Hey Recruiters ~ GET OUT!!!!

Working the same place, all day, every day causes people to spend too much time in their own heads. Repetitive actions combine with static environment causes ideas to go stale, perspective demolishes and overall productivity goes down. It’s important to the longevity of Recruitment Professionals career not to get caught in this rut. Going out and see clients and candidates can be helpful. A better idea is to find a lively place to work from once a week.

This weekend I found this great article by Wesley Verhoeve, “Why You Should Work From A Coffee Shop, Even When You Have An Office.” (http://www.wesleyverhoeve.com/) Below are his recommendations:

“A change of environment stimulates creativity. Even in the most awesome of offices we can fall into a routine, and a routine is the enemy of creativity. Changing your environment, even just for a day, brings new types of input and stimulation, which in turn stimulates creativity and inspiration.

Fewer distractions. It sounds counter-intuitive, but working from a bustling coffee shop can be less distracting than working from a quiet office. Being surrounded by awesome team and officemates means being interrupted for water cooler chats and work questions. Being interrupted kills productivity. The coffee shop environment combines the benefit of anonymity with the dull buzz of exciting activity. Unlike working at home, with the ever-present black hole of solitude and procrastination, a coffee shop provides the opportunity of human interaction, on your terms.

Community and meeting new people. Meeting new people always provides me with new ideas, a different perspective at existing problems, or an interesting connection to a new person doing something awesome that inspires me. Today alone I met a top Skillshare teacher whose class I will now take, a sleep consultant, a publicist who offered to help with a project, and a wine consultant who recommended some bars.
To make the best out of your coffee shop days, keep a few things in mind:

Rotate coffee shops. Rather than going to the same coffee shop every time, switch it up, and avoid the stifling feeling of routine you were trying to avoid in the first place.

Buy something. Don't be a cheapskate nursing that one coffee throughout the day. Buy some stuff throughout the day, and tip well. Coffee shop workers are awesome, and they'll be awesome to you if you are a good customer. That hidden power plug will be revealed, an extra free refill will be given, an introduction will be made.
Placement. Don't sit near the door or the register, if you can avoid it. Temperature differences and high traffic don't help you to focus.
Power up. Come with a full charge. I like to not bring a power cord, unlike most folks, because I get 6 hours out of my laptop battery, and it forces me to take a break and work with focus because I will run out eventually.”

Wesley makes some great points and recommendations here. I regularly work for a couple of different coffee shops here in Dundas On. My favorite spot is Domestique-Café Cyclo Sportif. The owner is a true entrepreneur and he has created a great environment where fellow entrepreneur congregate. After a day working from his front porch, I find myself recharged and energized to take on the challenges of being a Recruiter’s Coach and Recruitment Professional.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes for you.

Comment by Jerry Albright on January 29, 2013 at 2:13pm: Well - hopefully you won't think I'm stalking you just to disagree Rebecca - though it sure seems like it. :)

Our business is not a "coffee shop" business. We are talking to people. ON THE PHONE, aren't we? We are discussing what in many cases is confidential information......salaries, health insurance plans, career goals. Each of these discussions deserves privacy in my opinion.

So maybe hang out at Starbucks for a bit on your way into work one day. I could see that. Might be interesting. But if you're working? And doing the kind of work recruiters do? Sorry - but the coffee shop is no place for it.

Comment by Amy Ala Miller on January 29, 2013 at 8:29pm: I like the concept Rebecca but for me it wouldn't work... first of all for reasons Jerry stated and 2ndly / most of all I'd get kicked out for being too loud. :) I'm on the phone ALL DAY LONG and get the occasional IM from down the hall (HR) asking me to take it down a notch. I'm a fairly boisterous person as it is, and when I get excited about a candidate or in heated salary debate with a hiring manager... well a coffee shop isn't safe. :)

That said I do like to write in coffee shops... if my schedule allows for it I can spend a couple of hours drafting blogs posts and such from the quiet safety of my local Starbucks. So I guess it comes down to exactly what tasks you're trying to complete.

Comment by Danny Powell on January 30, 2013 at 8:51am: I happen to enjoy working from a coffee shop. I generally save up some administrative work that needs to be done then pop down to my local hang out (Tuscan Sun). I have even met and interviewed people there when schedules were too busy for an office visit. I don't do it every day and never for more than two hours, but I find that when I get out of the office for a working break, I am much more productive when I get back.

Comment by Jerry Albright on January 30, 2013 at 8:53am: Danny - I can dig it. I just don't see it as a place to work on generating "new" business per se, which has to be a key part of each recruiting day. But I do agree with saving up admin stuff for a break from the office. :)

Comment by Mike Hayden on January 30, 2013 at 9:00am: I will always get out of the office when data mining, planning, admin stuff and find the environment for this mundane stuff ideal.

Comment by Rebecca B. Sargeant on January 31, 2013 at 6:46pm: Well Jerry! I just got back from screening a Recruiter for a client. Oh ya! btw, we met at a Coffee Shop. :-) Also, while I waited for him I caught up on my emails and worked on some research. It's always good to put on my red shoes and get out of my home offfice for a while.

P.S. Keep the comments coming! Your perspective is always welcome!

Comment by Stephanie McDonald on February 1, 2013 at 10:25am: I will take a sourcing day outside, but anything else has to be done from the comfort of my soundproofed home office.

Comment by Dan Contreras on February 1, 2013 at 1:33pm: For a sanity check, getting out of the house (away from the make shift 'work station' I created on my dining table) is a good way to go. Coffee shop, squatting in the client breakroom, a fellow WFH colleague with a Wi-Fi. I do one of the 3 at least once every two weeks. I find it allows me to coordinate my day and makes me more productive. I don't make a lot of calls in the coffee shop, every CoffeeBucks I go to is super loud, afterall, I am located in in the Seattle area!

Comment by AMIT MUSTAFI on February 3, 2013 at 5:30pm: I am of same opinion as Rebecca, on fundamentals of this topic "Get Out and give add life to your work, what you do..." without this approach, a recruiter will keep on being unfair to a job-seeker/candidates and try to sell jobs and not working towards finding the talent which Client is looking for.

Comment by Theresa Frost on February 5, 2013 at 10:08am: I totally agree with getting out of the office, a great, energy boosting change. Like several of them said, admin work, sourcing resumes, first calls of introduction, database work, or even meeting candidates!!. There is alot of work in our business than can be done without confidential information being passed around.