A day in the life of a global recruiter, and the various time zones associated with it, certainly keeps Macstaff MD Anthony McCormack on his toes.

A day in the life of a recruiter is typically, challenging, varied and fast-paced.

Thinking back to my initial industry training many years ago, the analogy used was one of ‘spinning plates’.

My advice to fellow recruiters is to make sure you pay some daily attention to clients, candidates and jobs in order to avoid one or all of these three plates crashing to the ground!

A day in the life of an international recruiter has a few extra dimensions but a big one is ‘time’ or, more accurately, ‘times’ plural!

Myself and our new global brand ‘Mosaic by Macstaff’ are proud members of NPA Worldwide, the renowned global collaborative network of independent business owners.

Because of that, I am always involved in recruiting for an international vacancy, or ten!

Deadlines

Juggling multiple searches for different direct clients and partner members can be challenging. You have to be organised and stay focused to not drop a ball (or plate) on any milestones or deadlines. Dealing with different continents and time zones can make the phrase ‘by end of the day’ mean something different in each case.

Due to the remote nature of a global search, I was already utilising different video interviewing tools depending on both candidate and customer preference, such as: Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp and TEAMS etc.

I have now invested in a product which is a value adding solution for all. Hinterview is a game-changing video interviewing software, which not only allows me to interview professionals in-person and online in a secure environment, but also allows video capture.

This recording then can be quickly and easily sent as a link to the client along with CV, because as we well know and I repeatedly say, a CV doesn’t tell the whole story!

So, a day in my international recruiter, best life, is coming in early to interview candidates in Asia (for example Hong Kong is GMT+8), prioritising the middle of the day to interact with those in Europe (for example Paris is GMT+1) and then staying late to accommodate candidates in the Americas (for example Vancouver is GMT-7).

Hinterview is game-changing video interview software

Oh and no excuses for missing a call, as the UK is not on GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) right now but is on BST (British Summer Time) – and in fact, GMT has been superseded by UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) anyway!

And, depending on where you are communicating with, changing from BST to GMT may not change the time of your appointment, for example Mumbai in India remains 5.5 hours ahead all year round.

Even just picking our continent of Europe has three time zones:

• Western European (WET) which is GMT and UTC and sometimes BST, e.g. London time.
• CET (Central European Time) GMT+1, e.g Paris time
• EET (Eastern European time) GMT+2 e.g Istanbul time.

So that’s all clear then? Ahem.

The US which has five time zones, six if you include Hawaii, ranging from GMT -5 to GMT-10.

Clocks

I’m very happy with my clocks in the picture that accompanies this blog pictured as a graphic for this blog, but in reality I need about 20 of them.

So, international recruitment can be challenging but I certainly wouldn’t drop it from my portfolio. The international recruitment capabilities of Mosaic (the International arm of Macstaff) certainly helps differentiate us, and it keeps things fresh from a personal development point of view too.

Lastly, keep in mind that time is just one of the complexities of international recruitment. Other nuances include, language, culture, qualifications, regulations, technology and many other factors…but they can wait for another blog.

If I can be of first-class recruitment service wherever, whatever and whenever you need, just shout. And if you leave me a message, make sure you remind me what time zone you are in please?

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