There are all types of roles in the recruiting industry. We asked top peeps in the industry to give us a sense of what it is they do on a daily basis. What’s the first thing they do in the morning? Do they have an office, or do they sit with the team? What do they eat for lunch? Here is, a day in the life for Dan Louks.
It’s a Beautiful Morning
4:50 a.m. I’m awake. This isn’t by choice, rather a byproduct of a raging case of anxiety that I’ve dealt with for the past eight years or so. I quietly creep to the foyer, bypass the security alarm as to not scare the living hell out of my wife, daughter, and two cats. Then I’m off to our attached garage to fall down a YouTube or Twitter rabbit hole until it’s time to get dressed.
6:30 a.m. I’m headed out the door, dreading the autobahn-esque highway commute ahead of me where it’s every man, woman, and child for themselves. Bonus: The temperature outside is comparable to that of a blast chiller, because… Ohio. Don’t worry; it’s supposed to be 62° tomorrow. Next week it’s back into the teens. I’m sure pneumonia sounds worse than it actually is…
6:50 a.m. I’m first to arrive, as per usual. Time to open up shop. I power on my laptop & desk fan, and then I head to the break room to brew the oh-so-important first pot of coffee that allows the entire office to function for the first ninety minutes or so of the day. While that’s percolating, I run out to the arctic tundra that is the parking lot to suck down a quick cigarette before peering at my inbox and calendar, as I’m not eager to learn what mystery box of stress awaits me.
6:58 a.m. Coffee in hand, it’s time to dive in. “All folders are up to date. Connected to: Microsoft Exchange”.
Oh shit, that’s right. I have to get those “Maintenance Manager” resumes over to Alexis this morning, for that req she’s had open since the Reagan administration. She said the call with her hiring manager is at 11:30, so that should be plenty of time.
*Reluctantly open my calendar, peering with one sleep-encrusted eye open*
Damn. I totally forgot about my 9:00 a.m. meeting with the boss to update him on that six-week pipelining project I’m in the middle of, which I am so not prepared to do. I better give myself about an hour to 1) pull the new results from my various saved searches, download them all, 2) rename them, so I’m not sending over thirty variations of “updated_res2017_proofreed.pdf” to the internal Recruiter I’m working with on the client side, and 3) a couple of minutes to smash my brains back into my skull and come up with something semi-intelligent that loosely resembles an update to pass along.
Holy run-on sentence, Batman.
Alright, so that gives me about an hour to do a couple of thorough searches for Alexis before I have to tend to the pipelining shenanigans.
7:00 a.m. *Outlook pop-up* “Reminder: Wrap-up Compensation Report Before call with Client @ 10″ …
Blerg. Alright, maybe things with the boss will wrap up in less than thirty minutes, which should give me enough time to pull the numbers for the wage analysis before the 10:00 call. Well… it looks like I know what I’m doing this morning.
I start a fresh tab in Chrome, pop my Bluetooth earbuds in, pull up the Spotify app on my phone, and crank it up to eleven.
*Shuffle play “Your Top Songs 2016”: Now Playing “Do the Evolution” by Pearl Jam*
Let’s Get This Party Started
7:52 a.m. Chugging along on LinkedIn Recruiter, doing a decent amount of damage on the Maintenance Manager scavenger hunt. It’s a shame the hiring manager on the other end of this equation won’t waiver from his demand that the only candidates he’ll consider are ones who’ve performed maintenance work exclusively in the glass manufacturing industry. Seeing as how there’s an 800+ employee plastics packaging plant eight miles away who pays their maintenance workers $3.00 less per hour, who essentially maintain the same type of molding machinery that’s used in the glass factory, it seems like something you should be willing to bend on. I digress. I’ve got some names, and I’m in decent shape despite the hiring manager tomfoolery.
*Up walks Anonymous Account Manager, unexpected and unannounced as always*
“Morning, Dan! Hey real quick, I know you’re busy, and you’ve got a ton going on, but is there any way that you can look into those Flight Nursing associations you and I were chatting about a couple of days ago? We still have those three open positions in Nebraska, and we’re not getting any applications, so we could really use anything you come across. If you can grab a committee directory really quick or some sort of contact list, that would be awesome. I don’t need it this morning or anything, but maybe if you could find something by my call with ‘Client Blah Blah Blah’ at 2:00?”
