Developing Habits That Become a Routine

Build Recruiting Habits for Long-Term Success

As I watch my newest recruiters starting to have conversations and filling out candidate data sheets it becomes painfully clear they are developing habits that will prove to be counter-productive in the long run of their development. These actions start with looking at the CRM and/or LinkedIn to learn more information about a person they want and need to call. Then they make the call and get voicemail most of the time. Then they start over again, looking up the next person on their list, reviewing the background and making a call only to reach voice mail again. They do this over and over again until someone finally answers the phone and they attempt to introduce themselves properly, give their pitch and hope the person responds positively enough to allow a conversation to begin. 

The issue becomes starting to develop a bad habit bouncing back and forth from research to calling. Now add the activity of checking email in between calls not to mention sending an email between calls and that compounds the problem habit. I call that “bouncing.”  What the recruiter should be doing is calling a list of people and leaving a message or having a conversation. Then on to the next call and the next and the next, over and over again. No research, no email, just calling people. The only way to get better at our craft is to speak to people, lots of them. Understanding the industry their working in as well as learning how to have meaningful conversations with people that aren’t dry and impersonal not to mention not delivering any value to the person called.

But the habit of compartmentalizing activity on a recruiter’s desk is the key. Setting times for prime time phone work. Setting specific times in the day for returning calls, preparing and debriefing candidate’s interviews, research, planning, email and administrative activities like sending out fee agreements.  

In my newsletter Daily Structure, I outlined segments of time to do all these things.  The recruiting desk is about flow. If you exercise, you don’t swim for 20 minutes, then run for 20 minutes, then stretch for 20 minutes then lift weights for 20 minutes and then go back to running for 20 minutes and on and on, right? You do each of those things by themselves. You become efficient. You develop a routine.  It’s no different on an active recruiter’s desk. You have specific times in the day to perform different tasks.  If you stick to your good habits that ultimately become a routine, you become an efficient recruiter. 

We all have only so much time in the day. Wasting time because the recruiter is inefficient is the quickest way out of our industry. The best and most accomplished people in any field have learned how to develop habits that become a routine every single day. They know how to stay focused and avoid distractions. Bad habits don’t allow for a successful routine. Good habits, learned early in the development of a new recruiter, enhance the chances of success significantly. Get into a positive routine and I promise, good things will happen.

I’d like to know if you try any of the training items in this newsletter and what your results have or have not been. Please send me a note about that.

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