Mike McGrory - Principal Consultant

Mike McGrory, Head of Shipbuilding at Faststream Recruitment in Southampton, UK reveals what it really takes to be a highly successful Recruitment Consultant.

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7:15 am: Before coming into the office, I’ll always start my day with triaging my emails on my phone so that the decks are clear, and I know what to prioritise for the day ahead.

7:45 am: With two young children my morning usually starts with the school run. It’s like a military operation, we need to be out of the house by 7.45 am. Any later and we’re stuck in rush hour traffic.

9: 30 am: I arrive at work, and I make a coffee cafetiere for the team before I start my day. Coffee is an essential part of fuelling my very busy day. On days that I’m not doing the school run, I am in at 8 am sharp for an early start.

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9:35 am: I fire up my computer, log onto the system and get stuck in straight away. The life of a Recruiter entails a lot of work behind the scenes.

10:15 am: As Head of my department, I’ll catch up with my team mid-week to ensure we are focusing on the success generating priorities and working as fluidly and dynamically as possible.

11:00 am: I always keep a mental note of the priorities that I need to action after dealing with emails and the team meeting. As a Recruiter, you have to spin a lot of plates, so working in this way certainly helps me. First thing I need to do is call some candidates about a role I’m working on. It’s a challenging role but I have five good candidates in mind.

11:45 am: Now it’s time to phone the client to get things moving. I prefer to work on the phone and don’t like wasting time with emails when I know I can get things actioned more efficiently with a real conversation. If you don’t like talking with a variety of people on a day-to-day basis, recruitment will not be for you.

12:00 pm: Lunchtime – which means the daily struggle of choosing between what I’ve made for lunch or going out for some pub food across the road from our office. I’m often swayed by the latter option, or I’ll go out for a walk to unwind and clear my head.

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1:00 pm: There are three non-negotiable things I do every afternoon:

1. Review the jobs I’m working on and do anything I can do to find the best candidates for my clients

2. Business development

3. Check-in with my team to see if there is anything I can support them with

2:00 pm: This is always my business development (BD) power hour. BD is my main strength and has made me a lot of success, so I prioritise it over everything.

3:00 pm: I’ve finally managed to get some traction with a company I have been wanting to work with for a while. We haven’t quite secured it just yet but it’s time to get the ball rolling.

3:05 pm: I head upstairs to seek the support of our Marketing department. I need to get a proposal over to the client, fast. Working well with our many support functions is key.

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3:30 pm: The proposal is ready to go so now it’s time to start contacting candidates about this opportunity. You can never speak to enough candidates. Remember, your network is the source of your success.

6:00 pm: It’s been a busy day but it’s time to go home and see my family. They are the key reason I am motivated to work so hard. If you are prepared to do so, you’ll definitely reap the rewards as a Recruiter.

If you're interested in a career with Faststream, please get in touch by filling out the form below.

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