Ideas From The Cage
There are some downfalls to working from home. After working from my home for about two months now without a work trip to interrupt the monotony of my terrible commute*, I actually miss the road. I don’t miss hotel beds, airports wearing pants regularly or awkward happy hours. I hate that shit. I miss the ideas that come out of the conversations.
Constantly writing and trying to come up with a new idea for a post or conversation topic is starting to feel like trying to generate ideas from a cage. Bouncing a ball against a wall to think of something that’s more exciting than candidate experience or regurgitating stats about mobile recruiting.
Talking to people on the phone isn’t the same as pulling yourself out of your four walls for days at a time, forced to listen and share while reacting to big ideas. The stimulus of articles or tweets doesn’t stick with me.
But I’m so lucky. I get to go to events, usually, once a month – speaking and writing about all of it. What happens to the caged animals – in house HR, recruiters, sourcers? The people that spend 90% of your time in the office except for that one week in Vegas every fall we bloggers call Hell Week and you call HR Tech. How are you supposed to be motivated and empowered to make change without time that’s dedicated to building a community of feedback and listening?
Hell, I’m just trying to write up some theories – you’re living the context. And a generalized approach is good but seeing it in your company and knowing how to implement it takes conversations with smart people.
It’s time we get out of the cage to think more often.
*Note sarcasm
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Kat Kibben View All →
Kat Kibben [they/them] is a keynote speaker, writing expert, and LGBTQIA+ advocate who teaches hiring teams how to write inclusive job postings that will get the right person to apply faster.
Before founding Three Ears Media, Katrina was a CMO, Technical Copywriter, and Managing Editor for leading companies like Monster, Care.com, and Randstad Worldwide. With 15+ years of recruitment marketing and training experience, Katrina knows how to turn talented recruiting teams into talented writers who write for people, not about work.
Today, Katrina is frequently featured as an HR and recruiting expert in publications like The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Forbes. They’ve been named to numerous lists, including LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Job Search & Careers. When not speaking, writing, or training, you’ll find Katrina traveling the country in their van or spending some much needed downtime with the dogs that inspired the name Three Ears Media.