Things People Give Me #28

For various reasons I haven't gone into the specifics of where I work or what I do, but basically I work in recruiting. Technically I'm not a recruiter, but rather I gather all the information that the recruiters whom I'm paired with need in order to do what they do.

Our team is split between the Americas team/company headquarters here in the states, the Asia team (with members based in the Bay Area, China and Hongkong), and the Europe/Africa/Middle East team (with members based in England and Paris). This past week the head recruiter for Asia, the head recruiter for Europe, and the boss of the entire worldwide recruiting team paid a week-long visit to HQ to touch base with everyone here, get acquainted with employees they hadn't met in person yet, and of course, work.

Well one morning, our collective boss went around to all the members of the recruiting team to give each of us a golden starfish paperweight, carefully wrapped in tissue and marked with a glittery tag that read, "[Name of person] - Star Recruiter".

Now, when it comes to work I am very serious. Even if, for instance, I don't care very much about what I'm doing, if that's the task that I have to do, and I've got no where else to be but this cubicle for the next eight hours, then that's what I concentrate on to make the day go by. I do not come to socialize or make friends, I come to sit down, get things done and leave. I am by no means anti-social. But I like to be able to focus, and idle fraternizing is not conducive to my particular stye of productivity.

The only thing is, holed up in my cubby with that mindset, I sometimes forget the environment I'm in and it slips my mind that the company culture is actually considerably open, friendly, and collaborative. On the recruiting team especially, people usually make a point of thanking each other for their contributions and making sure that their fellows feel appreciated. I should not have been surprised that our collective boss has a similarly generous character, and she even came bearing gifts.

Thanks, Renn! It was nice to finally meet you in person.