No one said recruitment would be easy, but it sure can get tough at times.

There are plenty of jobs out there where you could go to work, put in minimal effort and no one would notice. Unfortunately, that’s not the career we’re in. The passion, pain and glory of the sales floor can be infectious, but it can also be pretty damaging to your mental health at times.

Whether it’s a slow market which is directly impacting your earnings, the candidates who break your heart at offer stage, or the constant rat race. It can all take a toll.

You need to look after yourself if you have any chance of being successful in this job. Your wellbeing comes above all else. So, let’s take a look at some ways you can prioritise your mental health while working in recruitment.

An important note

Let’s put this out there straight away. We are not mental health professionals and although this article offers actionable advice and guidance to help improve your wellbeing, it shouldn’t replace genuine support. If you’re suffering from a serious mental health condition like depression or anxiety, we urge you to speak to someone.

Mental health is an issue which affects more people than you may think and professional help is readily available.

You’re not alone in this and there are ways to receive the help that suits you.

Try not to be so hard on yourself

An issue we often find with recruiters is that they hold themselves to a very high standard. Often this is the reason for their success but it has its downsides. If you’re not billing how you used to or the market is drying up, it’s easy for this to turn inwards. Recruiters will worry about where their next deal is coming from or begin to think they’re just not up to it.

Do your best to look beyond the current situation and pull from your experience. Look back to when you were billing and look outward at the market as a whole. This will often tell you that a dry spell is simply that and it will end. It’ll help you understand that this may also be caused by circumstances out of your control. This is often not a question of how you’re recruiting, but the cards you’ve been dealt at that time.

Worrying about where the next deal is coming from could make you appear more desperate when talking to clients or candidates, which in turn affects how you’re perceived by them. Moreover, if your confidence is low because you’re doubting your own ability, you’re starting from ten steps back compared to the confident sales patter of other recruiters in the market.

It’s easy to simply say ‘try not to put so much pressure on yourself’ but the problem is often deeper than that. It can be tied to your earnings, your lifestyle, your own self-talk. This is where it becomes a little more complicated and it can take time to break the cycle. If the pressure is tied to external factors like earnings or lifestyle, there are steps you can take and solutions do exist. This means sitting with the issues and searching for actionable solutions. If however these issues are tied to negative self-talk, it can take months or even years to undo this. This is when speaking to a friend, partner or colleague can really help as we’re often a lot tougher on ourselves than we’d allow anyone else to be.

Make time for yourself

Taking time to yourself to unwind and truly relax is important for everyone. Now, when we say unwind, we don’t mean drinking with friends or sitting watching Netflix. We mean finding activities that truly help you unplug and detach yourself from the day.

Try to prioritise daily (or at least weekly) activities that are good for your mind. We’re talking about going to the gym, taking up yoga, or even reading. Don’t underestimate the importance of ‘me time’ without disruption or intrusive work-related thoughts.

Taking work home with you can be a huge influence on your mental health. Unfortunately, we’re hard wired to focus on danger or concerning situations, which is why we often find ourselves concerned and affected by work problems in our personal lives. Giving your mind something else to focus on each day and prioritising this time to yourself is a great way to reset and face the day ahead with a renewed mindset.

Outline your areas of concern

Often, confronting a problem head on is a great way to reduce the impact it’s having on you. Sit down with a notepad and pen and list the issues that have been dragging you down. More often than not, you’ll find yourself coming back to the same overhanging thought pattern. It might be that you think you’re not good enough, or even that you’re worried you might get in trouble for poor performance.

Once these concerns are on paper, they often take up less space in your mind. You can also begin working on a plan to mitigate against this.

If you’re worried about your performance, it might be worth speaking to your manager and getting their guidance – there’s a chance they’d respect you more for raising the issue. They’ll give you advice and guidance to help you through or put your mind at ease about the difficulties in the market at the moment.
Tomorrow is a new day

Recruitment is so closely tied to our mentality. If you don’t feel like you’re doing well, you won’t. If you feel like you’re on a roll, everything will begin going your way. This can create a vicious cycle which is hard to break free from.

Tomorrow is always a new day and you always have something to prove. Detach yourself from the day before and begin with a renewed sense of passion. If it doesn’t go your way, you’ve always got tomorrow to make up for it. We go again!

Find a new opportunity

Sometimes our wellbeing is affected by the environment around us. If you find yourself working in an agency that’s impacting your mental health, it’s time to look for another opportunity. We work with some amazing agencies that care for their recruiters. Reach out today for a discreet conversation or browse our job board to get a feel for the type of roles we currently have on offer.