Booze and recruitment have historically gone together like gin & tonic. When I started in this industry, you could not meet a recruiter who was teetotal. Actually, there weren’t even occasional or “social” drinkers. Recruiters, like sailors, soldiers, dockers, and the homeless, tended to be habitual binge drinkers, ‘cept everyday was a binge day. Now I know quite a few who pushed this too far and are now firmly and proudly on the wagon. Most of these people are evidently better because of it, so please don’t think I’m condoning or promoting alcohol abuse. It just was what it was back then.
These days, we’re a much more sober bunch. Those big time boozers have either grown up, been fired, or died. And the younger generation don’t seem particularly interested in drinking until they sh*t their pants. Instead, buddha bowls, yoga pants, lifestyle retreats, and a disproportionate number of sick days seem more fashionable. Without this generation pushing the limit on how many pints you can drink in an hour’s lunchbreak (it’s 5), there is a gaping void where a packed Auckland eatery once sat at 3pm on a Thursday. I’m sure the effect of this shift is largely positive. People’s livers are healthier, and perhaps there is less nepotism in the industry. Maybe we are increasingly judged on our service, not our ability to provide IT Managers with Showgirl dollars? However, there are also losers. The hospo industry is of course the obvious one. The high-end bars and restaurants of Auckland are not what they once were. Covid got a whole generation addicted to eating via immigrant delivery drivers, and the rest of us decided to WFH and never return to our desks. A slow economy has kept our “entertainment” budget to a minimum, and increasingly boring HR departments are limiting the opportunities we have to bribe prospective clients with The French Cafe. And regardless of the above, people just don’t seem to have the appetite for it like they once did.
There is another art from that we are losing. An art form within an art form. And that is how we answer the age-old question shouted across a busy recruitment office;
“Where can I take ******* for lunch??”
Now the answer to this is hugely complex and based on a number of factors. The office novice may think it’s a simple question, without understanding the nuances of what it means to the client, candidate, or recruitment company owner. If you are a client of a recruitment company reading this, where they take you tells you everything you need to know about how your supplier views your relationship. If it’s somewhere mid-high end but boring, they either want your business or want more of your business, but see you as an incredibly boring person. You’ll eat nice food and the recruiter will make sure you chose your drink before they do. If you ask for a sparkling water, the recruiter has nailed it. They judged you just right. Professional. Reasonably sophisticated. Business-focussed. Really f*cking boring. If you order a bottle of wine to yourself, the recruiter will kick themselves; you are actually fun and deserve a more lively ambience. If a recruiter takes you for sushi or something equally quick, with no booze, they just need to talk to you about something or are just fulfilling their client visit KPI and don’t want to pay for their own lunch. You have probably worked together a long while without ever connecting on a personal level, and you probably work for one of those God-awful businesses like Air New Zealand who won’t let their office staff drink a beer for lunch. If you’re taken somewhere cheap but fun, you either don’t spend enough money, but like a good time, or you spend enough and they just (rightly) know what a bogan you are. The only Michelin star you’ll be seeing will be fixed to the Look Sharp Cowboy hat thrust on to your head as you enter a themed bar at 1am. If you get taken to a very expensive bar with a fantastic wine list, which your recruiter automatically orders from, you are a good client, spending good money, and are recognised as someone who knows how to let their hair down. Alas, we haven’t seen much of this recently. The list of variables is almost endless for client hospitality alone, without factoring in where we should take our candidates; Have we placed you? Can we be seen together? Are you having a wobble? What was the fee? Are you building a team? And then we need to think about what we can justify to our own bosses. Is $300 an investment or taking the p*ss? It makes my head spin. Any recruiter who has made a few laps of the sun will know that there are lunches, and there are lunches. Deciding which to take someone on is a dying art form.
As an aside, if you don’t know your way around Auckland and want a few options for client or candidate entertainment, I’m picking Ground for a proper subterranean wine bar, Alma for a long lunch, and Panacea should you push on for cocktails. Maybe a few of you could do the same for Christchurch and Wellington below?
^SW
