What Is Being Said ABout You?

I am always struck by the ability of some people to conduct business conversations on a cell phone in a crowded public space.

Before cell phones became the norm, there was the story of the business man on a subway train in London who was being rather noisy with his 'calls' to clients etc. Until someone in the carriage had a heart problem and a passenger asked to borrow the mans cell phone to call the emergency services - turned out the cell phone was not even connected!

I was on the train coming out of Toronto last week and was sitting across from such a loud person. He probably is not aware that he is that loud but pretty much the whole compartment could hear all his conversations - I guess an accepted practice nowadays - we live with it.

What was more concerning for some of the people on the other end of the phone was that he was a headhunter who was asking very personal questions and then the follow up calls were to potential hiring managers where he was detailing who the person was, who they were working for, how much they were making and what he thought the client could hire them for in terms of package!

If you were that candidate how excited are you by the fact that 35 other people now know who you are, where you work and how much you make?

Posted by Paul Copcutt

Photo originally uploaded by Michelle Hill

I am always struck by the ability of some people to conduct business conversations on a cell phone in a crowded public space.

Before cell phones became the norm, there was the story of the business man on a subway train in London who was being rather noisy with his 'calls' to clients etc. Until someone in the carriage had a heart problem and a passenger asked to borrow the mans cell phone to call the emergency services - turned out the cell phone was not even connected!

I was on the train coming out of Toronto last week and was sitting across from such a loud person. He probably is not aware that he is that loud but pretty much the whole compartment could hear all his conversations - I guess an accepted practice nowadays - we live with it.

What was more concerning for some of the people on the other end of the phone was that he was a headhunter who was asking very personal questions and then the follow up calls were to potential hiring managers where he was detailing who the person was, who they were working for, how much they were making and what he thought the client could hire them for in terms of package!

If you were that candidate how excited are you by the fact that 35 other people now know who you are, where you work and how much you make?

Posted by Paul Copcutt

Photo originally uploaded by Michelle Hill