Anne Bothá is a recruiter for Ernst & Young: the international consultancy firm is constantly seeking executives for clients across a wide range of sectors. The 29-year-old HR professional is increasingly inviting her interviewees to business centres rather than hotels or, for example, Deutsche Bahn lounges.
For Bothá, the reasons are obvious: “I have a completely different level of privacy in business centres than in public spaces such as hotel lobbies. There, anyone at the next table can eavesdrop. What’s more, just as in many Deutsche Bahn business lounges – I’ll just mention the DB Lounge at Berlin Central Station as an example – you’re literally sitting in a glass box: anyone walking past can see who’s talking to whom. I often have clients who, thanks to their media presence, have a certain celebrity status and do not want to be recognised whilst they’re exploring new career options.”
Furthermore, according to Bothá, business centres offer a completely different atmosphere: “In a business centre, you’re left undisturbed; the conversation isn’t constantly interrupted by service staff such as waiters. In the past, people often met in restaurants for an initial, informal exchange of ideas: it was often noisy there, you were seen – and there were uninvited listeners there too. In business centres such as COLLECTION, you can enjoy a luxurious, completely private atmosphere – where conversations focus much more intensely on business matters rather than the salad dressing. This also means you get to the point much more quickly. “I can hold three or four meetings in a single morning at the business centre – that level of efficiency is unthinkable elsewhere.”
Of course, economic considerations also play a part. Dr Andre Helf, CEO of the COLLECTION Group, explains: “Our clients have realised that renting office space at short notice to conduct job interviews is significantly more cost-effective than having to book hotel conference rooms for a whole day – hotels often involve additional costs such as compulsory overnight stays or catering. None of that applies with us. We offer our rooms in the required size and for the required duration – even on an hourly basis. If the space is no longer needed, it costs nothing. Absolute discretion is, for us, a matter of course and a commitment we owe to our tenants and their visitors.”
In addition to these factors, Anne Bothá also values the professional setting offered by business centres: “Career discussions are exclusively work-related. In hotel rooms where there are beds scattered about, in restaurants where so much revolves around food, or in railway lounges with a rather grubby feel, there’s often simply an uncomfortable atmosphere. COLLECTION has a truly unique selling point thanks to the class and facilities of its centres.”
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