Tracking calls:
I often get questions from recruiters regarding how many calls they should make. This is a tricky question as the answer is directly related to the results that are gained by those calls. There is no simple answer to this question as it varies by niche and by the experience of the recruiter. However, the range of 40-75 calls per day will apply to most recruiters.
A seasoned recruiter may only need to make 40 calls per day because her calls are returned and she has deep client relationships. Her average call may last 10 minutes or more. A rookie on the other hand may get weak results while making 100 calls per day because each call lasts ninety seconds and he gets very few call backs.
I’ve always believed that there is value in tracking calls daily. If you are like most recruiters you will do this by hand. In my case, I use a very low-tech method; sticky notes. Each morning I simply take a sticky note and paste it on my desk right near the phone. I write in two categories: calls and conversations.
Under “calls,” I enter a hash mark for each attempt that ends with voicemail. For “conversations,” I enter a hash mark for calls that end in a business conversation. If I get disconnected or put through to the wrong department, that doesn’t count as a call. Sourcing calls that do not lead to a sourced name also do not count as a call.
A better way to track call activity is by using call tracking software. From a management perspective, this is a no-brainer. The best management techniques are those where a good system does the managing and the manager acts like a coach. By using call tracking software, the program is doing all of the work of collecting the raw numbers and holding your staff accountable. It is also helping to keep them focused on one of the most important variables in recruiter success; time on the phone. By using software, you’ll be able to see how many minutes each recruiter spent on the phone, how many calls were made and what the average time per call was. This information can be used for coaching and training purposes.
For instance, if two recruiters have been with you for six months apiece and one has an average call time of two minutes while the other’s is seven minutes, you can make some assumptions from this data. Perhaps the one with the shorter average call time is making very weak presentations and people want to get off the phone with him in a hurry. Perhaps he sounds too salesy or is not prepared.
Then again, if the person with the longer call average is under-producing as a recruiter, perhaps she is staying on the phone too long with the wrong people and wasting time. The data gives you the raw numbers and then it is your job to use those numbers to dig and coach so that you or your staff can improve.
Tracking Results:
As I said earlier, I think that tracking calls is a valuable activity. It’s something that I’ve done through-out my career. However, it is less valuable than tracking the results of those calls. If you’re getting strong results with 35 calls, trying to hit 100 may be a waste of time for you.
Here are some results-based numbers:
– Number of recruiting calls/day: Enough to surface three viable candidates that you can interview internally.
– Number of marketing calls: Enough to generate two “A” level searches per week.
– Number of sendouts: One per day is a good goal to shoot for as you will end up with 20 or more new sendouts per month.
Gary Stauble is the principal consultant for The Recruiting Lab, a coaching company that assists Firm Owners and Solo Recruiters in generating more profit in less time. Gary offers a FREE special report, “The Search Process Checklist: a 1- step recruiting tool,” on his website. Get your copy now at: www.therecruitinglab.com.