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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:

  1. Lack of control over work
  2. Excessive time pressures
  3. Excessive or inflexible working hours
  4. 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:

  1. 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
  2. You lose a candidate because the client has taken too long to decide
  3. Candidate not turning up for an interview you have taken 3 weeks to arrange
  4. Clients not selecting your 'perfect' candidate for interview
  5. 8.AM Monday meetings (after a bad previous week!)
  6. Your placement not turning up on the first day AND then not being able to contact them at all!
  7. Your contractor 'having a mind of his own' and upsetting the client
  8. Client who 'sacks'your placement in the first week and then refuses to pay!
  9. 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!)
  10. The 'guaranteed' placement' goes wrong!!Your pipeline has been toileted
  11. 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
  12. 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

    In a work environment, there are three main causes of stress – harassment, bullying and excessive workloads. The main causes of stress in the workplace – and those most likely to lead to a workplace stress compensation claim – should be avoidable in a well managed environment:

    *Excessively high workloads with unrealistic deadlines
    *Insufficient workloads, leaving employees feeling undervalued
    *Concerns about job security and lack of career opportunities
    *Being asked to do a job with insufficient training or experience
    *Multiple lines of management to report to
    *Poor physical working environment

  • Zach

    How about when they lie on their résumé about having a degree!! Or their college is a diploma mill like Almeda.