Working Remotely – An Interview with Hannah Luhde-Thompson Hannah Luhde-Thompson is a senior recruitment consultant with Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment. She has been working for the company since 2007 and before this was with the Legal Services Commission. She is an experienced business adviser as well as a recruitment consultant.
Q: Tell us about your role with Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment.
A: I am a senior recruitment consultant with the company and work remotely from my office near to Denbigh in North Wales. I have flexible hours that vary according to my own available time.
Q: How does this work?
A: Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment has servers with all the software on I need to use, and I simply log on to work.
Q: How do clients and candidates get hold of you?
A: I am often available via email, but also our head office can pass through messages. We use a package called Eclipse, which logs all our telephone calls, emails, faxes and records which means that my colleagues at the head office can immediately see what is happening and give real time feedback to any callers.
Q: Do you enjoy working like this?
A: It has its ups and downs. Because I work flexible hours sometimes candidates and clients get a bit frustrated when trying to get hold of me. However it suits me as I live in quite a remote valley on a smallholding, and commuting to work would be a massive headache.
Q: What main benefits can you see for a law firm working in a similar way?
A: Flexible staffing. If you have a lawyer, for example in wills & probate, why do they need to be in your office? Do you really need to spend the money on providing them with office space, or could they do the majority of their work from home? This is what Ten-Percent decided a long time ago – there is no reason for a recruitment consultant to be sat in an office sending emails or making phone calls, when they can do the same from home. The important thing is to have regular meetings so that people do not lose touch with each other.