When I played High School football many years ago, we had a regular routine as our team bus pulled into our opponents parking lot. Once the bus stopped you would hear someone yell “LOCK & LOAD!!” meaning put your helmets on and get ready!

You might be asking yourself…what does this have to do with headsets?? Well, spending most of my life in phone sales this became a part of the routine again and after a high-energy pre-shift I would shout out “Lock & Load!”

The alignment here is a psychological one to get yourself locked in and ready to make something happen. It was the “lock and load” state of mind that will give you the intensity and confidence to speak to new people and create opportunity. Much like we do in Headhunting every day.

So, here it is my headset review of 3 options I have used extensively. “What’s that you say?” “You don’t use a headset??” “Why not?!”

I think first off, if you are not creating a hands-free environment while you are calling you will suffer from longer duration between calls, momentum will slow and most importantly you will never feel that “Lock & Load” feeling to dial yourself in for the day. No pun intended.

So now you are thinking, “I need a headset!” Which one to buy??

1. Blue Parrot– If you know a trucker, this is the headset they swear by. With the intense rumble coming from an 18-wheeler, this headset surely flexes its noise cancelling muscle.

I have used this headset for over a year with great success. The noise cancelling is exceptional to the point where some people ask if I’m still there. Voice quality is decent and the adjustable boom microphone can be moved further or closer to your mouth depending on your environment. Where this headset falls short is on looks. If you are a “fashion forward out and about person” this headset can look a little silly around town.

The design has never changed and has the look and feel of one of those old headsets you had with your “Walkman”, yes I said “Walkman”, surely dating myself.

So, all in all the performance of this headset is exceptional, it just lacks the cosmetic appeal a lot of its competitors possess. Battery life is outstanding! No problem lasting a full day on the phone

2. Plantronics Voyager Legend HD UC – Now, this is a slick looking headset. It fits nicely on the ear (you can wear it all day) and is very discreet. So discreet that I think everyone at the grocery store thinks I’m that crazy guy that talks to himself and no one can ever tell if you are on the phone or not, which is common with all headsets to a degree.

Being truly “MOBILE” this headset has some nice features such as voice answering which is handy when a call comes through, it tells you who is calling and asks you “Answer or Ignore”, a truly great feature for heavy multitasking.

When it works that is! The CareerBrokers at my office regularly hear me screaming “ANSWER!” and a few swear words when I miss the call. This annoyance is outweighed on the convenience as this feature does work fine most of the time.

Noise cancelling is ok and it tends to be more susceptible to interference overall. It does have its bad days as well as great days. The sensors in this headset work great and you can answer calls just by putting it on and has an easy button to find for answering another line or hanging up.

If this sounds like the one for you I strongly advise getting the charging case with it as it has saved me a few times. One last thing, this model functions excellent across many operating systems and programs. I use it on a MAC, PC, Skype, Skype for business and GOTO Meeting.

3. Apple Wired Headset – The good old wired Apple headset! Hey, if it is good enough for Gary V then its good enough for me! Well. Sort of.

Don’t get me wrong sound quality is exceptional and you will never have pairing issues as you just plug it in and go. However, I did take a while to go completely wireless as I do a lot of speaking on webinars and such and my voice quality is most important factor to me.

When I finally did “cut the cord” it was literal, meaning I went through many headsets and phones from the cord being ripped out or me dropping my phone. You know what they say “motion creates emotion” and if you are a pacer you are probably better off with wireless solution. If you are quite stationary and voice quality is most important to you then this headset could be a great fit and it usually comes with your device so the costs is best as well and you never need to charge it.

That about sums it up! My main point to this is USE A HEADSET! It will change your game, make you more productive and give you the freedom to card a candidate at the grocery store, but be aware these devices have a downside as well, they can turn you into a workaholic.

Next Headset review will be the New Apple wireless. Have any of you tried it yet?

So, what did you do with your summer?

Did you kick back and relax? Or did you vacation at your desk while others were enjoying the sun? Or did you manage to close deals and write up new business all while sipping Mojitos off the end of the dock? Whatever you made of your summer, hopefully, you are not chasing your tail and behind the eight ball on all the new business you need to finish off with what’s left of Q3 and end the year with better billings then last year. If you are the latter well then “lock & load”, smile and dial and hopefully there are some scraps left for you! Those that enjoyed the Mobile lifestyle in the recruitment industry are surely already ahead of the game and ready to fill all those orders that they picked up over the summer. The end of Q3 will be filled with bells ringing while those chained to a desk are still hitting the bricks.

As we all get back into our routines I am not going to do my usual singing from the mountain tops about being Mobile because it is not complete without one other very important element…..we will get to that in a minute. The picture you see above was taking from the top of “La Roche” trail in Parc Mont Tremblant in Quebec, Canada. For years now I have been progressively exposing my children to more challenging adventures in nature AND no cellular signal, essentially, “off the grid”. Well, all the “mobility” in the world will not do you a lick of good deep in the Laurentians. Being “off the grid” in our world can be scary especially if you have deals still on the table and it is very common for us as CareerBrokers to close deals on our vacations because of the mobility we enjoy. On this trip, I was fortunate enough to close one of the largest deals of my career WITHOUT wifi or a cell signal.

How you ask?

Back to that other very important element which facilitated this billing opportunity…..COLLABORATION! Mobility is enhanced by collaboration. I can be the best Mobile/Remote recruiter but by myself I am just a “Lone Ranger” and will never really reach my true billing potential. That adage of “Many hands make for light work” couldn’t be truer in the world of headhunting. Having a strong team to rely on not only helps with that elusive 3rd candidate on a tough search or in my case, closing a deal while you are off the grid because you have a strong reliable team to lean on.

This will be my 10th year as a professional Head-hunter and 2 things still boggle my mind in this industry. 1. No barrier of entry (another topic for another day) AND 2. Lack of collaboration. There tends to be too many egos in this industry to create a truly collaborative environment. However, our collaborative community at The Staffing Exchange miss second to none. Our CareerBrokers collaborate every day to maintain an edge in our industry with 90% of billings happening by way of….COLLABORATION. I am inviting you to stay tuned for a series of information sessions I will be hosting in the coming weeks for our Fall training session in October. If you want to work smarter and not harder, “Get Connected!” and take yourself up to the next level by becoming a Career Broker!