Pause Your Inbox
As a recruiter, email is essential to your job. Your applicants get through to you via email most of the time, and you need to stay current on what’s going on at your job. But reading too much email can be a problem, as it was to a number of physicians undergoing a recent study . Reading every email coming their way, they found, ended up costing them about $1600 per physician.
An easy way to mitigate your email time without going cold turkey would be to pause your inbox using some clever gmail coding or an app like Inbox Pause. This prevents emails from clogging your inbox for a set period of time, so you’re not distracted by incoming messages as you’re working on more important tasks.
Exercise in the Morning
If you’re looking for a quick pick-me-up in the morning that you can implement tomorrow morning, look no further than a little exercise. Exercising in the morning is not only healthier for your body in the long term, but it also helps you sleep better at night, leading to a more productive day in the morning. Plus, exercising first thing in the morning is the easiest way to make a habit, meaning you won’t have to force yourself to do it after a while — it’ll just come naturally. Try the seven-minute workout app to get you started!
Work (a little) on Sunday
You, your candidates, and even Garfield hate Mondays. Why? It’s the least productive day of the week , as we spend most of it catching up on what we missed out on over the weekend and 48% of us feel negative and turned off from work — not good for productivity. How do you get around this? Simple: spend about an hour on Sunday clearing out your inbox and doing the small tasks that usually crowd your Monday. This lets you hit the ground running on Monday once you get in and start your week off ahead and more productive. The popular Kickstarter project The Passion Planner, even starts on a Sunday so you can get a jump on Mondays, without that overwhelmed feeling we all get!
Stop Multitasking
Everyone thinks they can do two things at once and reap the benefits. Turns out, multitasking is hurting your brain , making you less attentive, and could actually harm your career in the long run. It hasn’t been proving to work, and it could be making you less productive. If you want to get more work done when it matters, teach yourself to focus on one task at a time and you’ll get it done more quickly. Recruiters are especially prone to this, even though it’s been proven time and again, it does not work, with the exception of 2% of the entire population . Is that you?
Do Some Smaller Busywork
Prioritizing tasks to avoid too much multitasking can make you a better worker, but so can setting aside a little time to zone out. Of course, that doesn’t mean spacing out and not working — it means dedicating some time to work that can help your brain relax . Those little tasks need doing, too, and plugging away at more menial work can help you focus on the bigger tasks when it comes to working on them, too. Doing simple tasks like sorting email lists, cleaning out your inbox, listening to voicemails and the dreaded expense reports while riding an exercise bike, watching TV or standing in line, can free up your dedicated brain time for the really tough stuff.
Manage Your Social Media Better
Like email, social media is an important tool for recruiters . But also like email, it can kill as much productivity as it helps. Social media is one of the biggest drains on productivity in the US, as 60-80% of Americans report they go on social media for unnecessary tasks. As a recruiter, the hardest part of using social media is knowing when you’re actually doing something productive and when to quit because you’re not getting anything done. A little discipline can a go long way here, but there are several ways to make your time on social media more effective . Try an automation app for curation purposes (Buffer, Hootsuite) or use directories like Twellow to make finding your favorite candidates easier.
Have any tips or tricks of your own to help make being a productive recruiter easier? Let us know in the comments below!