In The Age Of Doing More With Less: Embrace Automation

The digital age is creating massive change as well as new opportunity. We are challenged to do more with less. Of course, this isn’t a new phenomenon, but the demand continues unabated. That said, we are all expected to maintain peak productivity in this chaotic environment.  Our responsibility is to adapt.  Automation is the solution.

Considering the requirements to manage my business, I could become overwhelmed by the effort to keep up. I maintain two major lines of business; an executive search practice and a business connecting freelance consultants to prospective clients. I facilitate two networking groups and write a weekly blog post.  I am the business manager for my wife’s residential construction company and have other consulting clients from time to time.  Additionally,  I am active in business development activities including networking events and speaking engagements. It is safe to say that I have a number of irons in the fire.  The demand on my time is probably not much different from most of you, and yet we manage.

The good news is there are options to help me manage my work, including a virtual assistant who updates my social media marketing efforts.  I am dictating this article on my iPhone using Evernote‘s voice to text capability. This is a fabulous tool which helps me shorten the time to complete each article.  Evernote is active on all of my computers.  It is a cloud-based system, synchronized across all of my devices

My number one time suck is managing email.  I have ten email accounts which I use to segregate personal and business correspondence.   This is the foundation of my time management strategy.  The first step is to set priorities for a follow-up response.  The number one priority is to address emails from clients, particularly those with current search assignments.  I use both Microsoft and Google products,  to automate functions that classify and prioritize each.  Using the “Rules” function in Microsoft Outlook I create processes to automatically direct email to their specific folder.  Using Microsoft Flow, copies of attachments, i.e. resumes, are automatically added to a specific folder in Microsoft OneDrive.   This is another valuable time saver!

At the beginning of each search assignment, I create a system to capture details from interested candidates and classify them by their relative match to the search criteria. Surprisingly, the capabilities of Microsoft outlook are well-suited to this task.  My first step is to set up a “color-coded category” in my address book for the client and each particular assignment.  A V-card is created for each candidate, assigned to the appropriate category.  Each v-card includes notes indicating their suitability for the job. The address book provides functionality to record contact with the candidates, including interviews I conduct and those conducted by the client.  I can translate this data into a spreadsheet to help monitor the progress of each assignment, and capture relevant statistics.  Using this spreadsheet I can send individual or mass emails to the candidates to recap the status of the search assignment.

Using Microsoft Flow, email attachments usually resumes, are automatically copied to a OneDrive folder I have established for each search.  OneDrive allows me to synchronize and access my work from any of my four laptops and iPhone.

Most unsolicited resumes are sent to a dedicated email address.  Each job seeker receives an auto-response message acknowledging receipt of their resume with my promise to review their credentials against my current assignments.  I invite them to become connected to me on LinkedIn and to sign up for my e-letter.  I even make a shameless plug for my book, Fighting Alligators: Job Search Strategy For The New Normal.

And finally, a big shout out to YouTube, which has become my go-to resource for training videos to use these tools.  To meet the demand on my time I must employ tools to enhance my productivity.  I suspect that you do too.