My six year old son has actually been known to yell at the clock at bedtime as if that damn clock is the culprit that is making him go to bed at 8:00 pm. “Nooooo! It can’t be 8:00 yet! I still need to ride my bike some more!!!”

Like him, I’d love an extra few hours in the evening to spend as I like. The sad news is, I’d probably spend it watching Jackie Warner and the gang on Work Out for that time instead of doing something productive like learning a new language or practicing the piano.

But it goes to show you that we are all under the gun when it comes to Time. The hours of nine to five are precious ones as we attempt to squeeze our careers and all that we must do into this seemingly small window of time. The good news is that we, as recruiters are here to help you do just that.

My guess is that, as a Hiring manager, Recruiter, or HR Professional, you have a lot on that to-do list. The one position that I’m helping you fill is just one of maybe ten that you are currently working on. In the meantime, you have some other employees who are bickering, someone has questions about the 401 (k) plan, and someone else thinks the boss looked at her in a suggestive way. Uh oh.

So when I send you twenty emails asking what you thought about Candidate X, it might be a tad bit crazy in your world. You have forwarded her resume to the appropriate people as you always do promptly. The Account Director worries that her agency experience is weak. The Management Supervisor thinks everything looks good except, she lives an hour away and doesn’t think she’ll stick around long once she experiences a couple rush hours. The CEO worries about the direct category experience. You spend the next two weeks answering emails and forwarding them to me all in an effort to decide if she is worth a phone call.

Here’s the deal. I am no math whiz, for sure, but a twenty minute conversation with her could clear all of that up more concretely than the two weeks of everyone wondering. Why not get her on the phone and see if she might be a good fit?

As recruiters, we struggle with the same issues of time and I will catch myself staring at the same resume for ten minutes trying to decipher what this candidate really does on a day to day basis. And then I remember this handy dandy invention called the telephone. So I pick it up. I dial the numbers. And I ask the questions. And most times, I am surprised.

I would encourage each of you to do the same thing. There’s no need for an hour long conversation if the candidate doesn’t warrant that. We are all experienced enough to know in five minutes if we want to keep talking to the person on the other end of the line or not.