Effective time management is essential for recruiters to be successful, as it allows them to handle the many responsibilities they have. Time management skills are what sets top recruiters apart from others. Despite its importance, it is not a topic that is frequently discussed by recruiters or recruitment bloggers.
“Time will either make or break your recruiting career.”
– Jonathan Kidder
You need to become a master of managing your daily duties or else you will get distracted and lose focus. By staying on track and using the below best practices you will be able to accomplish more in less time. I stick to a daily schedule and block out time for taking screening to updating candidates. I also force myself to work between 8am-4:30pm every single day. If I still have unread messages in my inbox I stay until it gets finished. If I don’t hit my daily reach-out goals I’ll stay until I hit my numbers. If my team likes to talk in the office – I start my day by catching up and after that I’m zoned in for the rest of my day. My daily routines have made me successful in hitting my monthly and yearly goals. I wrote an article about building a daily routine goals (here).
Why a Recruiters Time is Important?
Recruitment is a time-sensitive process, and being able to prioritize tasks and meet deadlines is crucial to success.
Recruiters are often juggling multiple responsibilities, such as sourcing candidates, conducting interviews, and communicating with hiring managers. Good time management allows recruiters to handle these tasks efficiently and effectively.
Having a good time management system in place can help recruiters avoid burnout, by allowing them to balance the demands of the job with their personal life.
Good time management can help recruiters to build stronger relationships with candidates and hiring managers, by allowing them to respond to communications and follow up on leads in a timely manner.
With the current scenario, the competition for talent is high, and companies are looking to fill positions as soon as possible, recruiters with strong time management skills will be able to fill positions quickly and efficiently.
In this digital era, recruiters need to be able to navigate through a high volume of resumes and job applications, time management skills will help them to quickly identify the best candidates.
To bring yourself to the next level in recruiting. You need to understand the best time management methodologies within our business. Below, I’ve compiled the top 5 best time management strategies that will empower you to make the most of your recruiting day.
1. Kanban
Kanban is a system designed to help you gain control over those massive to-do lists that are so common for a recruiter’s daily routine. Recruiters use the Kanban tool for tracking candidates from the moment of the first contact through the interview stages.
The word “Kanban” originates from Japan, and means “signpost.” The Kanban system was first developed in the 50s by Japanese manufacturing businesses like Toyota, which provided a visual tool in the production department.
The basis of the system revolves around sorting those items into categories, such as “To Do,” “Doing,” and “Done.” A whiteboard works, or if preferred, with the digital Kanban tool, the columns can be customized to fit your needs.
Having tasks separated in stages not only offers the satisfaction of monitoring progress, but it also helps you to visualize. An important factor in this or any system is to limit the items in the Doing or Work in Progress state, as a way of avoiding overwhelm.
The Kanban Digital tool provides you with a visual board layout where files can be uploaded, tasks labeled and categorized into different columns, and deadlines or due dates assigned.
2. Inbox-Zero
Recruiters can quickly become inundated with emails from candidates and without a tool that helps you organize emails; it can be very time-consuming.
With Inbox-Zero, emails can be prioritized and labeled, making it possible to focus only on the ones that are a top priority. From customizing notification settings to have the option to delegate emails to others, a tool like this will further free up time so you can take care of more important matters.
3. Eat the Frog Technique
The well-known author, Brian Tracy popularized the saying, “Eat the frog,” but the first rendition was quoted by Mark Twain, “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”
The productivity technique, Eat the Frog, helps with identifying and prioritizing tasks, creating a plan to tackle them, delegating when possible, and avoiding procrastination. If you find it difficult to prioritize, then the Eisenhower Technique will be helpful.
4. The Eisenhower Technique
This method is named after Dwight Eisenhower, 34th president of the US, whose philosophy was, “two kinds of problems, urgent and important.” With that, he assigned tasks in one of four categories, based on urgency.
This task management method is definitely doable on paper, just as Eisenhower once made notes on napkins, but fortunately, the Priority Matrix app provides a more efficient alternative. With the ability to create projects, make notes, prioritize, and even collaborate with others, your level of efficiency and productivity will increase.
5. Timeboxing Technique
Timeboxing revolves around working in periods of time where you focus on a single activity during whatever timeframe you have allocated. The boxes of time can range from 25-30 minute intervals of time to an hour or so. The concept is similar to the Pomodoro technique.
Once you have planned out your day and identified what you want to tackle for the day, ranging from urgent to important, you set aside a timeframe and work only on tasks that fit into a timebox. For instance, as a recruiter that may mean spending an hour following up with job candidates, or two hours interviewing, etc.
Master These Methodologies TODAY
Recruiters generally wear multiple hats within a day, and because your profession relies on building relationships, exercising great communication skills, and finding solutions for clients, it is imperative that you make the most of every minute. By implementing these techniques into your daily regimen, you’ll more likely become even more successful and perhaps carve out more time for yourself.
I know you can become a better Recruiter or Sourcer! You just need to effectively manage your time. At the end of the day you need to ask yourself: Did you use your time well and did you produce the results you’re looking for?
Recommended Reading:
My Favorite Recruiting Tools in 2020
Review of Hired A Job Search Marketplace
Top Boolean Strings to Find Diversity Candidates Online
- Unlocking the Power of Perplexity AI: Why Recruiters Should Utilize This Revolutionary Tool - February 11, 2024
- Exploring AI Interviewing Assessment Tools: A Comprehensive Review - November 30, 2023
- PartyRock a Sandbox for Talent Sourcing - November 29, 2023