The one item in the workplace that is truly your space to craft into a representation of yourself is your cubicle. What kind of flair you adorn your box with, whether it be plastic plants, trolls, postcards, Chapstick, jars of candy, Avon mags, race car calendars, guitar picks, clippings of Icanhascheezburger, or cheeky quotes is entirely up to you.
As a recruiter I would have loved the opportunity to take a peek at a candidate’s desk before I moved them into the new role for which they were being considered. Unlike the resume, the desk can’t lie. It doesn’t exaggerate, fabricate, or gloss over details.
Instead, the desk reflects the ability of a person to organize and make the most of a small space. It can shed some light on the designer’s ability to win others over with their small display of trinkets, postcards, or meticulously crafted miniature car models. In essence, a cube can be a window to the soul.
After all, we spend a good portion of our day hunkered down in these isolated abodes. Even the word cubicle in Latin means bed chamber. So thus many of us tend to consider our cubes as a home away from home.
There are several different cubicle ‘personalities’ that we could come up with, but here are four groups that come to mind:
1) The Minimalist. He or she doesn’t plan on getting too comfy. The person views their cube strictly as a designated place to work and nothing more. He or she finds the need to pepper cubicle walls with ornaments and platitudes about as enticing as watching the boss attempt to shoot ball after ball into his Nerf basketball hoop. On the desk you’ll find Lysol wipes, hand sanitizer, a couple of Cokes, a few books, and various office supplies.
2) The Office Clown. Next to his Far Side calender, this guy has a drawer full of random party favors to ensure a few giggles throughout the day. There’s the rubber rat that goes under the new girl’s desk, the silly string, the pounds of beef jerky, and a deck of playing cards for some noontime fun.
3) The Lifer. This one’s been here long enough to remember when said company consisted of three workers huddled around a wood burning stove working by firelight. His or her cube is chock full of mounds of paper trails, three different chairs, enough color-coordinated folders to stock an Office Depot, party supplies from an era long ago, a random baby car seat, org charts that date back to the late 80s, and a battered boom box that only plays tapes by bands named after cities like Boston and Berlin.
4) The Perfectionist. There’s one in every office. Course certificates and degrees are meticulously framed and tacked to the walls beneath glowing recommendations from past colleagues. A calendar of serene beaches is exposed to the correct month with birthdays and reminders carefully penciled in to each relevant date. A set of carved ceramic figurines keep a vigilant watch over the three locked drawers that hold paperwork, both relevant and superfluous, all alphabetized and filed to provide easy access.
But of course not everyone falls into these categories. What would your desk say about you?
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