if you work hard, you'll make it in this business to become wealthy and successful. Of course, to get there, it's inevitable that we'll make mistakes, suffer indignities, and sometimes undergo a series of unfortunate events.

This is fair because in order to make $100k, $200k, and beyond, at a young age without any further schooling, it can't be smooth-sailing, otherwise others would easily succeed too!

The reason why recruitment careers are so exciting, stable, and lucrative is exactly because it's such a hard job that the few at the top take the majority of the spoils. Thus, to climb to the top is a tough climb indeed. We need to understand this and fight to continue onwards to where we want to go. We must increase our endurance and stamina - play the long game.

#3. Consult, discuss, and rely on your team and leaders to help you.

One of the best ways to overcome work struggles is to communicate your sufferings to a trusted group of advisors who are in this business and have been where you have been. This could include your team, colleagues, manager, and wider leadership team*. Mentors, confidants, and advisors at work and outside of work who understand your career can help you adjust your attitude and set action points to fix problems in real time.

*If you can't confide in anyone at work, you're probably working in a bad environment. This is an entirely different issue that needs further analysis and resolution. I'd highly urge you to speak with anyone on my team and message us to discuss which other firms may best suit you in order to find a culture that is transparent, collaborative, and supportive.

This is why a strong culture of support, allowing for mistakes and taking chances, is so crucial to the happiness and hope each recruiter has for their future.

In Conclusion

It takes a village to create a successful and high-performing recruitment team and to build an incredible sales and recruitment career. Hard work, perseverance through missteps, recovery, and bounce-back from issues are crucial to learning the hard lessons we need to learn to become the best producers we can be.

Don't shy away from problems or exit the industry in embarrassment or defeat. Fight on. Embrace each learning experience to increase your professional capability as a top recruiter. Then you will reap your just reward.

Dandan is the CEO & Founder of DG Recruit, THE headhunting firm dedicated to helping top billers in recruitment maximize their career in agency recruitment. Get in touch for a private conversation here.