A glass of hot milk, counting sheep and dreams of a gentle snooze on a faraway beach are traditional methods of combating insomnia.  

A recent survey by hotel company Travelodge found doctors are the most sleep-deprived profession, struggling bleary-eyed through
the working day with an average of only five or six hours’ sleep a night. But what keeps recruiters awake at night?

According to Joe Slavin, chief executive officer of Fish4Jobs, it’s a modern slant on a traditional problem.
“What is probably keeping recruiters awake at night is the thought of not getting access to candidates before somebody else does,” he says. Slavin proposes that recruiters need to track their candidates better.
“Even with the internet, candidates at the lower end of the market are as hard as ever to get,” he says. “Ten years ago, it was only white males in IT who went on the internet.
“We need to look at how we’re appealing to entry-level candidates, with more structured marketing campaigns aimed at them.”  

Paul McCarthy, operations director at engineering recruiter Ocean Bridge Associates, also sees candidate issues as reason to be bleary-eyed in the small hours. He feels that a generation of candidates was lost to the engineering sector in the late 1990s, when IT was the popular choice for graduates.
“We are really short of senior-level candidates with about six to 10 years’ experience,” he says. “We have had to look at fast-tracking intermediate level candidates or recruiting from South Africa and Zimbabwe.”

For Kirsten MacLeod, operations director at financial recruiter ECHM, it’s managing the recruitment process in a candidate-driven market that’s giving her sleepless nights.
“The good candidates are looking at a number of opportunities at any one time, and the difficult task for the recruiter is to manage these situations successfully and ensure he or she delivers the best service possible to both client and candidate,” she says.

White Horse Employment director Mandy Paterson conducted a straw poll among her consultants. The top results were: ‘Sunday Night Syndrome’ – prioritising workload in anticipation of a busy week; ‘Sales Targets’ – in particular within the time leading up to month/quarter end; ‘Placement and Post-Placement Anxiety’ – thinking through and planning solutions; and ‘Job Offer Anticipation’ – pending a large placement fee.
Paterson adds: “I’m pleased to report the White Horse team sleep very well most nights, which I believe is as a result of working practices coupled with team targets that encourage motivation to perform without personal stress.”

Julie O’Neill, joint managing director of recruitment-to-recruitment firm McCall, has fought most of her inner demons to help her drift off.
“When I started in recruitment in my early 20s, I’ll admit I used to keep a notebook by the bed so I could log them all,” she says. “But as the years went by I either trusted my powers of memory more, or had fewer great ideas and found it harder to write in the dark!”

So before you curl up tonight, remember there is at least one thing helping Joe Slavin have a peaceful night. “You only have to gaze across the Channel to see how much freedom we have here,” he jokes.