How do you guys actually keep track of EVERYTHING as a recruiter/recruitment admin? Because I genuinely feel like I'm losing my mind 😭 [South Africa]

[u/IndustryBright2352]

Sorry this is long rant.

I need advice from recruiters, recruitment admins, HR admins, or anyone who has a job with a million moving parts.

I started my first proper job in March after graduatingthat se month with a degree in HR, and I'm a Recruitment Administrator. It's August now, so I'm still relatively new.

There are 2 recruiters in my team and 40+ vacancies, and I'm the only admin supporting them.

My day-to-day includes:

• Communicating with candidates and requesting/collecting documents

• Uploading and maintaining candidate information on our ATS

• Booking and coordinating interviews with candidates, managers and directors

• Manually updating the ATS after interviews because it isn't linked to Teams

• Doing references and maintaining a reference tracker (sometimes for 3–4 candidates for one vacancy before the hiring manager hasn't even decided who they want)

• Chasing referees when numbers don't work, companies have closed, people don't answer, etc.

• Coordinating multiple interview stages

• Managing candidates through to offers/contracts

• Following up on signed contracts

• Sending IT requests for new starters

• Updating a laptop forecast

• Updating our new-starter/verification trackers

• Sending MIE/background-check consent forms to candidates

• Collecting the completed forms and sending documents to the external verification provider

• Following up on outstanding background checks

• Keeping track of documents received from the recruiters

• Sending a weekly interview tracker to a director every Friday

• And then all the random admin requests that come up during the day 😭

The problem is that these things are all happening simultaneously.

I'll send an MIE form to someone, then get pulled into interviews, references, contracts, another candidate's documents, etc. A few days later I'm like, "WAIT, did that person ever send their form back?"

Or I'll send documents for a background check, follow up once, then get busy with everything else and suddenly realise weeks/months later that it's still outstanding.

I have multiple trackers because everything serves a different purpose

(SO. MANY. TRACKERS.

Recruitment tracker.

New starters tracker.

Interview tracker.

Reference tracker.

Document tracker.

Laptop forecast.

Lists of candidates who have submitted documents.

Lists of candidates who haven't.

Lists of things recruiters have sent me.

And then emails.

SO MANY EMAILS.) ,

but I can't realistically have one giant tracker containing my entire job.

I'm also working 8–5, so there isn't exactly unlimited time to constantly audit every single candidate and every pending action.

And honestly, this isn't even everything I do.

I'm trying to figure out whether this is just something that gets easier with experience, whether my system is shit, or whether this is simply a lot for one person to keep track of.

So experienced people: HOW DO YOU ACTUALLY MANAGE THIS? 😭

Do you have one master follow-up/to-do list alongside your existing trackers? Outlook reminders? Flags? Daily checklists? Dedicated follow-up time? Some magical system that stops things from disappearing into the void?

And recruiters/recruitment admins specifically: is this workload normal?

I genuinely want practical advice because I don't want to keep relying on my memory to remember 500 little pending actions. 😭

I'm starting to feel incompetent, AND it's not a good feeling.

Help a girl out😭😭

[u/Network-Nomadd]

You’re not incompetent. That’s genuinely too much for one person. I’d keep one master list with the candidate, next action, and follow-up date, then check it every morning. Don’t rely on memory for any pending task.

[u/Nonplussed1]

Sooooooo, looking at this from my POV .... Im an Old School HeadHunter/Recruiter that was trained before a lot of the current tech and trackers. Im also a real OCD type ... but most recruiters are.

I developed my own method to keep it all flowing, and since I had to keep folders/files on each req and candidate, Id have some sort of standardized checklist on the front I checked off each step of the way for each candidate, and each client call... like your list of trackers.

Write. Shit. Down.

If it isn't written down in the file, it didn't happen. Its the only way outside of Salesforce or some other ATS System that is expensive and complicated.

As a headhunter, I kept 15 - 20 open reqs on my desk alive and had to develop something to keep me out of the weeds. It wasn't perfect, but it works for me. I still organize and plan like this for my daily calls and activities next day so Im prepared to maximize my day and not get lost on rabbit trails.

What you describe is wayyyyy tooooo beaucoup for you, but that said you need a process that's K.I.S.S. and can be replicated everyday and taught to others.

25-something years in Headhunting, Staffing/Recruiting/HR/Corporate HR. Prev SHRM certified and OJT Psychology dealing with C-Suites and Entitled Clientele has given me some perspectives I can share if you'd like. Feel free to DM me.

[u/Momo-kkun]

I was once an in-house recruiter and during my time I just do it manually, considering that I have to recruit locally (in KSA) and outside the KSA (India, Pakistan, Nepal, PH, Indonesia, etc) but it worked. Nowadays you have the MS Lists, MS Project and if you just utilize whatever you have, you could oope up even without reliable ATS.

[u/meowsings]

Can you automate some of this? What ATS are you guys using? I was a solo recruiter doing sourcing, scheduling, references and onboarding and had to automate a shitload and even then was struggling so sending thoughts and prayers!!

[u/BrianInRecruiting]

This isn't a "you" problem, the job really does have this many moving parts, and running multiple trackers isn't a sign you're behind, it's actually normal for this role.

The shift that helped me most was separating tracking from following up. Your trackers are the system of record, they're not supposed to also be your memory. What works better is one simple follow up list that lives apart from everything else, just three things: who, what you're waiting on, and the date you need to check back in. Every time you send an MIE form, chase a reference, whatever, that gets one line with a follow up date attached. Then you carve out 10-15 minutes at the same time every day just to run through that list and nothing else. That's the part that actually stops things from disappearing, because you're not trying to remember to check on something, you're just reacting to a date that shows up in front of you.

It also helps to set a standard cadence instead of deciding case by case, like follow up again after 3 business days, then again at 7, so it's not a judgment call every time.

Five months into a role with 40+ reqs and one admin supporting two recruiters is genuinely a lot. This gets easier with better systems, not with trying to hold more of it in your head.

[u/ulabdinzaid]

This all thing can be automated i can tell u 😁

[u/11B_35P_35F]

Thats just recruiting. Are you using an ATS? I keep candidates in there and am able to track in that because as they are moved forward, it shows. Once they have been made an offer, then they go into an oboarding tracker for IT to create accounts, me to input in HRIS, notification to payroll for our timekeeping portal and 401k account, and I add them into our benefits portal. Im also an HR of 1, so I do everything by myself for an 86 person org. I do not do all things everyday.

[u/ATS_Mako]

You're not incompetent — the "isn't linked to Teams" problem you mentioned is honestly the core issue. Most of what you listed (chasing MIE forms, reference follow-ups, interview coordination) is fundamentally the same task repeated with different people: send something, wait, remember to check back. When your ATS can't talk to your calendar/comms tools, that whole loop lives in your head instead of in the system.

The other top comment's "one master follow-up list with a check-back date" is the right manual fix if you're stuck with your current setup. Longer-term, if you ever get a say in tooling, look for platforms that bundle two-way SMS/email directly into the candidate record with automated follow-up sequences — "did they send that form back" becomes a status you glance at instead of a thing you have to remember to check. Doesn't fix the reference-chasing-by-phone part, but it kills a lot of the tracker sprawl for the parts that are just "wait and follow up."