Hands up who has checked their work emails outside of working hours? Maybe you check your emails after putting the kids to bed or at weekends while you sit and wait for football or ballet or swimming to finish. Come on, I know I can’t be the only one who has felt the obsessive need to check emails in my “free” time!
As many of you already know I have spent over 15 years in the HR and Recruitment industry in the UK and Australia, therefore I could have written this report myself based on the cases I have handled. In fact it could have been based on one company alone who gave ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ a run for their money!
The desks are set up in endless rows. Clocks are strategically positioned all around the sports hall. There is a faint whiff in the air of floor polish and that general aroma of school which takes you back years.
As the students flock into the hall I can’t help but feel apprehensive for them, their nerves are building and I even start the question myself if I have enough spare pens or if I have been to the toilet!
Human behaviour never ceases to amaze me and it is no different under exam conditions. As I stroll the rows seating 100 anxious students I can’t help but notice the random objects that feature on their desks. As expected there are a variety of pens, highlighters, fluffy pink pencil cases and novelty rubbers but it is the other items which attract my attention. Good luck charms in the form of shiny stones, small cartoon figures and even a bottle of essential oil. It is vital to keep yourself hydrated throughout an examination session and the students have an array of interesting water bottles but I have never in my life seen anyone drink from a pickled onion jar before today.
Most students are sporting the general jeans and t-shirt combo but we also have several people wearing winter coats zipped up to their chin and snow hats. There must be a serious fluctuation in temperature in the room as someone 4 rows back has removed their socks and shoes.
As the papers are handed out – one by one – face down on the table there is a chorus of knuckle cracking and some students are even going through meditation rituals. Once the instructions are relayed across the hall regarding toilet breaks, emergency exits and time allocation, we hear the words everyone has been waiting for….. “your time starts now”. Good luck everyone.
As a business owner and working mother my weekends usually consist of watching my little girls in their swimming lessons while checking work emails, going out on for family fun days with my mind on planning the working week ahead around after school activities and relaxing on an evening with one eye on the television and the other on my Facebook news feed. I know I am certainly not alone in managing this manic existence where the person at the centre of this crazy hub of multitasking often feels forgotten and invisible. Continue reading
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