Are Recruiters Expert Multi-Taskers?

The role of a recruiter, whether a corporate recruiter, agency recruiter, RPO recruiter or something in between, is anything but slow. After spending near a decade in various roles varying from a therapist for children with autism to working as an executive assistant for a Fortune 500 or supporting a boutique insurance agency I decided to pursue recruitment.

Unlike most recruiters, I did not "fall into" recruitment. I was passionate about the industry, I experienced first hand all the negatives and wanted to experience a way to leave my mark and improve the industry.

*Jokes on me....what I have found after nearly a decade in the recruitment industry is recruiters have no choice but to multi-task. We are straddling the proverbial fence of helping organizations to fill roles. Coaching hiring managers on proper interview etiquette, how to look beyond a resume and see the true value a candidate brings. We are engaging, supporting, reaching out to candidates and applicants. Amidst all of this most recruiters are managing anywhere from 15-25 (on a slow week) open roles.

Now, most of us are also human...we have spouses, children, homes that need cleaning, yards (possibly) that need tending, pets that need feeding/walking. So contrary to all the research pointing to how bad multi-tasking is for productivity...recruiters...well we don't have much of a choice.

If you are in this space work smarter, utilize time blocks. Block dedicated time to candidate mine/head-hunt. Set time for follow-up to candidates - emails/calls. Another block to review applicants. For me I often find it easiest to block beginning/end of my days for "administrative" type of recruitment focus. Then I find (as a working mom) I can dedicate the part of the day I am "child-free" and really work and focus on my candidate engagement/outreach/phone screens. And it is a good idea to set your IM to "do not disturb" mode.

Recruitment colleagues - no we are not performing rocket science or brain surgery...but some of us may be hiring the people that are! It is imperative in the intense recruitment world we find ourselves to find balance and not get burned out!

By the way...if you are a candidate, job applicant, job seeker....would you mind giving us a small bit of grace? Take a bit of ownership to follow-up with us. We do not mean to drop the ball, sometimes we just have a cruise ship buffet sized overfull plate and the "jello" is about to slide right off! A good recruiter will thank you for following up, appreciate your interest and give you the updates in as close to real time as possible.

Want to learn more about some of dangers of multi-tasking....check out this article: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/memory-medic/201608/the-perils-multitasking