I've worked in recruitment for an awfully long time; twenty years and counting, in fact.
And during that time, I've managed every single team under our roof, from Finance, to Sales, to Admin. I believe getting to know my teams is a very important step to being a good manager.
Anyway, through working with all of these people, I've noticed a trend.... there are definitely a few tasks that people don't like doing. And to be fair, those tasks are pretty damn laborious!
So, in their honour and appreciation, I thought I'd share some examples with you. Check them out...
1. Filing
Filing. Does anyone actually enjoy it?
Going through a number of records just to put more and more into them.
Alphabetically ordered, usually in a cabinet that's just not made to hold the amount of documents that are in there, it's the bane on people's lives.
Painful, but necessary.
2. Formatting CVs
Even if we find the most perfectly formatted CV, we still have to remove the personal details and add it to one of our templates.
Unfortunately, that's just what comes with being an agency.
And even worse, it can be the most fiddly process in the world.
No matter how competent you are with word processors, everyone uses them differently.
Trying to copy tables over, or fancy designer CVs, is just an absolute nightmare.
3. Filling/emptying the dishwasher
This is the sort of job that people in the office forget exists, because our admin team take care of it.
In fact, the only time people do notice, is if it's not done on time and causes a minor inconvenience.
Our team, thankfully, are pretty good at keeping on top of this task, but there is the odd occasion where they're bombarded with a horrendous workload and it's delayed by an hour or two.
Not to mention the fact that they have to move everything around, with all the leftover bits of food and drink dripping everywhere. Some people just do not understand how a dishwasher works!
It's gross, but has to be done.
4. Manually sourcing
Yes, we are a recruitment agency, and yes, sourcing is our job.
However, if there are no candidates, there are no candidates.
It can be mind numbing when no one applies to your role and you have to go and search for people because the role is so remote.
Recruiters, I know you'll understand me on this one, even if the general audience doesn't.
5. Debt chasing
Asking people for money that they owe is never a pretty job, and I've been on the end of a few tricky phone calls.
A lot of these calls come back with "oh, they're not in" or just a plain and simple "we're not paying".
The problem with providing a service before payment, is that there is that risk. Although, we put our trust in our clients and usually it's just a case of a late payment (we're not all perfect).
Finance in general is a mad rush, and there is a lot to be asked of the person heading this up.
6. Data entry
Data entry is honestly my worst nightmare.
No copy and paste, no easy way to remove certain people or domains.
Just hard work, and long hours.
It's easy to ask someone to "go through some data", but I'd put this task down to the top reason for employee burnout.
It is that bad.
Overall...
These are office tasks that need to be done. They're not easy, and they're not fun.
Unfortunately, we don't really have a choice in that, our business wouldn't run too smoothly if we were to start slacking on any of these.
That's why I'm grateful for the team and appreciate 100% the work that they do.
If you want to show your team appreciation, check out our blog post: 10 Fab Ways to Show Employee Appreciation
And don’t forget to subscribe to our Friday Funnies to receive a weekly update with more lighthearted content.
Happy Friday!
