[avatar user=”Shincy Morris” size=”thumbnail” align=”left” /] Shincy Morris |

Just Another Day as a Recruiter?

Woke up in the morning hearing the alarm ring. As a recruiter, the first thing that flashed through my mind was the final interview of my candidate, wished him success in my mind, said my morning prayers and started my day. I glanced through the papers for any industry news that could interest me. Then I packed my lunch and finally started my bike. On the way, while I am stuck in the traffic, my eyes caught on an ad-display hoarding which reminded me of the requirement I have in advertising space.

Before I could think any further, I heard the honking from behind, automatically started the bike and looked at the signal, it was still red. Stared back at him for disturbing my thought process. As I was about to shout at him, my mind warned, ” No be patient, he might be a candidate whom you might meet today.” Then I converted my frown to a smile, and I continued my ride to work.

The Good Samaritans

Reached office just on time and rushed for the morning huddle where I heard my colleague sharing her success on placing a CFO. After the short discussion on how the recruitment Industry is growing, we all got back to our desk. As I started planning my day, my phone started ringing, “Oh it’s my candidate who is supposed to attend an interview, why is he calling me now, does he have a piece of bad news for me.”

I picked up his call, praying, “Please don’t give me an excuse for not going for the interview today.” He has called to inform that he is on his way and would reach before time. Oh, that is a relief. “Things like this happen to light up the day for recruiter like me.” Wished him good luck and started my work.

Busy Bee

The day got busier with requirement discussions, client calls, mapping, candidate search, and interview scheduling. I had some exciting candidate conversations which gave inputs to my new hunt. I turned back as someone called my name; it’s my recruiter colleagues calling for a coffee; that’s my cue for a break. After chitchatting for a while, I am finally back at my desk. Now it’s time to scout for the interested candidates, after multiple rounds of conversations with the candidates I finally have the first set of resumes to share with my client.

After sharing the profiles, I glanced through the To-do list, Yes I need to speed up my work. My Supervisor is nudging me to talk to more aspirants to increase the candidate pool. The average selection cycle seems to be increasing. This lengthy selection period means I need to schedule more interviews, and now I have to get back to the candidates who had attended an interview to share the feedback.

The Brighter Side

Just then, I realised that I was due for a feedback from one of the hiring managers. After multiple attempts, I was able to talk to him, and he said he did not have time to run through the CVs. I reminded him that if he takes longer, the candidates may not be available by then. Did I just threaten him or state the obvious? I got the feedback in the next 30 minutes

Just then, one of my clients called to let me know that she wanted to offer one of my candidates the new role. Offers is what recruiters like me live for; I was over the moon. It had taken me weeks to find this guy and keep him engaged as he got interviewed over the last two months. After three months of conversations, he has almost become like a friend. When he picked the call, he said he could sense with my tone that his next best job was happening. We promised to do lunch together and plan his transition from his existing employer.

Ghosting

The second half of the day I went to meet a client. It was a red-faced meeting; one of my joinees for the day had not turned up. Till yesterday he had assured joining and his thumbs up emoji via WhatsApp flashed to me suddenly. His phone switched off since morning should have been a warning sign; I thought he must have been in the flight to Induction.

I sat there embarrassed with yet another experience of a promise broken. I felt like somebody who had defaulted on a payment. I dragged myself to the office after assuring my client to find a backup soon. Now, I have a few more things to tie up before I wind up for the day.

Just Another Day

As I started to ride back home, one of my candidates who was to attend an interview the next day called. I reached home and returned his call first as a recruiter though I could see my family waiting at the dinner table for me. After speaking to her family she had a change of mind and now wanted to know if the next employer can give her a 50% higher salary.

I asked her to drop off the interview and told her that her change of mind at the last minute is not going to be accepted. I called the hiring manager and apologized for the no show in advance and headed for my dinner.

As I was retiring for the day as a recruiter, hubby asked: “how was the day?” I was wondering how, to sum up, mine!