There is workplace stress and THEN there is recruiter stress!!
As a longstanding recruiter, I am very well aware of the dreaded six letter world called stress. But, within the recruitment industry - client side and agency side - medium to high stress levels go with the territory, don't they?
BUPA did a survey a while ago and discovered that whole series of workplace stress triggers, with the top four being:
- Lack of control over work
- Excessive time pressures
- Excessive or inflexible working hours
- Too much or too little work
But what some people don't get is that the world of recruitment is a WHOLE different ball game, when it comes to stress! (just ask my wife, my doctor, my heart specialist and my therapist - only joking …….no seriously I am only joking!!)
So in no particular order here are a number of 'stress inducers' common to the recruitment industry:
- Candidate rejects an offer when telling you there is nothing else, only to find out they have been lying all along and have other offers on the table
- You lose a candidate because the client has taken too long to decide
- Candidate not turning up for an interview you have taken 3 weeks to arrange
- Clients not selecting your 'perfect' candidate for interview
- 8.AM Monday meetings (after a bad previous week!)
- Your placement not turning up on the first day AND then not being able to contact them at all!
- Your contractor 'having a mind of his own' and upsetting the client
- Client who 'sacks'your placement in the first week and then refuses to pay!
- Sales meetings when the market is tough and there is just one, smart arse know it all who has been the only one to archive their target (and they are the best pal of the Sales Manager to boot!)
- The 'guaranteed' placement' goes wrong!!Your pipeline has been toileted
- You have promised the client CV's, and your are already past your deadline because your two best candidates haven't got back to you with an update
- You find that great CV only to find out another agency sent the CV first to your client
Of course there are many more examples, and if there are any ones I have missed please do let me know!!
Come on folks, you must know some classics!
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Workplace Stress
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Zach