How to Keep Your Recruiters Motivated at Year-End

Question: How do I keep my recruiters motivated at year-end? -Robert

I am going to give you some ideas.

Extra Time Off Takes The Cake

They have done studies across multiple industries, and extra time off is one of the biggest motivators you can give employees, especially if they are already in a good financial position. The week between Christmas and New Year’s is relatively dead, so incentivizing extra time off during this period is highly appealing for employees and low risk for owners.

The Year-End Sprint

Here’s how to set up the sprint. Before Thanksgiving, we gave everyone in our office Wednesday afternoon through Sunday off, so they had a nice long weekend, and then we hit it hard on Monday. Get your wind for the last sprint and push it hard until Christmas Eve. Then they could earn days off between Christmas Eve and New Year’s without affecting the vacation policy, meaning bonus, free days.

The ‘5 in 4’

I always called it ‘5 in 4’, so 5 weeks of activity completed in 4 weeks. Let’s say a recruiter had an interview goal of 2 first-time interviews a week or 5 job orders for the week if they were a full-cycle recruiter. By the end of 4 weeks, a recruiter would have to complete 10 first-time interviews (2 first-time interviews times 5 weeks) or 25 job orders, again if they are a full-cycle recruiter. If they hit those levels in 4 weeks, they get the holiday week off free. If they did not meet those activity levels, they went to work. We still gave them Christmas Eve and Christmas off as well as New Year’s Eve (half day) and New Year’s Day.

Follow Through is Key

I did make the team members that did not hit that goal show up to work every day. I did not go to work, but they were there. They were in choice; they chose to skate, not plan, and be unfocused. Not my call. Everyone was in choice. Only a couple of people would miss the mark every year; about 15% of our office had to work that week. Again, we had tremendous Januarys and Februarys because of the sprint.

Setting Up for Success

The key is to make it a collective event where we will push hard through the close of business on December 23^rd and drum up all this activity. Then you come back after the first of the year and have all these deals in progress to work on. It positions you for a strong start because what will happen is you start generating job orders. In turn, those job orders will generate some interviews, and these interviews will at least get started. You might even have an offer and acceptance before the holiday with an early January start, which is what many companies want. You will build all this momentum going into Christmas versus skiing downhill and having December be a holiday where you are taking the whole month off. Instead, you are showing up to work every day. Net, net, net, look at what you need for first-time interviews for 5 weeks and make that the activity goal for 4 weeks.

Creating Momentum During the Holidays

I think sprinting, no matter what you do, between November 28^th and December 23^rd, from Thanksgiving into Christmas, is the best way to get off to a quick start. You return to the office with more momentum than I have ever seen. That way, you get to be off that week. Even if you are a solo operator, you take a week off knowing you gave yourself a free paid week of vacation.

Determining the Metric

Most of the industry does not track metrics, so if you do not know your numbers and you are not on a highly technical desk (nuclear physicists, construction estimators, etc.), then use these average numbers. 2 interviews a week generate about $250,000 to $300,000 in placement revenue per year, depending on your average fee. At 2 interviews a week, if you have a team and you want to motivate them, tell them to get 10 interviews between now and December 23rd, and you will give them that week off.

Great question. Thank you, Robert.

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