I Wish My Manager Knew
Last week, a third-grade teacher’s attempts to get to know her students better went viral. The students come from low-income families, and their teacher, Kyle Schwarts, wanted to understand their struggles, aspirations, and lives. So, she gave them a writing prompt, “I wish my teacher knew…” where the students were asked to fill in the blank. The anonymous responses were heartwarming and gut-wrenching.
HR Industry thought leader Paul Herbert saw the story and thought that this applies to kids and humanity in general. In his blog, he notes that the workforce has the same issue. People don’t feel comfortable sharing personal stories about their everyday challenges. So, he encourages people to think about opening the lines of communication and starting to think about prompting the question, “I wish my manager knew…”
Putting a little creativity in your job search
Are you sick of submitting resumes online and never getting a response back? Nina Mufleh feels your pain. She wanted a job at Airbnb and tried every method to contact the HR department with no luck. Instead of feeling defeated, she put her creative hat on and developed an online resume identical to the Airbnb website. As a transplant from the Middle East, Nina focused on Airbnb’s slow growth in the Middle East and how she’s the right person to build their presence. She submitted the new resume and tweeted her report to the co-founders. They immediately saw the tweets, quickly set an interview, and she landed the gig. Ingenious!