The life of an agency recruiter is stressful. (I reckon I’ve started 38.7% of all my blogs with the same sentence… feel free to explore archived posts… just down and to the right there if you don’t believe me). Oh… and if you thought this post was going to be about the seedy underbelly of the recruitment world… and the guilt we should all be carrying for not returning calls, or… discriminatory behaviour against job seekers, or… posting ads for jobs that don’t exist, then you are about to be as disappointed I was the Christmas morning when I snuck out of bed at 3am, because I heard a noise that I was sure at the time was Santa… It was actually my mum and dad testing out the Twister ™ game meant for me… naked… whilst dad was swigging back the beer I’d left out for Santa… and… as I ran back to my bed with the words ‘left foot… yellow…’ ringing in my ears I wondered if I should have grabbed my sister’s new Kodak ™ ‘brownie’ camera and capture the moment for future blackmail opportunities… I didn’t… and that’s what left me so disappointed.
Anyway, back to the stressful life of a recruiter. You spend your day on the phone… in meetings… being barked at by a manager who (in your opinion), would struggle to manage a successful bowel movement… let alone a team of four recruiters. You are continually measured on your billing, your activity, your dress sense and your value to the team. It’s go… go…go… all day long. Then you get home to a completely different set of pressures… Flatmates who haven’t cleaned the dishes from a meal 3 weeks ago, the realisation that you forgot to set the TV to record the Breaking Bad finale, or… God forbid… kids who want to enlighten you with every facet of their day… including what they had for lunch (ingredient by ingredient), or… the details of their successful afternoon bowel movement… (your manager could learn a thing or two from this 4 year old!).
But what about the moment when your head finally hits the pillow at night? Some of us are lucky and have no problem at all getting to sleep… a quick, effortless slide down the slippery slope to la la land… where you spend your 8 hours in a dream filled world of lollipops and leprechauns. You wake refreshed and ready to face whatever may come at you in the coming workday…
Well… screw you! This week’s blog is not for you and your snoozy world… go away and search Google ™ for more relevant posts like… I sleep a lot, are you jealous? or… Has there ever been a boy born who can swim faster than a shark? or… If spray tanning was an Olympic sport, my girlfriend would win Bronze… What? You still here? I mean it… pi$$ off!
For the rest of us it becomes a vicious cycle… you can’t sleep because you are worrying about what happened today, or what you need to do tomorrow, or the uncomfortable conversation you need to engage in the next few days… Before you know it the digital clock next to your bed (yes, I still have one…) says 2:34am in a mocking tone… yes, I know digital clocks can’t speak… or mock… work with me here… Then, you can’t sleep, because you are worried about the fact that you can’t sleep. You finally drift off sometime between 5-5:30am and then your alarm goes off at 6:15am… you have your third coffee by 10:08am, you’re tired, fragile and your day gets shittier and shittier… Sound familiar?
Well here are my 4 tips to getting a better night’s sleep – you deserve it recruiters… so read on…
Wind Down – Your body and mind need time to relax and process the day. Spend the last hour before you go to sleep ‘technology free’. That means no: TV, social media, notebook or computer. Read a book, get a few things ready for tomorrow, talk with your family. Develop a ritual… sleep will follow.- Stressed About tomorrow? – Keep a pad next to your bed and make a list of things you need to do tomorrow. Prioritise them and make a plan. This will set your mind at ease.
- Worried about what happened today? – Guess what? You can’t change it. You can only tackle the repercussions when you are refreshed in the morning. (Refer back to step 2)
- Anxious? – Sounds corny, but reach over to your pad (you know the one you keep next to your bed), and make a gratitude list. Write down 5 things that you have in your life that you are thankful for. Then turn out the light.
Other than that make sure you don’t have coffee of caffeine after lunch, exercise in the morning and watch what you eat… I sound like mum right? (I bet you just pictured her in that Twister ™ pose again… didn’t you?).
Facts are you need to be well rested; for your family, your employer and your sanity. Take control and do something about it today… Oh… and if you still can’t sleep… read one of our blogs… it works for my wife!
Craig Watson
thewrittenreference.wordpress.com 
interesting as always! No BS and a good read in a world full of blogs that start with 5 reasons, 4 tips etc…….blah blah blah
I think a better suggestion for those stressing about tomorrow is too already have a plan in place for the next day prior to leaving the office. At the end of each day I always plan my next days activities, too many consultants come in the morning and spend 2 hours making breakfast, having a coffee, catching up on lasts nights events, and then they spend an hour planning their day. Oh and turn off your work emails on your phone!!