Ditch the Lists!

When you were at school, did you know someone (maybe it was even you) who would make the most beautiful study schedules you had ever seen? When exams loomed they were there, with lists of what to study when, and coloured in squares representing different subjects. Although this person appeared organised, they were actually procrastinating, as it is far easier to make lists of what to do than to actually do it. The same applies with recruitment.

Assuming your database is of a reasonable standard (and I know this is a big assumption, as per my previous post in this regard), there is no reason why any consultant should be diligently making up folders, lever arch files, or printed CV's. Not only is this practice extremely unkind to the environment, it is a waste of time as you are effectively duplicating (triplicating?) your record-keeping.

Our in-house database is very good indeed (thank you IT team), and any time you want to bring up clients of a certain industry, location, hair colour (okay, not quite), you can do it - in any combination that you like. That has not stopped some consultants that I have known in my time from painstakingly typing out lists of client names and categorising and sorting them on paper 'because I find it easier to see'.

We also have 2 monitor screens per consultant. I'm not just bragging now - the reason we have that is so that a consultant can view 2 things simultaneously - e.g., a client record on one screen, and a CV on the other. That being the case, a consultant should never have to print out a CV so that they have it in their hand while talking to a client. But some still do.

No, I am not Gen Y, and I did not grow up surgically attached to computers and mobile phones. In fact, my first recruitment job was at an office where CV's were stored in filing cabinets, and we posted them to clients. (The looks I get when I mention that to new consultants are akin to admitting that I used to take a horse and cart to work). I have had to train myself to store and organise information digitally, and reduce/ eliminate where possible anything of a papery persuasion.

Why have I done this? Because a good database has already done (or made possible) every type of filing, attaching, and recording that I will ever need to do. I will be wasting time by keeping paper records. I can access the information on my computer from multiple locations, I can find it instantly, and - thanks to the wonders of back-up systems - it will never be lost. Plus I am being kind to the trees.

Yes, you have to work in ways that make sense to you. But - provided your computer systems allow it - there is every argument for re-training yourself to work smarter.