Working from Home as a Recruiter

With the majority of the UK currently working from home the working day of an office dweller or those who work out and about is somewhat different. Caroline, a recruiter at TemplePM, is working from home and chats about the differences in her day, problems encountered and how working remotely is going.

Lack of commute

My commute is currently walking down the very steep stairs in our cottage. With the glorious sunshine we are blessed with at the moment and the constraint of avoiding all but essential travel, I am missing my daily drive to the office; my mode of transport is a Soft Top Mazda MX5 and I love driving it with the roof down.

Starting work

Keeping the Monday to Friday routine is important to me, so I aim to be at my “desk” and ready by 9.00am as usual. However, the first thing I do both home and in the office is make a mug of tea! 

I am not really set up for working at home, so my “desk” is any available space and has to be mobile due to sharing the cottage with my Chap who is also working from home.

Video calls

Throughout the day, Steve (MD at TemplePM) and I are in almost constant contact via Skype; he can see my every move so no chance of me skiving off to watch daytime TV! It is actually working rather well as it feels a bit like we are in the office together.

Phone calls

I am in contact with clients and candidates via phone and email; most are working from home and some are finding themselves being furloughed, so will have more time to speak with me!

The landline in the office diverts to Steve’s mobile so I can’t pick up all calls directly at the moment, which is frustrating and I’m trying to limit giving out my personal mobile number. As this situation looks set to continue for a while this is an area we need to sort out to make things easier.

Funny things

Skyping from home with Steve one day last week, I had to work from the bedroom as my Chap was on a Zoom group call from the sitting room. I was sitting on the bed and realised my teddy bear (yes, I still have him) was in the background behind me!

How are you finding it?

It is all working well so far, but I need to be stricter with myself to take a break at lunchtime. I need to get outside to get a hit of Vitamin D and take advantage of the currently “permitted” daily exercise outdoors.  

Skype is working well so that I still feel connected with Steve and aware of where we are at business wise. Importantly, the office “banter” is still there!

Would you be interested in working from home in the future?

Working from home is going well so far. It is also proving a good rehearsal as I am facing total knee replacement surgery at some point and will not be able to drive for a few weeks afterwards.

I like the structure of going to the office and enjoy working in the company of my colleagues. Steve and I work closely with each other and it is easier to keep track of where we are at in the recruitment process when we are both in the office together.