New Managers!

As former United States president, Theodore Roosevelt once said, “People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives.” This quote has served as a basis throughout the interview and job assignation process we have gone through over the last few months in The Snack Shack.

As we welcome in our new CEO, Catalina Gutierrez, as well as our CFO (Chief Financial Officer) Rachel Harris, our COO (Chief Operating Officer) Emerson Cliver, our CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) Stacy Bustos, and yours truly, CTO (Chief Technology Officer) Gabe Johnson, we reflect on how meaningful the process of selection has been. Starting with our resumes, we learned how to effectively showcase our own skills and accomplishments in a complementary way, specifically one that could help us explain ourselves in our interview. I specifically remember my personal excitement as I crafted my resume, looking up how to make the best resume possible, how to interview, and how to “win” the race of getting the CEO position. Having a solid resume is one of the most important pieces, if not the most important pieces when applying for a job. Knowing how to write an aesthetically pleasing and easily readable resume is a priceless skill.

In our resumes and interviews, we had to demonstrate that we had the potential to be more than a boss. We had to show that we had the potential to be a leader, to drive, to innovate, and to ultimately inspire.

Our interviews were also an amazing experience. Many businessmen and women from around our La Paz community came to the school and interviewed several kids. This was enriching, as each individual person contributed their own specialization and opinions into who could be our leader. We also had to extensively prepare for the interviews, with a lesson, mock interviews, and assignments on how to make an impact on the interviewer.

The experience was both memorable and meaningful, which is one of the most ideal situations in teaching. We learned, but we were also entertained, and not one person questioned the relevance of what we were doing (that’s a first!), simply because we all knew how relevant and useful every lesson and every assignment was.