Ros Kindersley, the managing director of JFL Search & Selection, a recruitment consultancy, has a “bizarre confession” to make. “I love the sensation of receiving e-mails without having to answer them,” she says of her BlackBerry. “I know that I’m connected to the outside world, not lost in cyberspace.”

Kindersley doesn’t give the impression of being someone who gets lost much. She juggles a job as head of a recruitment agency with three children – and studies for a degree in her spare time. As an MD, she does a bit of everything. So how does she manage? “[Being organised] isn’t something that just happened, it evolved.” Knowing – and enjoying – your work helps, she says. “I’ve been working in recruitment for 20 years so I am able to make very fast decisions.”

The flip side is a tendency to get very absorbed in work. Balancing home and work is the most stressful aspect, she says, because “both are hugely important to me”. To combat this, she sets strict working hours of 8.30am to 6pm, and leaves on time.

E-mail is both a friend and an enemy – she receives hundreds each day. “It is possible to spend the whole day responding to e-mails. The biggest mistake people make in time management is feeling glued to [their] inbox.” She has an inbox limit of 50 and deals with e-mails in three sessions: urgent in the morning; again in the afternoon; and nonurgent at the end of the day. The BlackBerry allows her to monitor progress remotely. “I use it when I’m out and about during the day, but never at evenings or weekends.”

Kindersley sums up her approach to managing in one word: prioritise. “It’s something I try to instil in everybody who works here.” In a fast-moving sector, keeping up with client demands can be tricky. “I keep my diary quite flexible.” She plans everything a day in advance. “I arrive at work and know what I want to achieve. But no one keeps to their timescale to the nanosecond.” Managing stress is an important skill. “Sometimes you are so overwhelmed by work that you feel like a computer that's crashing.” She has learnt to recognise the feeling and take a step back. “Someone once said: ‘No one ever died wishing they’d spent more time in the office.’ I remind myself of that whenever I feel overwhelmed.”

With priorities come sacrifices. Kindersley never socialises with colleagues and rarely goes out during the week. “I wouldn’t have the stamina and it would be totally unfair on the family.” With her children in their teens, she decided to act on her lifelong love of creative writing and began an MA at Birkbeck University, involving 16 hours’ study and lectures a week. It requires self-discipline. “I always mean to write in the evenings, but often it’s the last thing I feel like doing. I generally do about four hours on weekend afternoons.”

And her real secret? Delegation. “I have two brilliant directors and a partner who is very supportive and a wonderful cook,” she says. “I couldn’t do it without them.”

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