The time has come and your dream holiday is just about to start. You have a one in a years’ time chance for full relaxation – are you going to take it? Or maybe waste it, quite easily? Will you change your place for real, or only physically, thinking on and on about your work? Here are some thoughts and remarks of an Executive Search consultant on how to rest fully on holiday. And what mistakes you’d better not make.
Executive Search employees – how to lose control
The first one may be taking your company laptop with you. Surprisingly many employers do so, checking their inboxes daily. Some of them even answer their emails in places like the beach or the swimming pool. Many also feel they should answer the phone when the boss or the colleague is calling. Or the very important client. Or… The call of duty or the fear of being sacked? Whatever the reason, it’s definitely not a good idea to work when vacationing.
Also, despite experts explain you won’t rest going away for one week only, many choose a vacation like that. What they should understand is that everybody needs a good rest. This holds true regardless of their positions, and whether they use their minds or hands to earn money. Executive Search consultants are no exception here, of course. But this also applies to people responsible for various HR areas, like RPO, Interim Recruitment, or Employer Branding.
Especially employees working in a hectic environment, like headhunters engaged in IT Recruitment, may feel a huge tension daily. There is no doubt that the Executive Search on the IT/Telco market is a very demanding piece of bread. And no matter how much they love their jobs they definitely should recharge the batteries from time to time.
But how to do it properly? Let’s see what an experienced Executive Search consultant has to say about the truly relaxing holiday. What we definitely need to do is to curb own mind, because it may easily take over our actions. Just don’t be too harsh to yourself; thinking that we’re not resting right may be very exhausting…
How to rest right? First-hand report and some advice by the Executive Search consultant
The vacation – relaxation but first comes huge stress related to everything you need to do before you go. What you should take into consideration is your ability to clear your mind and leave everything job-related behind you. Of course for a few days only, I don’t expect more 🙂 What I can assure you is that only people who decide to abandon their work-related thoughts can experience relaxation. Unfortunately, only a handful of workers do it for real.
What are the common mistakes both employees and bosses usually make during their days off away? Usually, the first days of our much-desired holidays make us feel like teenagers again. Excited with our ID card just being received, and overwhelmed with boundless joy… unfortunately, only for a while. Why doesn’t it last too long? Well, it actually ends up when, for the first time, you feel the urge to check your company inbox.
And that’s how the nightmare begins. With all those chaotic thoughts and nagging fears, our existential crisis is just about to start. What we tend to think about are all the things we need to deal with when we get back. Often, we also keep thinking and worrying about if we’ll be able to do everything on time. Then the next phase comes when we briefly consider never going back to that work again.
What seems to be more tempting? Well, there are plenty of possibilities. The Polish Ambassador to Zimbabwe? A professional burger eater or beer tester? Or maybe a diving equipment rental owner on a paradise beach? Too bad we don’t know how to dive, but hey, the sky is the limit, right? Finally, when we are ready to start a dream job, we realize that the vacation is over.
The clash with the office reality
Unfortunately, all those beautiful dreams have to stay in your head, at least until the next summer. And you are just about to clash with the everyday office reality. But it’s not going to be as dramatic as you fear, most probably. It’s because your coming back to work is not such a big deal as you think. And even if you’ve received thousands of messages, most of them might be spam.
The workload you were supposed to deal with is already managed, probably by your colleague, or some trainee. And some urgent issues that only you can fix will take you, surprisingly, a couple of hours to handle. And then you start to realize that, like everyone else, you’re simply not irreplaceable.
But are you completely useless? Of course, not. Before you start another pointless existential crisis keep in mind that words like replaceable and useless are not synonymous. It actually means that because of all that you have already done, you deserve some rest. So enjoy your holidays – nothing can replace them.
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