“Multitasking is going to slow you down, increasing the chances of mistakes,” said David E. Meyer, a cognitive scientist and director of the Brain, Cognition and Action Laboratory at the University of Michigan. “Disruptions and interruptions are a bad deal from the standpoint of our ability to process information.”

Many scientists are now saying that multitasking, long promoted as the way to get a lot done in a short span of time, is actually causing us to get less done in more time.  According to a study done at Microsoft, workers who suffered interruptions while engaged in serious mental tasks such as writing a report, on average took 15 minutes to return to their task.   That’s a lot of wasted time.  Below are a few suggestions on how recruiters can decrease interruptions and increase productivity:

1.     Focus on one task at a time and do not switch tasks until you have finished the task, or in the case of lengthy projects, come to a natural stopping point.

2.     Turn off your phone and allow calls to go to voicemail when engaged in projects that require your mental concentration. Set aside a time each day to check voicemail and return calls.

3.     Check email no more than three times a day.  Remember, when walking away from a project to check email it can take on average 15 minute to return to your project.

4.     Group related tasks together.  For example, you may want to block out a few hours a day to complete only administrative tasks and another block of hours to make sales calls.

(source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/business/25multi.html?_r=1)