By: Sue Jagan

Recruiting can be monotonous. It’s hard to see the forest through the trees, as my high school chemistry teacher would so often say, but you have to grind it out. As recruiters, we know activity drives results but we are in the middle of a pandemic, and there are so many newfound distractions and interruptions. This can be really debilitating when you’re also running a full desk as an executive recruiter.

I’ve been working from home and pre-pandemic, I would drop my kids off at school, hubby was en route to his office and off I went, BOOM, the day was MINE. But now EVERYONE is home with me, there are knocks at my door, my 6-year-old doesn’t care if I’m on a zoom call, if he wants to watch Combo Panda on Youtube, that takes precedence.

Now more than ever I’ve learned that I am the only one who can control the noise. I’m talking about music directly in my ear, earbuds are life. Music fuels me to knock out the tasks that help me fill my pipeline and promote focus- not just a little but pristine focus. I can review profiles, message candidates, set up appointments and I’m excited about it because I know what’s on the other side of this. My success, financially, as a contributor. And for the moments where I am listening to my music and concentrating on my work, I’m drowning out all the noise that was preventing me from moving forward and allowing me to place candidates and change lives.

So, thank you SIA, you motivate me to get my work done and inspire me to believe in myself even when I do not have the strength.