How To Get Back Into The Recruitment Groove After A Holiday

As the wheels touch down on Sydney airport tarmac, the usual thoughts start to flicker across my sleep deprived brain; mostly this means A) where did the last 2 weeks of my holiday go? B) I’m back to work tomorrow…what the hell will the state of my desk look like? I wish this was just figurative but the reality is that two weeks in the Philippines snorkelling, laying on a beach and relaxing might have been great for the soul (and Instagram) it is NOT the best recipe when it comes to maintaining a successful recruitment desk.

So how does one go away on holiday, recharge the batteries and not curl up into a ball of fear and depression on one’s return?

Activity still rules the roost

Greg Savage highlighted that typically the activities you need to focus on (especially when coming back from your holidays) are “meeting with quality talent, and meeting with your clients face-to-face”. I couldn’t agree more. If you want to feel productive get in front of your network. It’s always surprising to see what can change in a relatively short period of time. Contact those old candidates, get coffee meetings going, go out and meet your clients. Get excited about what’s going on in your world. It’s the easiest way to rid yourself off the holiday blues if you are actually looking forward to working on a particular client brief or going out to market with a great candidate.

Keep organised

Create a system that works for you that will keep you calm and will help get your desk moving forward. The corner stone of this should be your to-do list; a great way to set yourself bite sized objectives and targets typically on a weekly and daily basis. Before jumping straight in, create a detailed plan which will help you focus on where the priorities need to be. Other ways to hit the ground running: creating mini deadlines, diarising calls, prioritising your inbox etc. Even something as simple as clearing your desk can make a difference.

Keep the motivation up

In order to keep motivation up, think long term. The deals won’t happen overnight so give yourself the little wins to keep you going and build from here. This could be anything that you know in the long term will benefit your desk. It could be a gaining a new client or getting a good lead. Staying motivated will result in higher activity which will in turn will produce better results.

Forethought

Instead of getting back to a dead desk, spend time before hand looking at your calendar and working out how you are going to increase your activity to combat the inevitable lull. If an extra half an hour at your desk, extra candidate call or advert could make the difference, my advice… do it.  Work out where your desk is at financially and what you are going to do to move it forward. Don’t keep it to yourself. If you’ve got a manager who has a vested interest in you; ask them what you could be doing more of. Never hurts to have a second set of eyes helping you keep your desk going.