By: Shari Dalton
Working in any kind of sales job is hard. I believe that working in healthcare staffing is even more difficult. The foundation of our industry is built on relationships with others and helping others reach their career goals. This puts recruiters and account managers in a very vulnerable position. In order to be really good at our jobs, we have to be really good at building relationships and building trust with other people, usually with people we will never meet.
We invest a lot of time into getting to know people and allowing them into our personal lives as well. So, when something doesn’t go as planned, it’s hard not to take it personally. A hospital cancels a contract, a nurse backs out, a therapist goes rogue, a candidate gets fired. It’s happened to me and I’ve seen it happen to so many around me. What can make matters even worse is when it happens with 2-3 candidates in one week-ugh!
It can be really hard to push past these things. They can start to consume your entire day, put you in a bad mood, starve you of motivation, and ultimately leave you questioning your career choices.
When I had the opportunity to start leading a team, I wanted to do something about this. I wanted to create a way for my team to be able to work through these times and stay focused on the end goals. So, I created a F*CK IT BUCKET and placed it on my desk. The premise of the bucket was this: if something terrible happened, come talk to me and write it down. If you could do something about it, maybe have a conversation and salvage the contract or relationship, then let’s figure out how to do that and go straight back to your desk and do it. If you couldn’t, if it was something out of your control, then you needed to crumple up that paper, throw it into the F*CK IT BUCKET and walk away – let it go.
You see, anytime life throws us curve balls, we have to ask ourselves, “Can I control this? Can I do something about this?” And if the answer is “yes”, then we need to stop complaining and get out there and do it. If the answer is “no”, then we need to stop worrying about it and dwelling on it and move on. We can’t let it continue to bring us down. Does it suck? Heck yes, but the longer we let it consume our thoughts, the longer it will take us to get back to doing the things that will make us better.
If you find yourself burning out, consider a bucket, or even a journal where you can jot down your thoughts and move forward. If you have control, do something about it, if you don’t, then move on. The longer we let the negative consume us, the longer it takes to get back in the saddle and do something good and productive.
