Time. It's the most important resource in any process. If you think about it, almost every other measurement we make is sub-ordinate to time. Hires....per what? Sourced candidates...per what? What we do as recruiters is only valuable if it is done within a certain time.
Now here I'm at a crossroads :
Road one, I bang on about time to hire in some high level, flaffy way... (flaffy is a word I made up, but you know what it means).
Road two, low-level advice on how you, as a recruiter, can manage your time better.
If you read my mission statement above, you know we will be going down road number two....
So, since time is so central to our success, you need to ask yourself a question and give yourself a very honest answer :
"How good am I at managing my time?"
Here are five ways to structure your time effectively between sourcing, screening, interviews & stakeholder stuff. I know they work from years of experience. They will make you look more professional and reduce your stress
1. One hour a day of sourcing no matter what
Make this hour your happy place. Make an amazing coffee, put on your favourite music and blast it for one hour. target is 10-15 good candidates found in that hour.
2. Auto-schedule screens.
Use Calendly or other auto-scheduler to reduce admin time. Customise your calendar so you can do max 4 screens per day, 2 late morning, 2 early afternoon is a good shout. make this focus time on Slack so you aren't disturbed.
This means that screens never wreck the structure of your week and affect other priorities.
3. A thirty minute, in person prep session for late stage interviews.
This may seem counter intuitive as you are spending an additional 30 min per late stage candidate. But, it has a massive impact on the conversion at that stage and saves you days of sourcing & screening time in the long run. The candidate also thinks you are the bees knees.
4. Templates and info-packs.
Anything you have to say more than twice, make it a template if its an email or add it into some kind of info-pack resource for your candidates. It reduces admin time and makes you more responsive to the candidate which is much better candidate experience.
5. A 15-30 minute Friday decisioning session for hiring managers.
If you are bouncing backwards and forward on Slack for decisions and updates on candidates, you are wasting everyones time. Write a pre-read document with all the candidates in the interview stages and their status, any notes for edge case candidates, and any process problems that need addressing.
Share this on Thursday with the hiring team and then have a 30 minute call (max) on Friday. Go through the document until all the decisions and updates are complete.
It protects the hiring manager's time from ballooning Slack threads of doom, provides structure to how they make decisions and ensures all candidates are updated before COP Friday which increases offer accept rates.
These are tips I know work irrespective of the size of business you are supporting. The key is structuring and multiplying your time.
On that note. If you are looking for some resources to help you with time management in general, I highly recommend you read Deep Work by Cal Newport.
It helps you structure your time and tasks in a way that allows you to make the most of each task. I have found it immensely helpful in my epic journey to becoming a person who will probably not get fired.
Awesome Recruiter Spotlight
We need to talk about Shaun Hervey. While I love recruitment and the opportunities it has given me, I am often deflated and depressed by the sheer amount of corporate nonsense and bullshit we're exposed to on social media on a regular basis:
"The green banner makes you look desperate, your resume MUST be 2 pages and don't you dare interview in a hoodie!"
It's enough to drive you loopy. Well into this Katzenjammer of corporate crap walks a hero. Someone who seems to have a pathological need to bring those social media buffoons down a peg or two, and do so in a really entertaining way.
Please please please connect with Shaun Hervey on LinkedIn. He's a recruiter based in the states who is my go to source of humour about the weird world we work in.. If you have TikTok, definitely follow him here. He's currently doing dramatic readings of LinkedIn posts and it's my reason for going to work every day.
Luke Update
Last year I joined the amazing Ava Labs, the brain boxes behind Avalanche. I've beed a huge Avalanche fanboy for years and I genuinely believe it is the best place to start a business, and for entrepreneurs to make money not just in Web3, but online.
I'm determined to be as present and consistent a member of our community as I always am and will be posting weekly newsletters, and daily LinkedIn posts with the goal of empowering recruiters with data.
I'm still doing a lot of product advisory for cool TA tech products and a smattering of coaching
This year I'll be doing a bit of travelling similar to 2025, and i'll keep you posted closer to the dates if there are any interesting events you'd like to meet at.
Here's me and one of the best recruiters in the world hanging out in Miami.
Well... that's issue sixty! If you have any questions about it, or any feedback on this issue of The Data Driven Recruiter, grab me on LinkedIn for a chat.
I'll see you next week!