I’m sure everybody has heard of the recruitment rollercoaster cliché. As you would imagine, there are ups and there are downs. One week you could be looking at the best billing month of your career, the next week your pipeline is dead and you couldn’t buy an interview. This is all part and parcel of recruitment and it’s how you deal with these setbacks that can set you aside from the rest. However, setbacks and unexpected disasters aren't exclusive to recruitment (even though we think the worst things only happen to us). Hopefully the tips below from a seasoned set back warrior can help you no matter what profession you work in.
Here are 5 top tips to help you survive the week from hell by helping you shed away the disappointment, enabling you to prop yourself up and move forward with drive and enthusiasm.
1. Acknowledge it and accept it
It’s completely normal to feel upset whenever that big deal drops out at the last minute or your promotion deal falls away at the last hurdle. Pretending that you aren’t disappointed or frustrated won’t help the feelings go away, however make sure not to dwell on things and start to blame others or yourself. Remember this is simply a setback, think twice before sending that angry email, questioning your abilities or handing in your resignation.
2. Connect with others
Isolation is your enemy. You overthink things in your head and feel that there is no way to get back on track of things. What you need is support. But don’t reach out to those who will wallow in self-pity with you, you need to surround yourself with positive go-getters who will help you focus on finding solutions. Find these people in your network, connect with them more and you’ll find overcoming obstacles a much easier process.
3. Strategy is Key
Come up with a plan that is going to get you back on track. Seek feedback and advice from trusted colleagues, use the internet, ask for focused training etc. Find out what exactly you can do to make things better and put the plan into action.
4. Lights, camera, ACTION
After you’ve had time to process what has went wrong and put a plan in place as to how to go about fixing things, it’s time to put it all into action. Whether this means reassessing how you are planning on finding new candidates, what you plan to say to the client or how to change your approach to mitigate these errors in the future it’s time to get to work. This part of the process re-energises you and reminds you of the things you are good at and how you can go about getting yourself back on track.
5. Learn
This is potentially the most important step of all. Once you are back in the driving seat, pause and take some time to reflect on what went wrong. Ask yourself what happened, how it happened, what could have been done to avoid this and reflect on what you can do moving forward to mitigate these issues.
