Anne Bothá is a human resources specialist with Ernst & Young, an international counseling company. She is constantly searching top executives for clients from various business branches. The 29-year old prefers to invite her interviewees to business centers for discussions on career perspectives, rather than hotel lobbies or lounges of German rail or airports.
She explains why: „In business centers, there is a lot more privacy than in publicly accessible places like hotel lobbies or lounges. Anyone lurking around can eavesdrop there and listen in on conversations. Besides, those places have all the charme of a glass box in the middle of the public eye – quite literally, if I may cite the location of Deutsche Bahn’s business lounge at Berlin main station as an example. Anyone passing by there can see who talks to whom. Very often, the people I meet with are well-known because of their presence in the media – and they very certainly don’t want their discussions about career options to become public knowledge.“
Besides, business centers offer a much more appreciative atmosphere of professionalism, according to Bothá: „No one disturbs your conversation when you are in an office at a business center, you don’t have constant interruptions by waiters or other service people. Up until a few years ago, exploratory meetings were often held at restaurants – many of which had intolerable noise levels, and it was as if one had to step onto a public stage. Plus, there were many unwanted listeners. At places like COLLECTION business centers, the environment is luxurious and private: conversations immediately revolve around business issues and not questions regarding the dressing of a salad. A much more productive way to reach results. I can easily schedule three or four meetings at a business center during one morning session – this kind of efficiency is inconceivable elsewhere.“
Economic reasoning plays another major role in shifting from public venus to business centers. Dr André Helf, CEO of COLLECTION Group, explains: „Our customers have concluded that short term leasing of offices in order to conduct career planning talks and job interviews provide huge cost savings over the alternatives, like renting hotel conference rooms. Those old-fashioned options often come with additional strings attached, such as overnight booking obligations or mandatory catering services. Nothing like that exists at our business centers. We offer offices with customized sizes and leasing times – for as short as an hour if that´s all it takes. Once spaces are not used any more, they won´t cost anything anymore. For COLLECTION Business Centers, it is a matter of course to service our clients and their visitors with absolute discretion.“
On top of all those factors, Anne Bothá favors business centers because of their ambience: „Job interviews are business conversations. Nothing else. Hotel rooms with beds within view, restaurants with culinary pretense, railroad and airport lounges with considerable grease problems, drafty hotel conference rooms – all those venues often create quite unsavory atmospheres. COLLECTION Business Centers with their style, class and efficiently equipped offices combined with their top-of-the line professionalism are definitely the best choice for my endeavors.“
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