Let's take a quick look at a day in the life of the corporate recruiter.

7:30 am- Your day starts earlier than most because Tom in programming mentioned he might be able to look at your top PHP candidates...if you can get to him before his 8 am huddle. You race through the third floor with a stack of resumes (he won't print them, he's paperless) and a bagel determined to get an answer.

8:01 am- Tom arrives a minute late tells you "That stuff will have to wait." 

8:05 am- You arrive back at your desk just in time to hear the phoen click over the voicemail You listen to the message. An irate candidate asks if it's "too much to ask to get a simple yes or no?" 

8:07 am- You login to your email to find 32 new resumes from the job that your supervisor just mentioned might be filled by Janice's cousin who "has office experience". 

9:14 am- You receive an irritated call from your boss asking why we spent a thousand bucks on job board postings if we're hiring Janice's niece. 

10:00 am- Juggling a cup of coffee, you race to sit in a second interview with a great candidate for a managerial position, only to find out they took another offer and you have to start all over again. You spill your coffee.

10:32 am- You find out about three new requisitions from sales that need to be filled before the annual conference...in two weeks.

12:00 pm- The roast beef your spouse packed has to wait because you're spending your lunch interviewing the candidate who is "happy where they are but will listen to your offer". You sweat because you're not authorized to go above Pay Grade III but think maybe they'll accept flex hours. They say they'll "be in touch soon."

2:45 pm- You hear back from the early morning managerial candidate, they might be willing to consider if you can bump up the starting salary. You agree to see what you can do.

2:47 pm- Your phone rings off the hook with requests from candidates you interviewed a few days ago, asking for an "update".

2:59 pm- You get a thank you note from a candidate with your name misspelled. Still, you get a little misty.

3:02 pm- You sit down with the HR manager and the marketing manager to put together an offer for your latest win. 

3:45 pm- You call the candidate and give him the offer. He says it's "not what I was hoping for" but agrees to accept. Yay?

4:13 pm- You spend an hour going through resumes, the first 15 min of which is combing through your email to discover which ones came from outside of the system and where your colleagues notes on those are. Rita from operations refuses to use the ATS.

5:13 pm- You race back downstairs to grab Tom before he leaves for the day. He shuffles through the resumes before saying "Where was that guy you brought in the first round? He wasn't bad, what about him?"

5:27 pm- You get back to your desk in time to get a phone call from your most persistent candidate. You check his application and tell him that (thankfully) he's moved on to the interview stage. He thanks you profusely. 

5:45 pm- You get your email cleaned out, your resumes in a neat pile, the offer paperwork ready to be signed for tomorrow and your new reqs formatted for inclusion in your selected job boards. You sigh deeply and allow yourself to feel great about a job well done. Your friend from marketing pokes her head in the door and says "Hey have you heard about this social recruiting stuff? We should do that HERE!"

Feel a bit inefficient? Here are some tips on how leading recruiters make their ATS and interviewing technology eliminate a lot of the s... and keep candidates informed and happy.