I hate double work.

When you were doing the wrong search all along…

I hate double work.

I hate doing it. And I really hate assigning it to others. (Accidentally of course).

Mentioning ‘accidental’ is important because it can’t be eliminated completely. Priorities change. Miscommunication happens. Mistakes gotta be fixed.

But not all accidents are small. And not all accidents are even accidents. Everyone’s had that time thief manager who doesn’t think twice about endless redo’s. 

Data point: the average US employee spends 6 hours a week doing duplicate work (source download in comments.)

The average recruiter who spends their entire week searching for the wrong thing? 40 hours. (Or 50. Or 60. Some of y’all work too hard.)

It’s almost always because somewhere in the chain between the recruiter and senior leader (or end client in consultative environments), communication broke down.

The intake wasn’t done properly. Changes to the rec weren’t communicated. Or the requirements were wrong in the first place.

Meanwhile, every other critical hire went on the back burner while the recruiter *and* interview team spun their wheels.

That’s a lot of double work. That could have been spent doing something actually important.

????Recruiters need to go above and beyond with their intake calls and ongoing check in processes/communication. Make it easy for leaders.

????Hiring leaders need to remember they’ve got a whole team of people working tirelessly to help them achieve their goals.

Talk more. Work less.

Full episode of The 10 Minute Talent Rant, Ep 40 “No One Understands Recruiting But Recruiters, Volume 1” here.

James Hornick

Partner at Hirewell. #3 Ranked Sarcastic Commenter on LinkedIn.