*Uttered through clenched yet smiling teeth*
“Sure! I’ve got a couple of things going on, but I can work on that for you a little later!”
Lunch is dumb anyway. I’ll just grab a couple of those Laffy Taffys from the snack jar in the conference room. I’m sure the growling in my stomach will gradually drop to a dull whisper after that.
10:32 a.m. Everything went smoothly with the boss, and the 10:00 call went fine with the client. Thankfully, the wage analysis info I pulled perfectly aligned with what they were expecting, so it’s reassuring to be sporadically reminded that I’m not completely full of shit and actually know a thing or two. A little under an hour until Alexis’ call, so I better bust some ass in hopes I can find her some decent candidates before her hiring manager shows up to break her kneecaps.
*Shuffle play “The Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan”: Now Playing “Pride and Joy”*
11:37 a.m. It looks as if the tweaks I made to my search strings paid off, as I was able to pass along four rock solid resumes that she can follow up on and brag about on her call. I’m sure that once she gets them pre-screened and scheduled for a face to face interview, she’ll suddenly have a hard time getting the hiring manager’s availability. Subsequently, the candidate then loses interest, and we get to do this all over again. Job security, I suppose.
It’s time to find out whatever I can on Flight Nurses in Nebraska. I’m sure there’s two on every corner, much like a Walgreens or Rite-Aid. I mean hell, the first two things I think of when I hear Nebraska is booming metropolises and niche healthcare workers. Now that I let off some sarcasm, I’m feeling slightly more optimistic about my assignment.
Afternoon Delight
2:42 p.m. I found out shortly before the 2:00 call that it was probably “easiest” for me to jump on myself and riff on what I was able to come up with. Though it really wasn’t a big deal, my anxiety felt otherwise about it, so I’m headed outside for another frostbitten smoke break.
*Shuffle play “90’s Hip-Hop Playlist”: Now Playing “It Takes Two” by Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock*
2:56 p.m. Back at my desk after the 19th trip to the men’s room to rid myself of a few more fluid ounces of the liter o’ coffee I’ve consumed today. It looks like I’ve got a little over an hour to tend to a handful of housecleaning items, that will only scratch the surface of what’s needed. Should I spend some time to gather intel on the three recruitment text messaging services I’ve been looking at for the RPO group that I started on a month ago? Do I dig deeper into that System Director of Development search that I’ve got a week left on? Perhaps I can try to catch the boss and see if he’s had a chance to look over that information I sent him about the new Facebook Jobs feature. Eh, his door’s closed which means he’s on conference call #42 of the day. Let’s wrap up that texting research and be done with it so it’s off of my plate.
3:39 p.m. One of the company’s own partners (who I might add is an amazingly handsome and incredibly talented young man. Did I mention young?) approaches my desk with excitement on his face and a pep in his step. This means I’m about to learn about the next “project” that I’m going to be working on. I grab my notebook, turn to a fresh page and follow him into his office to get the details.
Last Dance
4:03 p.m. Power down the laptop & desk fan. I’m getting the hell out of here. Tonight’s the wife’s workout class at the Y, which means I’m on solo daddy duty until that’s over and done with. Off to the in-laws to pick up the tiny beautiful weirdo that is my daughter, so I can hang out with someone with my maturity level (she’s 4). I can just forget about the mayhem that just ensued and put it out of mind. Until it nudges me out of bed tomorrow morning, and I get to do it all over again.
But you know what? I love what I do, and I wouldn’t change a thing. It takes a special kind of crazy to be a Sourcer, and I’d like to think I’ve got plenty of crazy to go around.
About our Author:
Dan Louks has been working in RPO for about three years now, having spent time as both a Recruiter and a Sourcer. In a previous life, he has worked primarily in radio broadcasting and retail sales. Married with a four-year-old daughter, he is either hanging out with them or playing retro video games in my free time. Connect with him on LinkedIn or connect with him on Twitter.
By Dan Louks
After having spent most of his adult life working various roles in Retail Sales/Management and Radio Broadcasting, Dan Louks has spent the last three years in the RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) industry. During that time, he’s had the opportunity to serve in both Recruiting and Sourcing positions, which allowed him to realize that Sourcing was where he belonged. As a married, father-of-one, most of his free time is spent either with his family, or obsessing over something in the nerdosphere. Connect with Dan on LinkedIn or on Twitter.
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