Working nine to five, what a way to make a living...

Dolly Parton famously sang the lines;

"Working nine to five what a way to make a livingBarely getting by it's all taking and no givingThey just use your mind and they never give you creditIt's enough to drive you crazy if you let it..."

The song 'Nine to Five' is recognised around the world, an anthem, one of those songs you can't help but find yourself signing along with. The words typically ring true to the stereotypical office but times are changing, the world is evolving and I'm not sure that it actually always applies anymore... certainly the stereotype 9-5 jobs are few and far between. It seems that most organisations expect a certain level of flexibility and/or work slightly outside of these core hours, 7 till 4, 8.30 till 5.30 + overtime, 10 till 6 etc. But just because the standard 9 to 5 office job is slowly becoming a thing of the past, in my view, that's not necessarily a bad thing and it doesn't mean that working in the office environment has to uphold the reputation of being a grey and unexciting workplace.

Now I don't know about you but when I was a kid, a stereotypical office set up was pretty drab and dull. Men and women dressed in just grey or black, sat at their desks like robots, typing, typing, typing till 5pm rolls around and they can clock off.

The reality, however, is far from this bleak and monotonous description... obviously I can't speak for everyone and yes, there probably are a number of offices that still fit into that stereotype, I however have been fortunate to not yet experience that, my reality is often filled with hilarious comments, colourful personalities with interesting styles and outfits to match and endless office gags. Welcome to my world ladies and gents...

Now, I don't want to deceive you all, we do actually do work in my office (of course we do, Keele is one of The Adecco Group's main UK delivery centres where clients often visit and we have a reputation within the company to uphold) but for me it is the environment you work in that adds to the quality of the job. If I were to work somewhere completely boring and conformative, I'd pull my hair out, we knuckle down in our jobs but the ability to have a laugh and a joke with colleagues is something rather quite precious. It is stimulating, I would just switch off if I couldn't talk or laugh during the day.

Now, I'm sure a lot of you have those people around you who say the funniest things, real laugh out loud comments, well I'm surrounded by them (myself included, just ask my team) so to brighten up this irksome and drab Monday morning, I thought I would share some of the best with you...

Mike: ‘Oh Rita, guess what I’ve just seen on Linkedin? Oh no, never mind, it’s come up on my page because you've liked it!’

Vicky: Oh no, I’ve forgot me bladdy water! Lauren: Why did you just turn into someone from Eastenders with that west end accent? Ben: errr Lauren… you know they’re from the east end, hence the name Eastenders!

Vicky: We can decorate the desks like Frozen. I can make a paper mache Elsa and Ana next to her… then we can have the Rudolph the Gandalf as well! Ben: You mean Sven the Reindeer! Gandalf is a Wizard and from a completely different film!

Mike: 'Are we off on the 1st of Jan guys? I’ve just looked at the calendar and it’s greyed out? Team: Queue lots of laughter' Mike: 'Oo of course it’s a bank holiday isn’t it?!'

It's not just funny comments that make my job enjoyable, it helps that I genuinely love working in recruitment and the environment outside of my immediate team is pretty great too. There are some real characters in my office, people with great styles and dress sense, it's not just the bland old grey and black suits, again, times have changed and with that fashion is changing too, professional doesn't mean boring anymore... I think that a splash of colour really does add to the ambiance in an office.

One of the great things about working here is that everything isn't just centred around work, there are other things you can be involved in. We are pretty big on CSR here (CSR stands for Corporate Social Responsibility for those who aren't familiar with the acronym, it's a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model and generally co

vers 3 main areas; Community involvement, Environment actions and Economic growth). We have our own CSR team based in Keele with committee members from a number of the brands (Adecco, Ajilon, Computer People and Pontoon etc.). I personally have been on the Keele CSR committee for the past 3 years, we hold events in alignment with the Adecco Group global sports and CSR initiative, Win4Youth and host a number of charity days/events making sure the whole office gets involved. This year we are approaching it from a different perspective focusing on 3 core areas; clocking Kilometres for Win4Youth, Raising money for The Adecco Group UK&I charity of the year Macmillan and volunteering our time to a local charity Dougie Mac. Anyone can be involved whether it be from a hands on perspective, being on the committee and assisting in the coordination of events, activities and days or if you just want to take a back seat and only take part on the event days then that's cool too.

Aside from all of this, given that we are a part of the Adecco Group, the opportunities to progress and develop are on a global scale and even though

there are different brands here in Keele, the office itself works really well, everyone is super friendly and it's an inviting place to work. The office is based on the Keele University Business Park and honestly the surroundings are beautiful, lots of greenery and trees, not your typical compact city buildings. Being based on the university campus has it's plus points too; set within 600+ acres of gorgeous countryside means there is plenty to do on lunch breaks (if you take them haha), whether you fancy a nice stroll, a walk down campus to the local Costa Coffee or maybe you'd even want to run down to the gym... just being able to nip outside for a breath of fresh air and space to think is good, especially given today's typical busy lifestyles.

So, if you are looking for your next opportunity or if you just want to work for an organisation that actively promotes development and internal promotions then this may be your next stop, we are expanding and have various open roles. The office generally operates between 8.30 to 5.30 or 9 to 6 and of course given that the industry is recruitment there are occasions where you may want to put extra effort/time in. Check out the Pontoon website for more information. Or just email me directly victoria.jackson@ajilon.co.uk...