The average recruiter now manages 56% more open requisitions than three years ago, and recruiting teams shrank from 31 to 24 people on average. Translation: you're doing way more work with fewer people, and nobody's coming to save you.

Here's how to manage an unrealistic workload without burning out completely.

Triage Your Reqs Like an ER Doctor

Not all open positions are equally urgent. Stop treating them like they are.

Create three tiers:

Tier 1 - Critical: Revenue-generating roles (sales), business-critical roles with immediate impact, executive positions, roles where vacancies create bottlenecks.

Tier 2 - Important: Necessary but not urgent, backfills for people who left, growth roles that support strategic initiatives.

Tier 3 - Nice to have: Aspirational roles, roles with flexible timelines, positions where the team can function without them short-term.

Focus 70% of your time on Tier 1, 25% on Tier 2, and 5% on Tier 3. Push back on hiring managers who claim everything is Tier 1. If everything's critical, nothing is.

Use Hiring Manager Involvement as a Filter

The fastest way to reduce your effective workload is to identify which hiring managers are actually serious.

Required hiring manager actions:

• Provide detailed job description and requirements within 48 hours
• Commit to reviewing candidates within 24 hours of submission
• Guarantee interview availability within one week for qualified candidates
• Respond to recruiter questions same-day

If a hiring manager can't meet these commitments, their req drops to Tier 3 automatically. You're not going to fill a role for someone who takes a week to review candidates and two weeks to schedule interviews anyway.

This filters out the "we're hiring but not really" managers fast.

Batch Similar Roles

Stop context-switching between 60 different roles. It destroys productivity.

Group similar roles:

• All sales roles: source and screen Monday/Tuesday
• All engineering roles: source and screen Wednesday/Thursday
• All operations roles: source and screen Friday

When you batch, you get into a rhythm. You're searching the same talent pools, using similar keywords, evaluating similar skills. It's faster than jumping between a sales role, an engineering role, and a marketing role every hour.

Automate the Hell Out of Administrative Tasks

If you're manually doing something a tool can do, you're wasting time.

Automate:

• Interview scheduling (use Calendly, GoodTime, or your ATS's scheduling features)
• Status update emails to candidates
• Candidate sourcing alerts (set up saved searches on LinkedIn to email you daily)
• Interview reminders and follow-ups
• Reference check requests

Every task you automate buys you 30-60 minutes per week. Do that 10 times and you've recovered a full workday.

Build Evergreen Talent Pools

Stop starting from zero every time a req opens.

For roles you hire repeatedly:

• Maintain ongoing talent pools of qualified candidates
• Nurture them with quarterly check-ins
• When a req opens, you have 10-20 warm leads ready to contact immediately

This works especially well for sales, customer success, and engineering roles where you're constantly hiring similar positions.

One hour per week maintaining talent pools saves 5+ hours when a new req opens.

Set Realistic Expectations With Leadership

If you're managing 60+ reqs with inadequate support, someone needs to know.

Have the data-driven conversation:

"I'm currently managing 62 open reqs. Industry benchmark for recruiter capacity is 20-30 reqs. At this ratio, I can either fill roles quickly with lower quality, or fill them slowly with higher quality. I can't do both. Which would you prefer?"

Present options:

• Hire more recruiters
• Use agencies for some roles (expensive but fast)
• Extend timelines for lower-priority roles
• Close aspirational reqs that aren't getting filled anyway

Don't just complain—offer solutions backed by data. Make it leadership's problem to solve, not yours to suffer through.

Know When to Use Agencies

Agencies are expensive, but sometimes they're the right call.

When to bring in an agency:

• Executive roles where you need specialized search expertise
• Highly competitive talent markets where you're losing candidates to speed
• Roles outside your geographic expertise
• When you're 6+ weeks past target fill date on a critical role

The agency fee is worth it if it frees you to focus on roles you can actually fill internally.

Protect Your Time Ruthlessly

Your calendar is probably a disaster right now. Fix it.

Block time for:

• Sourcing (2-3 hours, 3× per week, non-negotiable)
• Candidate screens (batch them into 2-hour blocks)
• Admin work (1 hour daily for ATS updates, emails, coordination)

Decline meetings that don't directly support filling roles. "Exploratory" calls with hiring managers who don't have approved headcount? No. "Culture committee" meetings? No. Recruiting process improvement brainstorms that go nowhere? Hell no.

You don't have time for performance theater. You have 60 reqs to fill.

Train Hiring Managers to Do More

Stop doing work that hiring managers should be doing themselves.

What hiring managers can do:

• Source referrals from their networks
• Review LinkedIn profiles you send and provide feedback within 24 hours
• Conduct initial technical screens (for technical roles)
• Sell candidates on the role during interviews
• Make offers quickly when they find someone good

Your job is to manage the process, not do every step yourself. Train hiring managers to take ownership and hold them accountable.

Accept That Some Roles Won't Get Filled

Here's the hard truth: if you have 60+ reqs and you're the only recruiter, some roles will stay open.

That's not your failure—it's a resource allocation problem.

Focus on filling the roles that matter most. Let Tier 3 reqs sit until you have bandwidth or leadership decides to fund more recruiting support.

You can't do the impossible. Stop trying.

Know the Burnout Warning Signs

Recruiter burnout is real and it's spiking.

Warning signs:

• Dreading logging into your ATS
• Snapping at hiring managers or candidates
• Missing deadlines you used to hit easily
• Not caring whether candidates accept offers
• Fantasizing about quitting daily

If you're experiencing multiple warning signs, it's time to have a serious conversation with your manager about workload, or start job searching yourself.

Companies that overwork recruiters deserve to lose them. Don't sacrifice your mental health for an employer that won't invest in adequate staffing.

The Bottom Line

Managing 60+ reqs when you're understaffed isn't sustainable long-term. But in the short-term, you can survive by:

• Triaging ruthlessly
• Automating aggressively
• Setting realistic expectations
• Protecting your time
• Knowing when to ask for help

And if leadership won't provide resources or adjust expectations, start looking for a company that values recruiting. You deserve better than drowning in impossible workloads while being told to "do more with less."

Good luck out there. You're going to need it.