A recruiter’s workday is filled with a myriad of activities and demands on their limited amount of time.  But how exactly can recruiters get the most important tasks done and still have time for a life?  Below are a few tips:

1.     Prioritize each task into three categories – Important, Urgent and Nice To Have.  Important tasks are those things that will have an impact on your revenue in the long-term and probably the short-term too.  For example, sales calls are an important task because the amount of sales calls you make will impact how many sales you actually make.  An urgent task is something that needs to be done right away or soon. For example, returning the call of an employer whose job candidate didn’t show for an interview could be considered an urgent task but also an important one since your long-term relationship with the employer could be impacted if you don’t return the call.   Finally, “nice to have” tasks are things such as filing or organizing your email box.  This type of thing can be delegated to someone else or done later.

2.     The next step to getting the most important tasks done during your workday is scheduling. If you don’t already have one, purchase a planner. Make sure you schedule your most important and urgent tasks early in the day, while leaving less important things for later. This should be done each day before you begin work.

3.     Remain focused. Jumping from one task to another is a waste of time and energy. Instead, focus on one task until it’s complete and then move to the next one in a systematic way. For example, you might spend one hour making sales calls and then 30 minutes responding to emails.

4.     Create effective systems for doing things. For example, you may want to create a system for responding to inquiries about your rates or job availability so that it’s almost automatic, thus saving you time and energy.