New Year, New You!
That’s the motto. With a new year upon us it’s time for a quick burst in gym membership, healthy food purchases and for exercise equipment sales to double. That is, of course, until March roles around and everyone gets back to their normal schedules.
Personally, I do not subscribe to the New Year’s fad. However, if you do fall victim to this, then good for you! Any work out is better than no work out at all! This, however, is not a fitness blog (well remembered Chadd! – Editor), but the same principals apply here.
In 2014, it is time to take a look at our activity. The beginning of a new year is a good time to take a look back on the previous one and see what went right and what went wrong. And I think there is something, regardless of our experience in this industry, that we can all agree on: activity is key. From how many calls you make, how many meetings you attend, how many interviews you conduct to ultimately the number of placements you make. So I propose this for 2016: let’s make this the year that we increase our productivity.
Personally I am a proponent of making sure if it is important, to write it down somewhere and keep it relatively close by. If you look at my desk you will see my yearly and weekly goals, daily schedule and other important information. As the old saying goes; what gets measured gets done. So now let us take a look at how making minor changes can have a large impact overall in 2014
1. Client meetings:
Last year did you average 10 client meetings per week?
Add 2 more during the week and you are seeing 104 more people this year compared to last!
2. Phone calls:
Make 3 more calls before you leave the office each day and you just added 780 more calls to your yearly production.
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3. Candidate interviews:
Depending on your field, the number of placements you make will vary.
Technical recruiting could be anywhere from 1-3 per month, non-technical is the same amount, but per week. So let’s just take a round number of 5 per month.
Interview 2 more candidates per placement and you are looking at having 500+ candidates in your pipeline for this year.
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4. Marketing calls:
One popular activity in the agency world is to call companies with active openings with a blind resume of a candidate you are working with. While some people may look down on this process, it is an activity that produces results. For every candidate you work with you should be sending their resume to at least one client or company who would benefit from their employment. Assuming you interview 5 candidates per placement and taking from the numbers listed in point 3, if you do this per candidate you will have 1,000+ calls a year. Even if only a small percentage of those calls turn into placements you just added a significant increase into your yearly earnings.
These numbers and metrics aren’t to be used as an exact road map for 2014. But ultimately it is important that we increase our activity. And that doesn’t require a seismic shift in your work ethic or daily schedule. All it takes is making that little bit of effort on a daily basis that in the long run will add to much greater success at the end of the year.