A Day in the Life of a Recruiter
I realised recently through conversations with friends, family, and even at a networking event that there are quite a lot of people that are not quite sure what I do all day! Recruitment is one of those really cool jobs where no day is the same. And so, I thought it might be fun to share a snapshot of a day in my role as a Recruiter at SteppingStones!
8:45am – Every morning we start with a quick 15-minute meeting where the whole team runs through what our schedules look like and what our priorities are for the day. This is a great way for us to share what we are working on as we are a completely collaborative team and work on all of the jobs that come in together. We also have a flexible working schedule that allows our team to work from home throughout the week, so this is a nice way for us all to connect with those who may not be in the office that day.
9am – Time to sort through my emails and see what applications have come in overnight! I arrange calls with candidates throughout the week, touch base with clients, follow up on resume sends, schedule interviews, and update candidates.
9:30am – New temporary job comes in from a client! First step is to give the client a call and make sure I know exactly what they are looking for. Once I have all of the details confirmed I share the job with the team and we get to work. I hop on the phone and let any of my suitable candidates know about the role and get their permission to send their resume over for this job. I format their resume, write a short bio about them, and pop it all in an email over to the client.
Working on the temporary desk is very fast paced. We like to make sure we are getting resumes sent out as soon as possible as sometimes our clients need someone to start as soon as the next day. There are always moving parts with temporary recruitment which keeps you on your toes.
10:00am – Time to check in with my current temporary staff members. I chat with my temps once a week to make sure everything is going well in their assignment. We also chat about any permanent opportunities that we might have available to see if they would be interested in being put forward for them. Our temporary desk is a great way to get candidates working and can be a step towards securing a permanent position.
10:30am – Temporary Staff Catch Up & Permanent Job Review – This a meeting with our whole team to check in and make sure that all of our temporary staff are well. Temporary staff are always starting and finishing up assignments, so it is nice to have this weekly check in so that everyone knows who we have working and where they are assigned to. Our permanent job review is also a full team check in so that everyone is aware of our live jobs and what stage they are at in the recruitment process.
11am – Calls with potential candidates to find out what types of roles they are looking for and how I might be able to assist. I go through their resume and work experience with them and chat about things like salary expectations, companies they are interested in, and where they might have already applied. I explain our background checking process and our service level agreement so that candidates know exactly what to expect from me throughout their job search.
12:30pm – Lunch with one of my amazing clients! We check in with our clients regularly to make sure that we are providing them with the highest level of service and that we are meeting their needs, but we find that it is nice to meet face to face over lunch or a coffee to catch up every now and again.
2pm – Back to my desk and ready to source some quality candidates for our open jobs. This usually involves writing lots of adverts and spending time on LinkedIn. I love that I get to use my writing degrees in this role – even if writing adverts is a bit different than writing essays and short stories! I will also admit (much to my team’s horror!) that I did not have LinkedIn before I started this job… and now I definitely spend A LOT of time on it and even have the app of my phone (much to my friends’ horror!)
3pm – Time to check in with my current clients and work on building relationships with new clients. I spend a lot of time on the phone chatting with companies about their staffing needs and finding out how I might be able to help. I take the time to explain how our temporary desk works and the benefit of temporary staffing solutions because a lot of companies are not always aware that this is a service that we offer!
4pm – More emails and checking in with my candidates that I am actively working with. I make sure that they know where their resume has been sent and what stage in the process we are at with each role. I schedule interviews for them with clients and give them feedback from interviews they have already had. I also do interview preparation and clear them for any new roles that we have available.
4:45pm – Write this blog!! And prepare any other marketing materials as needed… If you haven’t seen it already you should go and check out the weekly video series that I am doing with Kiera on our Instagram. In these videos we share “Temp Desk Tips” about the benefits of temporary jobs, our live vacancies, and any other musings on all things temporary work.
5:15pm – Wrap up any outstanding emails, check off all of my finished tasks, and write my to-do list for tomorrow. I like to check out my calendar the night before to make sure I know what I have going on and prepare for the week ahead– although things don’t always go to plan, and I often find myself moving my schedule around as each day progresses!
5:30pm – Lock up our gorgeous new office in Bayshore Mall, take a quick moment to admire the view of the Harbour, and head out for my nightly beach walk.
I wish every day looked as structured as this but as I said at the beginning of this blog – no day is the same! Throughout the week, I also meet candidates for coffee and temporary staff for check in meetings, have 1:1 meetings with my manager and Kiera the other half of the temporary desk team, meet with my career coach, draft client and candidate contracts, onboard new temporary staff, and deliver Meals on Wheels to the seniors in our community – just to name a few more things… It would be impossible for me to completely summarise my job into one blog post, but I hope that this gives you an idea of what my life is like as a Recruiter!
If you would like to chat about any of the really interesting temporary or permanent opportunities that I am working on or if you just want to know more about what options are out there, then please do get in touch via email or give me a call – I would love to hear from you!
Luisa is a born and raised Caymanian who joined the SteppingStones Team in October 2020. Starting off as a Trainee Recruiter she quickly found a passion for her new career and after completing the SteppingStones Trainee Advancement in Recruitment Program in 2021 now manages the Professional Contract Solutions desk.