Our Five Tips for Managing Stress at Work

Recruitment is fast-paced, exciting and a real roller-coaster ride. You have to balance delivering tangible results with being a consultative expert on the jobs market. Finding people jobs, while managing multiple relationships can be a challenge.

We’ve pulled together five simple ways to manage stress at work – which hopefully will make you feel more productive in the long term and support your emotional and physical wellbeing.

Stay mobile and get out more Regular exercise can be a great way to relax. When you feel like your workload is getting overloaded, try and step outside for five to ten minutes and take time to remove any negative thoughts and just breathe. Fresh air works. Once around the block can help you to focus your mind for when you return to your desk.

Take time to plan It may sound obvious, but taking time to plan out your day, week or month can have a huge influence on how you manage pressures in your work life. Build a plan that works for you. Think email reminders, calendar notes, a diary, planner or whatever it may be that works for you. Break your projects in to small ‘quick wins’. A series of quick wins can lead to a larger overall success. Whether that’s getting through to a key client, or making sure you’ve had that conversation with a candidate, the quick wins add up and before you know it you’ll have achieved your overarching task.

Be prepared to compromise You won’t always be able to achieve everything you want to. This is where prioritising comes in, and providing the action won’t cost you that placement, recognise the elements that can be shifted and which are more important. Overcome those hurdles first, and you’ll find the stresses of multiple tasks will get easier.

Avoid negativity where possible If you’re negative from the outset, you’re already on the back foot and setting yourself up to fail. Try to be positive about the outcome. If you’re making a difficult call, be positive in your tone, as that will translate when you speak to the person. Positive body language can also help to support positive interaction, both on the phone and face-to-face.

Draw on the experiences of your peers Talking about your concerns or issues to someone helps! Your peers may have other perspectives on how you can handle a difficult or stressful situation, or they may have gone through the same situation. The best people to talk to about your pressures are those around you, because they are the ones doing the same job and can empathise.

If you feel happy in your own emotional and physical health, you’ll naturally feel more able to succeed. Understanding that there is a link between your own productivity and your individual well-being is an important step in being better at what you do day-to-day.

Explore more with our IRP Professional Guides here.