Recruiters With Clean Desks Versus Recruiters With Messy Desks

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I'm a clean desk freak! And I'm more than just a little obsessive about it. My wife says I'm Monkish after the obsessive compulsive television detective. For everyone like me there is someone who is the complete opposite. Their desks have piles of paper spilling over onto the floor with not a square inch of visible desktop.

A casual Web search for "clean desk" and "messy desk" yields tons of interesting articles. According to Penelope Trunk in her column The Brazen Careerist, the FBI has known for decades that you can judge someone by their workspace. On the flip-side, Carol Smith reported in the Seattle Post that "A clean desk isn't always the sign of a productive employee" and "In fact, a clean desk can hinder worker efficiency."


So I got to musing. Are the best recruiters clean desk or messy desk recruiters? If you wanted to hire a recruiter, would you choose a clean desk recruiter over a messy desk recruiter? Would you care? Would you even ask? This somewhat flippant idea could have deeper ramifications for effective hiring. What if how someone's desk looked was a key to work style and productivity?
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: ^& z( Z6 S3 L! z- M& KI look forward to your thoughts…