Here’s how Chris Gradwell, senior consultant on Cast UK’s logistics team spends a normal working day:
8:20
I arrive at the office and my first task of the day is to go through all of the emails that I’ve received overnight, responding wherever necessary ahead of our morning team meeting. Working in recruitment is very fast-paced so I need to work hard to keep all the balls I am juggling in the air at any one time…
8:30
We sit down as a team (with a coffee, of course) to review our plans for the day and week, going through our live vacancies, how we are progressing with them and where each of us will be focussing our day’s activities.
9:00
After I catching up with everyone I need to, I begin networking, contacting senior level candidates to discuss the roles that I am recruiting for that might be of interest to them. I also use this contact with them to find out if I can assist them in any recruitment requirements they might have within their own businesses.
10:30
Right now I have a candidate interview with a senior level professional looking for new opportunities in my region. I usually invite a minimum of 2 candidates a week to visit to our offices to find out a bit more about them and what they are looking for in their next career move. I spend an hour with today’s candidate, going over their CV to understand their skills and to gain the inside track on their previous experience. This also acts a pre-screening interview which is helpful when I send this candidate out to interview for a position.
11:30
I spend some time sorting through all of the applications received for the roles I have on right now, from the Cast UK website and associated job boards. I call any suitable candidates that have applied directly and also any other relevant candidates that I know to discuss the role and ascertain whether it’s something they’d be a good fit for.
12:30
After speaking to candidates I have a good understanding of the quality of all the individuals interested in the job, so I put together a shortlist of my 4 best candidates to send over to the client. Once I’m happy with my final shortlist, I give our client a call to talk through each individual with the aim of securing interviews for them.
13:00
I grab a quick bite in the breakout space, chatting to colleagues before spending some time working on a bit of business development.
13:30
After lunch I make yet more calls to clients and candidates, looking for any new leads or opportunities that could be of interest. I’ll then follow up these leads as soon as possible, speaking with my client contact to see if they are interested in my best candidates.
15:00
This week we have had 2 new associate consultants join us and part of my role as a senior consultant is to assist in their training programme. This afternoon I have an hour’s training session with them practising candidate phone calls, listening in on their conversations and critiquing them to help their development.
16:00
I call my client to arrange interviews for the 2 candidates that I am sending over for a Warehouse Operations Manager vacancy, finding out in the process exactly what the interview process involves and as much as I can about what the client is looking for so that I can prime the candidates as much as possible in advance.
16:30
I call the 2 candidates that have been invited to interview for the Warehouse Operations Manager role. I confirm the date, time and location with them both and brief them fully on what to expect from the whole interview process. I tell them as much as I can about the person they will be meeting within the business and what he is likely to be expecting from them. I will call my candidates again as well nearer to the date to check that they are all set and to wish them the best of luck ahead of the interview!
17:00
I spend the last part of my day catching up with any messages and emails to make sure I’ve responded to everything I need to. I like to make sure I have no outstanding emails in my inbox for the following morning and all of my admin for the day is ready to go for the next morning. I might make a couple of calls on the way home if I need to, sometimes it’s hard to catch people during working hours, but after that I’m looking forward to a well-earned rest, ready for another busy day tomorrow!
