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Recruitment is a fast paced, demanding environment where targets need to be met on an ongoing monthly basis and revenue generation is key. As a recruiter you are essentially working in a sales roles. 

From candidates, interviews, adverts, CV’s, clients, offers, networking, business development and everything in between - the role of a recruiter can be very overwhelming. 

With feeling overwhelmed and trying to be an expert multi-tasker you can easily become distracted and unmotivated. The key factor to overcome this is to ensure you stay focused. 

With over 3 years recruitment experience in Morgan McKinley I have realized that staying focused is key. Yes, your day can change at a flick of a switch and not go according to plan but you can also find yourself running around being busy and not actually getting anything done. If you focus on one task at a time and not try to multitask you could be far more productive. 

Mind your time:

The first thing to evaluate when trying to stay focussed is your time. Your time is valuable! In recruitment you could say that people are your product... I would say that time is your product. The more time you spend speaking with candidates who you can place now and in the future, the more likely you are to succeed. As recruiters we want to help everyone and give the best advice we can to candidates, friends and even our families. However if you are taking too much time helping a candidate who you may never place, how are you going to make money? Be conscious of your time and where you are spending your time everyday. 

Don’t multitask! 

There is a perception that multitasking is productive and if you have perfected multitasking you are an expert at getting things done. However, if you are multitasking are you really dedicated to each task and ensuring you are giving each task 100%? If you find you have ten things to do in one day my advice would be to tackle each task one at a time. You will be far more productive if you break down each task. Dedicate your morning to speaking with your clients, your afternoon to meeting with candidates and the evening for ensuring you have sent all the relevant CV’s for that day. If you try to do juggle between the lot throughout the day you may end up not speaking to as many clients, not meeting as many candidates and not sending enough CV’s, which leads to less activity and ultimately less placements. 

Balancing act:

Finally, to focus you need to find the balance. We are all familiar with the term ‘work hard, play hard’ and as cliche as it may sound it is something I always go by. If I work hard each day, ensuring I am spending my time working on the right activity and being productive as possible with each task, I feel a lot more confident that I have completed a good day's work and I am happy to switch off for the evening or weekend. Reward your productivity and ability to focus by taking time out to do something you really enjoy - walking, reading, cooking, dancing - whatever it might be, put the emails and work to the side and switch off from focusing. By doing this on a regular basis you will be feel prepared to walk back into work and refocus. 

Morgan McKinley has assisted with my development in many skills, focussing being one of them. If you would like to work in a recruitment firm where development and progression is key, please do not hesitate to get in touch with myself - Michelle Donohoe, Talent Acquisition Specialist, Morgan McKinley.