Laura Warner - Lead Consultant

How does a top recruiter spend her day? Meet Laura Warner, a Lead Consultant at Faststream Recruitment in Southampton, UK, and find out how she balances her tasks throughout the day while delivering exceptional results for her clients and candidates.

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7:30 am: When I wake up, the first thing I do is check my emails on my phone. Recruitment is a dynamic field and changes are inevitable, so a lot can happen overnight.

9 am: Since I am not a morning person, I love that I can work flexible hours and come in and leave a bit later. I prefer to finish most of the admin tasks as soon as I arrive at work. The most important thing is to check for any urgent matters because I don’t want to overlook anything that requires immediate attention and disrupt my day.

10 am: After I have taken care of the admin, I always go through the applications first to ensure that I have responded to all the candidates. I usually handle the same roles in the Energy sector, so I work with a lot of naval architects and design engineers. This means that sometimes I can find a candidate who might be suitable for five different jobs. That is why I cannot afford to miss any applications, as I might lose that key candidate. This task can take up most of my morning, depending on how many applications I have in a day.

11 am: On a normal day, I start working on my priorities by 11 (I often plan them the night before as well). I review what I have noted down as the key roles and the urgent deliveries. I begin the candidate searches by looking through our database, which has a lot of candidates on it. I use keywords to find people who match what my client is looking for. I also use LinkedIn, especially in the morning, to search for candidates. I check and send messages and hope to get some responses by the end of the day, so I can talk to them the same day or the next day.

12 am: When the weather is sunny, I like to go for a walk and get my steps in. Then I usually return to the kitchen and have lunch with different people, chatting with them about personal and work matters. On Fridays, I join my colleagues at the pub and try to gather as many people as possible for a catch-up.

1 am: After I return from lunch, I check to see if I have missed anything over my break, such as calls or emails, and make sure that I cover them in the afternoon. I am very focused on delivery mode right now, as I have a lot of opportunities in my growing market. I attend many events these days and there is a lot of potential out there.

I also do business development in the afternoons, such as strengthening existing relationships and introducing myself to new ones. But most of my time lately has been spent on candidate delivery, because there are many opportunities for them to fill.

3 pm: My work day is very flexible and can change quickly because a client could contact me at any time and ask for a candidate. Then I need to adjust my schedule according to the urgency of the request. However, if I don’t hear from a client, I will keep doing my candidate searches. I don’t drink tea or coffee, but I always have a sweet snack at 3 p.m.

4 pm: Usually every Thursday, we do Power Hours, which are business development calls for an hour, trying to reach out to people that we don’t talk to regularly. This helps us generate new business every week and expand our network. I have been working here for about four years now, so I have a stable client base and strong relationships. They often approach me with jobs. I am an exclusive supplier of candidates for many of the companies that I work with and I have built a large portfolio of clients over the years.

5 pm: I often talk to many candidates after 5:00 p.m., because they are done with work and have left the office. Later on, I like to make a to-do list, so I use the Microsoft To-Do app to plan what I need to do for the next day and get ready. I look at what my priorities are for the next day and what needs urgent responses. I check if there is anything that I haven’t dealt with during the day and make sure that I finish it so that I can start the next day with a clear mind.

6 pm: When I finish work, I go to the gym across the road and make dinner for myself. I am a sociable person, so I sometimes skip the gym for a drink and dine out with friends instead.

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