By its nature, the staffing profession is a bit chaotic. OK, sometimes a lot chaotic. Candidates no-show for interviews. Employees call off on the first day. Clients ghost us for days or weeks only to place “ASAP” orders. The list goes on.
But that doesn’t mean that everything should be unpredictable—or that we can’t still execute our plan, be proactive, or take more control of our calendar. It doesn’t mean that we have to just constantly react to everything thrown at us, when it’s thrown at us. The most effective recruiting professionals understand that to be successful for the long term, they must focus not just on the urgent, but the important. This requires managing your desk—not letting the urgency of others manage it for you.
“But Tom, that won’t work with our business! Our phones ring off the hook nonstop. I’m constantly monitoring my email in case a client has an order or a candidate calls off. Our day is always getting upended by another fire to put out. I have to stay hyper-responsive and flexible.”
What it sounds like is you’re conditioned to constantly react, rather than accomplish the most important activities that lead to sustained success. Certainly, we need to be available for our clients. And yes, we sometimes need to stop what we are doing to put out legitimate fires. But that doesn’t mean we can’t still have some control over what we do during the course of a day or week: 10% control is better than none, and 20% is better than 10%. Control doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing proposition.
There are a couple of factors that tend to drive this need to always be in reaction mode, and they are rarely driven by clients or talent. The first is what I call a “culture of interruptions.” The second is what I refer to as “manufactured crisis syndrome.” Let’s look at each one, and how to address them.
Culture of Interruptions
Many staffing firms have developed a “culture of interruptions,” where everyone is expected to respond to everything immediately: emails, phone calls, texts, instant messages, vendor management system requisitions, co-worker interruptions, candidate walk-ins. You name it—everything is urgent and has to be addressed right now. Many professionals and companies are extremely proud of their responsiveness. The problem is that, by being constantly interrupted or forced to monitor every communication method, the real work ends up not getting done.
A culture of interruptions usually starts at the top—either with the owner, with leadership, or at the market or branch manager level. If you fall into one of those categories, then stop it today—it is killing your company’s or office’s productivity and burning out your employees.
If you are a recruiter in this type of environment, start by talking with your manager about how interruptions are making it difficult to do your job to the level you want and need to. Agree with your co-workers on times where interruptions are limited, and what truly merits an interruption. Turn off as many alerts as you can, as most interruptions don’t warrant the immediate attention. A great rule of thumb to follow is: “Would you interrupt a meeting with a client to tell me this?”
Manufactured Crisis Syndrome
The second major productivity killer is the concept of “manufactured crises.” In working with hundreds of staffing firms and offices over the years, I’m always amazed how some organizations are in constant “hair on fire” mode. In my experience, this mindset is usually driven by a general sense of anxiousness that there should be something urgent to take care of now. They actually go looking for a crisis, or place the same amount of urgency on situations that don’t require it. You could also call this “the boy who cried wolf syndrome,” as this continuous heightened stress level eventually becomes such the norm that when there is a real crisis there is no higher level of urgency to give it.
The first step in addressing this issue is to have everyone acknowledge it exists. Have a conversation about what really constitutes a crisis. Create a 1–5 scale that everyone agrees on, and get in the habit of asking what level the current situation is at. Much of this issue revolves around the ability to prioritize and to separate what is important versus just urgent.
We can never get rid of 100% of the chaos. Frankly, managing chaos is part of what our clients pay us for. But that doesn’t mean we just accept it. First, we need to start with reducing or eliminating the culture of interruptions and the manufactured crises, and then we can focus on the real work that drives success.
Tom Erb is president of Tallann Resources, a national consulting and training firm specializing in the staffing and recruiting industry. As a consultant, trainer, and speaker, Erb has helped hundreds of companies create and execute sales and recruiting strategies to grow their business. He is the author of Winning the Staffing Sales Game: The Definitive Game Plan for Sales Success in the Staffing Industry. Learn more at tallanresources.com. Follow him on X @TomErb_Tallann.
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