Recruitment Stress: The Silent Killer of Business Success
Feeling in control at work is liberating and the first formal foundation for recruitment success. Being out of control will only ever lead to recruitment to distress.
Distress is caused by the nasty combination of stress and/or pressure combined with a lack of control over the forces that create this stress. When measuring your KPI you should only focus on those that you can control, otherwise you will just be setting yourself and your consultants up for failure.
Peter Druker, the famous management theorist, once said: “What gets measured, gets managed”. Measuring key performance indicators that you cannot control through your own actions or actions from your team will lead to some things: increased stress and distress, apathy, system gaming or making them leave.
None of which are any good in the long term.
So what should you measure? Controllable actions and controllable actions only. Deciding what KPIs you track is your own decision but this is how we would track them.
1. Focus on the action taken not the outcome. E.g. BD calls attempted rather than completed. Your consultants can control how many times they pick up the phone, but not how many times it is picked up at the other end.
2. Only focus on controllable actions that move candidates and clients towards deals, placements and fees. Anything else is vanity. Get yourself and your consultants to focus on what you and they can bring increased positivity and productivity to your business.
These two tips will hopefully help with your recruitment efforts