Time Management

Good time management has been mentioned several times during your reading of this guide. I feel this topic deserves a chapter all of it’s own because if you're not able to achieve excellent time management skills, you’ll work much harder than necessary.

Excellent Recruiters who underachieve in terms of production and high level incomes will almost inevitably attribute a good portion of those results to poor time management skills and discipline.

As a new Recruiter you will spend the time needed to start your new business. For some of you this will mean 60-70 hours per week and for others it may mean 40-50. It all depends upon your drive to succeed. As you develop the art and science of recruiting, those hours will change somewhat. The 40-50 hours you spend will be focused, having a specific purpose, with the end result being high production and high cash in.

With the massive flow of information you generate, i.e., candidates, job orders, leads, Internet information, etc., it is very easy (even for seasoned Recruiters) to become overwhelmed. There are many cases I’ve witnessed of Recruiters who have become immobilized and totally ineffective until they have stopped the merry-go-round and become more focused on a daily plan. Even with a specific plan day in and day out, it’s easy enough to be distracted and thrown off your plan, so imagine what it can be like with no specific routine to conduct your business.

For the purpose of clarification, I recommend you copy the PLACEMENT PROCESS in Chapter Two and have that handy for this explanation. If you look at the process, you will see the first steps are CONTACT WITH EMPLOYERS and CONTACT WITH JOB SEEKERS. As a new Recruiter starting a desk, the bulk of your day will be spent on Step One. When your activity, in terms of contact calls, generates the need to go to the other steps, you will need to move through the total placement process.

Take the copy of the PLACEMENT PROCESS and turn it upside down. The steps, starting with PLACEMENT or FOLLOW-UP will be how your day will eventually be laid out. You, as a successful Recruiter, will have to fight to get back to Step One, both with employers and job seekers to generate the same activity that has been keeping you so busy.

What I am trying to prepare you for is a time management schedule that will be the same times each day. The only thing that will change will be the activities within those time frames. A typical day will be 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. or 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. for most new Recruiters. The Golden Rule to go by if you’re to be a top producer will be: Never leave the office for home until you have developed a written plan for the next day!

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