Taking A Recruitment Holiday

I’m sure many of you readers will be delighted to learn that this will be my last blog post for a few weeks.  I’m heading off to the other hemisphere for a wee while.  Don’t worry though, you’ll be in good hands with Sean Walters for your Friday dose of recruitment industry musings, tittle-tattle and general bad behaviour.  All good?  Hello?  Guys….?

Guuuuuuys??

Oh…

The reality is a change is as good as a rest and I’m sure you’ll enjoy a different voice, even if it does come with parental advisory around explicit lyrics.

The thing is, in this modern world of ubiquitous technology and constant connectivity, it would be quite easy for me to carry on business as usual and most of you would be none the wiser (although perhaps wondering why I’m replying to your emails in the middle of the night all the time). But, you know, I kinda need a break.  So I’m going to try and switch off from it all.

Which makes this article in this week’s New Zealand Herald all the more interesting.  Based upon survey results from Randstad’s Workmonitor report, they released findings that:

“53 per cent of Kiwis were expected to be available outside of standard working hours, though most, 62 per cent, did not mind the intrusion on their personal life.

On average, 57 per cent of workers globally were expected to stay connected outside of office hours and 56 per cent were happy to do so.

When it came to going on holiday 30 per cent of Kiwi employees were expected to be available – 38 per cent did so happily.”

A couple of things really stand out for me there.  One is the fact that kiwis are generally more comfortable with being contactable outside office hours than the global average.  The other is the number of us, more than a third, who are cool with this happening while on holiday.

Recruitment, in particular, is an industry that has harnessed technology more effectively than most.  For us, technology accelerates our networking, it opens more doors, it spreads our communications and it fuels our speed of response.  All of which are elements that drive the profitability and success of a recruiter’s desk.

It’s also a very reactive industry, despite our best efforts at exerting control, which is natural given we sit between two moving targets.  But its reactive nature feeds into the seductive capabilities of technology.  We’re competitive people, we want to win, and so we remain constantly connected as we constantly seek an edge, an advantage, a head start, to get the results.

But I’m not yet ready to join that 38% who happily remain contactable during holidays.  It might mean I miss an opportunity, miss a great candidate, miss out on a plum vacancy – who knows?  But it’s a risk I’m willing to take, for some time away from all that noise, and some proper time with the really important people in my life.  It looks like my approach is becoming less and less common though.

What would you do in this technology age?

Having said that, if any of you readers are UK based then I’ll be around London and the Midlands soon, if you would like to catch up and learn more about recruiting in New Zealand.  I’ll be the one in jandals flip-flops…

I’ll be back blogging again from late October.  In the meantime, be nice to Sean.  He’s a sensitive soul really…