The simple truths

It's getting hot and humid in Hong Kong, and every morning when I travel to work, I see the tree tops full of blooming flowers. It's so pretty and wakes me up and makes me thankful for the simple and beautiful things in life that just make you smile easily.

This week, I was again reminded of something, and this was because of a visit from the Regional Manager (Asia Pacific) and Executive Board Member (Randstad). Our Regional Manager has been with Randstad for 25 years and our Executive Board Member has been with Randstad for over 30 years.

We were very privileged to meet our Executive Board Member - Brian Wilkinson. You will not be able to meet the top executives like the CEO in most companies, but this is one of the things about working at Randstad is that the people at the top care about the little people in all the different offices and make the time even if they are in town for just one day, and extremely jet-lagged. :)

To mark the occasion, I even made two simple flower arrangements to put in our offices, and they really made the office space look different, every time I passed by the reception, I would notice how the green stems from the flowers stood out and just looked so simple yet stunning. And the flowers I chose are Hyacinth, and they give such a fragrance, it really filled up our office, which was nice i guess, because a lot of the guys even remarked how nice the flowers are and how nice the office smelled..... hahahaha......

Then we also presented gifts to our Regional Manager and Executive Board Member. In our office, we have a gong that is rung whenever there is any good news, even getting a meeting with a potential client is good news! So we decided to get a mini version of the gong and also a nice stand to hang the gong so that they can keep them in their offices on display. I was able to find these at a traditional Chinese department store in Hong Kong.

So, now let me get to the point of this post. At the end of the day, about half an hour before our Regional Manager had to leave for the airport, we had a "On the Couch with..." session where we can ask the Regional Manager and Executive Board member ANYTHING. And one consultant asked our Regional Manager what recruitment was like 25 years ago, and what she thinks it will be like in the future. And maybe what he was asking was not really what she answered, but I think there's some relation.... she answered that it's really that nothing has changed, the simple truths that were true 25 years ago, still stand true today, and they will still be true in the coming years as well. And these simple truths are that if you are honesty and treat people with dignity and respect, you will do fine as a recruiter and you will also be treated the same way. Also the Randstad values that were decided 50 years ago when the company first started are still the values that we hold today and these are also values that I find our company's managers and executive board members all embody in their work and everyday life.

I'm proud to work at Randstad because of these simple truths and values that are upheld each day in our office.

And I hope these flowers are able to cheer you on for the day!