It’s 9 a.m., and my inbox already has over 200 CVs waiting. By mid-morning, I’ve screened half of them, many barely relevant to the role.
My phone keeps buzzing with scheduling requests, panel conflicts, and candidate queries. After lunch, I run through back-to-back first-round interviews, asking the same set of questions, writing the same notes, and feeling my focus slip. By evening, I’m exhausted, not because I dislike the job, but because the sheer repetition and pressure drain me day after day. This is recruiter fatigue, and it is far more common than most people realise.
What the Research Confirms
I sometimes wondered if it was just me. But then I came across the LinkedIn Recruiter Sentiment Study (2019), which found that 74 per cent of recruiters reported high stress levels, mostly due to repetitive tasks and heavy hiring volumes. The American Psychological Association (2017) also linked burnout to declines in accuracy, attention, and decision quality. Reading these studies felt like someone had put my experience into data.
Why This Matters
Fatigue doesn’t just affect me, it affects the organisation. When I’m stretched thin, my evaluations become inconsistent. I take longer to process applications, and sometimes strong candidates are overlooked because I can’t give every CV the attention it deserves. The longer the process drags, the more frustrated candidates become, and some walk away altogether. It’s not just my energy on the line, it’s the company’s ability to hire the right people at the right time.
Beyond the Numbers
Recruiter fatigue is not about laziness or inefficiency. It’s about the design of hiring systems that ask too much from too few people. When every stage of the process depends on human stamina, mistakes are inevitable. For recruiters like me, it means living with constant stress. For organisations, it means higher costs, longer hiring cycles, and weaker employer branding.
Looking Forward
What we need is not just more hands on deck, but a smarter way of handling recruitment. When routine tasks are reduced and focus shifts to meaningful conversations with the right candidates, recruiters can actually do what they are best at: building relationships, assessing fit, and representing the company’s values. Until then, recruiter fatigue will remain the silent strain that weakens hiring from within.
