2 dec 2020
Reactie van Square One Prep
4yI trained this individual face-to-face for 20+ hours and reviewed his homework, which he had every day to learn the role. On day 1, we agreed that by the end of two weeks he should be ready to review resumes and essays. The job was to review resumes and essays. This individual had an MFA in creative writing, and had applied for the job which was expressly to review resumes and essays. He had reviewed essays and resumes as part of the interview and done well. He had also worked for an organization helping people build college applications for years. So I was ready to have to do heavy training on resumes, as college applicants don't build resumes. I did not think I'd have to do a ton of training on essays, but I was ready to if necessary.
During our time together, I got to know him; I learned about his family, the book he was writing, the titles he was considering, and his friends. I cared about him. After two weeks, we discussed the fact that he was struggling. He was embarrassed, saying he wished he was developing the skill, but that he was not. I told him that I can't have him review resumes, even though the agreed upon goal was that after two weeks he would take over that part of the role. I told him to not worry, that I would continue reviewing resumes for 1-2 more weeks. I explained that he really must start to help with essays. I'd hoped. as did he, that this would go better, that he'd rebuild esteem. He began to fail to do his homework, to study how to build strong essays. I continued to train him. I tried to be supportive and told him the skill would come. He even sent me an email saying that the work coming to him was bad, that he didn't expect to have to edit so much. I asked him if he was reading my edits so that when the work went to him a second time he'd feel more prepared. He said "I always read what you send back to partnerships out of selfish curiosity haha" He didn't grasp that it was his job. Still, I remained hopeful. Just as I was getting to know him, he was getting to know me .
He could see that I would always step in and do the work if he did not. He could see that I cared about him. He even shared with me details about his humble upbringing, which I told him was inspiring; he'd really fought hard to secure an offer to a great college and build the life he had. One reason I hired him was because he said he'd helped folks build college applications through an organization that works with less privileged folks; he wanted them to have the same opps he's created for himself. I want people on our team who genuinely care about helping others succeed. It's important. Learning this led me to be more patient with him, and more hopeful.
He could also see that I care about my company and our clients, that I will not let anything stop us from helping clients craft the best work possible, succeed. If that meant I'd have to do this job for him for a little longer, ok. To be clear, he and I both believed he would be able to perform in the role - reviewing both essays and essays - after two weeks of training. These were our mutual expectations. After three weeks, I was growing concerned.
My Chief and Staff and I agreed that we must entrust him, try to give him the responsibility to see if he would begin to find his footing and own the very precise role . We agreed that I was paying him to do nothing. He had stopped doing homework and was not showing up for training. She and I were trying to do all we could to empower him.
Please note that there were thousands of samples he could review. There were guidelines he could reference, and I'd trained him personally face-to-face for 20+ hours and offered to spend as much time with him as he needed.
As our Chief of Staff managed file flow, she was in regular tough with him. She asked him, given he was struggling and no longer keen to train face-to-face, if he was taking the initiative to study on his own. This individual replied "My week wasn't busy with SOP work (although I've had essays to review, including Xxx's post-interview essay as you know), but it was jam packed with author duties. I organized and led a panel that took place Wednesday and editing my book is an every day job."
He had made a commitment to do this job. We were paying him, and he was not spending time trying to learn the role. He was focusing on his book. His first day was Oct 13. This was on October 31.
On Nov 10, I asked him to stop reviewing resumes. He simply could not do them. On Nov 12 we met again at the office and I explained that we need to part ways. He shared how embarrassed he was and asked for one more shot. I agreed to it. The next four days, I saw improvement in that he was at least sending files to me within 24 hours of receiving them, and making comments/edits that I could work with on essays. I could see his effort and appreciated it. I told him that. But then he became unengaged again, spending 5-10 minutes in a file that I'd then spend 40+ minutes in. He was supposed to be the Lead Editor. I was meant to be the final reviewer, not the primary editor. I REALLY needed the help and wanted to believe in his ability to perform in the role. I continued to offer feedback and support.
On Nov 18, he admitted in email, after I offered him feedback on an essay review, that he had not looked at any samples - there were more than 30 of that exact essay prompt. Yet, he'd not looked at even one.
On Nov 24, he wrote the following to our Chief of Staff when she commented on the quality of his reviews on Nov 23, "It's been a rough week but I don't want to make excuses. From now on I'm going to read everything Kathryn sends back to partnerships. I'm also going to read sample essays before editing the new essays that come in. I also won't send anything past the 24 hour mark. I'm sorry I haven't been living up to my potential. I understand your concern."
His behavior did not change on that day or the next day. We let him go on Nov 25 at 7pm.
In the time he was here, 237 files were sent to him, when we told him to expect 500. He was paid for that anticipated flow. Our COS forwarded 49 of those files to me because they were resumes. 38 additional files were forwarded to me because this young individual was either past the 24 hour mark, missing an agreed upon time to do a special review, or had illustrated an inability in a prior review of a file to offer the appropriate editing lens. So 87 files of the 237 sent to this young man went unreviewed by him. More than 1/3. Those that did go this young man had to be re-reviewed by me. All of them. I didn't know any of this at the time. Only our COS had that kind of pulse on file flow. I was merely doing whatever needed to be done to support our clients, and him.
One night, we explicitly said that he needed to stay up to review an essay that was due the next day as a client had 24 hours to build and submit an essay post an HBS interview. The full team was coordinated - the advisor, COS, him, and me. He even know what time to expect the file - he and I were given a 2 hour window. When the file was sent to this young man during that two hour window, he didn't review it. I emailed him several times asking....finally. I took the file and conducted the review. That file was then built further by the team and came back to me that night. I stayed up until 1am, as did the rest of the team, to support the client. He was asleep.
When I said it was time to sever ties, he said: "I want to be completely honest. I don't think I have what it takes to do this job….........I can review files for as long as you need, though of course I understand if you rather just review them directly from now on. Let me know the timeline and I'll comply."
I was supportive and didn't want him to feel any worse. Despite what he just said, he offered to stay as long as we wanted him to. He was happy to keep getting paid, even though he knew you wouldn't be earning those wages given he'd just admitted he was incapable of doing the job. He'd already been with us 40+ days and not earned wages due to his constant insubordination (not doing homework, training, and missing deadlines), all of which is documented, as is his appreciation that so many files were sent to me, bypassing him. None of his struggles were due to a lack of effort, patience, and decency on Square One's part.
Even when we let him go, we tried to do it with decency, saying: "Please don't be embarrassed. It's ok. I do agree that something isn't clicking for you and that, unfortunately, the role just is not right for you as much as we like you and wish the fit was there. Although I really need some support, I think it's best to stop torturing you. So let's just have today be your last day."
Are his words those of someone who feels he was exploited, or for whom the expectations were too great? Do my words appear to be those of someone who was racist and demanded too much?
We cared about him. We didn’t want to highlight everything I am now at peace with highlighting here. We reduced his pay because he didn’t earn the wages. We were sure, based on what he'd said, that he was going to feel that was generous. He didn't do the work, willfully.
On the day we agreed to part ways, this individual who had just said he was embarrassed by how incapable he was to do the role, and shared that he was grateful I was handling it in the manner I was, didn't bother to review the 7 files still in his possession that day, But he wanted to get paid for that day too.
We treated him with care. If he feels ashamed about how poorly he performed in his role at my firm, he should feel worse about his effort to retrieve funds he did not earn from my firm. My Chief of Staff and I did all we could to support him.
We wish him well with future endeavors, and hope his book did well.