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I have a lot of coaches ask me for help to accomplish their goal of becoming a better recruiter.
These coaches come to me because they understand that how they structure their time determines their success. And there’s one very simple skill that’s a total game-changer: time management.
How you manage your time can take you from being a good recruiter to the kind of recruiter everyone talks about—the one who builds championship-level teams and consistently brings in top talent.
The time management secret sauce? It’s something I like to call Recruitment Time Blocking (RTB).
Today, I want to walk you through this framework so you can start applying it and see real results.
What Is Recruitment Time Blocking?
At its core, Recruitment Time Blocking means carving out specific blocks of time in your day that are 100% dedicated to recruitment activities. No distractions. No interruptions. Just focused work on the things that move the needle.
Sounds simple. . . but are you doing it?
Think about it—your day is full of tasks, and for most coaches they fit recruiting in between everything else.
They do a little bit here, a little bit there, and never really make any significant process.
When you do choose to work on recruiting, what you do during those hours will determine if you’re building a standout team or scrambling to keep up.
When you commit to RTB and stick to it, you’ll feel less stressed and see better results. Here’s how to make it work.
Breaking Down Your Day
Your day can generally be split into two categories:
1. Recruitment Time Blocking (RTB) – The hours where you focus on recruiting activities.
2. Non-Recruitment Activities (NRA) – Everything else: practice, games, paperwork, emails, meetings, and other administrative duties.
Here’s the key: Elite recruiters fiercely protect their RTB hours. Why? Because recruiting—the actual process of evaluating, connecting with, leading them through the recruiting process, and winning over prospects—is what makes a program successful.
Sure, the other stuff has to get done, but it can’t interfere with your golden recruiting hours.
What’s Pulling You Off Track?
Let’s be real: distractions are everywhere, and if you’re not careful, they’ll eat up all your RTB time. Here are three of the biggest offenders:
1. Other Staff and Coworkers
People love to chat. Maybe someone wants your input on scheduling or wants to talk about last night’s game. While it’s important to be part of the team, you’ve got to set boundaries when it comes to RTB hours.
2. Administrative Tasks
Compliance paperwork, database entry, and booking travel are necessary evils, but they’re not recruitment-focused activities. Save these for non-RTB time.
3. Digital Distractions
Social media, emails, and text notifications can completely derail your focus. One quick scroll can turn into 15 wasted minutes, and before you know it, you’re way off track.
Rules for Winning at RTB
Ready to protect your recruiting hours like a pro? Follow these steps:
1. Schedule Daily Recruitment Time Blocks
Decide how many hours you want to work on recruiting this week. Carve out specific hours each day and commit to them. For example:
- Morning: One hour for outreach and follow-ups.
- Afternoon: Two hours for calls or virtual visits.
- Evening: One hour for watching film or attending games.
During these blocks, recruitment is your sole focus. No non-recruiting emails. No meetings. No admin work.
2. Eliminate Distractions
Think of your RTB hours as sacred. Here’s how to guard them:
- Turn off email notifications, or only check emails at designated times (e.g., early morning, before lunch, and end of the day).
- Silence your phone or put it out of sight.
- Log out of social media unless you’re actively using it for recruiting purposes.
3. Focus on Recruitment-Generating Activities
Stick to the tasks that directly impact your recruiting success:
- Moving recruits to the next recruiting mile marker.
- Reaching out to prospects and their families.
- Watching games or film to evaluate talent.
- Building relationships with high school coaches and scouts.
- Sending personalized messages to top recruits.
- Hosting campus visits or virtual tours.
Save the less impactful tasks, like data entry or compliance paperwork, for later.
4. Batch Administrative Tasks
Non-recruitment tasks are still important, but they should never overlap with your RTB hours. Instead, set aside specific times for these activities—early morning or late afternoon, for instance—so they don’t eat into your prime recruiting time.
Why RTB Works
Here’s the bottom line: by mastering Recruitment Time Blocking, you’ll accomplish more in a day than most recruiters do in a week. You’ll evaluate more talent, connect with more prospects, and build stronger relationships—all of which give you a massive edge.
Success in recruiting comes down to consistent, focused effort. Protect your RTB hours like your career depends on them—because, in many ways, it does.
Now it’s your turn. Start blocking your time and watch your recruiting game transform.
Calling all recruiters:
Recruiting is a 365-day-a-year beast, and it’s no secret that managing it all—while balancing your other coaching responsibilities—can feel overwhelming. That’s why I created Recruiting Made Simple, a membership designed specifically for college coaches who want to become elite recruiters, better manage their time, and leverage their staff and resources effectively.
This membership is not about adding more to your plate—it’s about focusing on what truly matters and creating systems that work for you.
Here’s what’s included:
Monthly Masterclasses: Receive actionable, step-by-step guidance from Mandy Green and other top experts to help you build and optimize your recruiting systems with ease.
All Replays from previous Masterclasses: Never miss a lesson—get on-demand access to every previous masterclass so you can learn at your own pace and revisit key strategies.
Direct Coaching with Mandy Green: Work directly with Mandy to tackle your unique recruiting challenges, streamline your processes, and create a roadmap for success.
Templates, Systems + Saved Time: I share with you every resource that helped me or my clients leverage my time, the time of my staff, improve the quality of our work, decress the time it took us to complete tasks, eliminate mistakes, train assistants faster, and just be more efficient and effective.
You can set up a trial, go month by month, or pay for a year to save some money. Give Recruiting Made Simple a try!
Mandy Green
Here are some other ways I can help you:
To leverage your time: High Performance Coach and Recruiter
To leverage your staff: Assistant Coach Accelerator,
To leverage your recruiting system: Recruiting Made Simple
How to stay consistent with social media for recruiting purposes: Social Story Recruiting
The Busy Coach Planner is something I think every college coach should have on their desk for the start of 2025. Grab one here and start fresh, organized and dialed in next year.
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