Learning how to prioritize your day is a challenging recruiter skill.
Here’s an easy way to do it:
These activities are listed from HIGHEST to lowest priority.
1. Extensions (HIGHEST)
–> Priority: Finding a way to extend candidates either at the same or alternative location. It’s much easier to maintain your desk than rebuilding it.
2. On assignment
–> Priority: Providing an awesome experience so candidates are inclined to extend with you. Also ensuring they have an extension option brewing once you’re 6-8 weeks out from end date.
3. Booked
–> Priority: Ensuring your candidates are prepped to start smoothly & ensuring the agency has finalized compliance ~1 week out from start date.
4. Submittals
–> Priority: Sub a ton! Presenting options that match your candidates and having the skill to open them up to new opportunities. Working with your AMs to ensure your subs are getting acted upon at the MSP and/or facility.
5. Hot Candidates
–> Priority: Finalize profile and prep candidate for submittal. Nurture the candidate relationship over time to ensure they remain interested in your offerings.
6. Follow-up Tasks
–> Priority: Intentional follow-up to candidates who are at various stages in your pipeline progressively moving them from pipeline to booked to assignment to extensions. There’s a lot of noise out there – follow-up helps you stay top of mind in your candidate’s life and re-capture missed opportunities.
7. Building Pipeline (lowest)
–> Priority: Continuously assessing the quality of your pipeline to ensure your keeping candidates that have reasonable expectations and are interested in your offerings. Constantly striving to transition them to on assignment.
Some thoughts:
To be fair, this priorities list is for a recruiter that already has an active headcount. Even just 1.
If 0 headcount, the priority is very simple – MASSIVE outbound activity to build talent pool, pipeline, and grow the desk from there.
Over time priorities change and maintaining a desk trumps rebuilding it.
I hope that helps.