Recruitment Consultant jobs time management

can be crippling in that it's possible to let the number of processes run away with itself to a point where it becomes unmanageable , then both quality and results will suffer.

As a sales manager, the classic statement I remember hearing on a number of occasions was that things were so busy, there was no time left to plan. I sympathise with this type of comment as quite often, an individual can become so wrapped up in trying to achieve they simply try to pedal faster and faster with their head down, not really looking where they are going.

No matter how busy your role is, taking time out to think and plan is essential to produce good quality, and a good volume of results. Consider the following analogy.

It's the Canadian lumberjack championships and Big Bob has reached the semi finals. The task is simple, a whistle will blow following which then run into their section of woods and chop down as many trees as possible in 15 minutes! The person who chops the most in 15 minutes wins. On this occasion Big Bob was confident, he was in good shape and at least 2 stone heavy than Vic, his opponent.

The whistle goes and both charging off into the woods and start chopping. After five minutes Bob is frantically chopping away and notices the sound of Vic chopping as stopped. He smiles to him self chopping as fast as he can, Vic must be really out of shape needing a rest after 5 minutes. One minute later, he hears Vic chopping again, but he's lost a whole minute. Another 4 minutes later, Vic's chopping stops again for another minute, Bob smiles again, I bet he wishes he'd trained harder now. At 15 minutes the final whistle blows, they both walk out of the woods and shake hands, Bobs grinning ear to ear waiting for the results. Then they announce it, "the person who chopped the most tress and is through to the final is....Vic". Bob is utterly bewildered and goes to shake Vic's hand muttering to himself and saying to Vic, " don't know how they worked that out, you lost at least two minutes having a rest." Vic replied "I wasn't resting, I was sharpening my Axe!"

Two hours later Vic prepares for his final against Big Burt, Bob's twin brother. Burt is confident after a chat with Bob about sharpening his Axe every 5 minutes. The whistle goes and Burt starts chopping. As he chops he becomes confused as the whole of the first minute he can't hear Vic chopping. After 1 minute Burt hears Vic start. Sure enough after 5 minutes and 10 minutes, both men break to sharpen their tools, and at 15 minutes he whistle goes. After a short delay counting tress the winner is announced....it's Vic! Burt goes to shake Vic's hand and in a confused tone asks Vic, "why didn't you start straight away?" Vic replied, "I stood back and looked for the thinnest tress, then walked around marking them all before I started, then when I started, I was getting results at a much faster rate"

This an a accurate analogy for many people at work, frantically chopping to get as much work done as possible. The truth is, frantically chopping all day isn't the best way to get results. Here's my top five tips for time management.

• Spend your first half an hour of the day mapping out you tasks for the day, and applying thought as to how to tackle them. The second part is critical, just deciding you need to chop lot's of tress down isn't enough, thought on how to do things is important, as is the order in which you do them in (prioritising the most important things first.

• Prioritise task in order of business importance, not order of personal preference

• Have regular breaks throughout the day to step back see how your task are going. A cup of tea and 5 minutes fresh air is the business equivalent of sharpening your axe. If necessary, re adjust your goals for the day to remain realistic.

• Don't sprint through the line, slow down to jog. Spend the last half hour of the day stepping back and looking at your work and begin planning your next day. This is important from two perspectives a) Being well organised to start your next day b) your 'time out' needs to be time out to recover...if you finish your day mid task(s) you will be processing thoughts on it the whole evening and not sharpening your Axe properly.

• Keep written lists of tasks and cross them out as they are completed. It's a constant reminder of what you are out to achieve as well as providing yourself that you are progressing throughout the day, which in itself is encouraging and motivating to continue.

Good luck.