The Recruiter

ATS sweep

Coffee at the kitchen table. Opens the ATS on the laptop — nineteen new applicants overnight on the service-tech req, eight on the install-helper, none on the senior estimator that's been open forty-one days. The estimator gap is the day's problem.

Office in

First one in the back office. Pulls the hiring scorecard for the Monday huddle — time-to-fill at thirty-four days on field roles, ninety-day retention at seventy-eight percent on last quarter's hires. Two of the four service-tech offers from last week have started.

Screen batch

Works the new applicants in the ATS. Disqualifies four with no HVAC or related trade experience, advances eleven to phone screen, sends the four offers a personalized rejection — the canned one feels gross and the trade community is small.

Phone screens

Three back-to-back twenty-minute screens on the service-tech req. Asks the same five questions every time — last truck stocked, last callback owned, why leaving, comp expectation, start date. Two move to the Service Manager, one is a comp-band miss she's honest about on the call.

Estimator sourcing

Forty minutes on LinkedIn and the Indeed resume database for the senior estimator. Sends nine custom outreach notes — names the company, names the role, names one thing about their background. No 'great opportunity' filler. Texts the GM two names she wants him to call directly.

Trade school call

Standing call with the program director at the trade school across town. Confirms the spring graduation job fair, books two ride-along slots for the top two students he flags. He texts her a photo of his new puppy mid-call; she sends one of her dog back.

Lunch desk

Salad and a podcast on the second monitor. Updates the offer letter template — finally cuts the three-paragraph 'about us' section the Marketing Coordinator wrote last year. Candidates skim past it.

Interview coordination

Schedules four second-round interviews for the week — Service Manager for the techs, GM and Sales Manager for the estimator finalist they have so far. Holds the line on the GM's calendar when he asks to push it again — third reschedule is where good candidates ghost.

Offer call

Calls the install-helper finalist with the offer. Walks the comp, the boot stipend, the start date, the first week's training plan. He asks for an extra dollar an hour — pauses, doesn't fill the silence, comes back at fifty cents and a sign-on. He accepts on the call.

Pipeline update

Updates the hiring dashboard. Eleven phone screens booked for the week, four second rounds, one signed offer pending background. Pings the GM that the senior estimator pipeline is still thin and pitches a referral bonus refresh.

Wrap

Sends the signed offer to the Office Manager so the I-9 packet and uniforms are ready Monday. Closes out twelve candidates that have gone cold for two weeks with a real note, not a ghosting. Sets tomorrow — two screens at nine, the estimator outreach follow-up at eleven.