So I got used to the first day of school, waiting for the squinty eye cue to stop the teacher and correct the pronunciation. The next step in the evolution of my name was ordering food at a restaurant.

Most do not give this a second thought, unless you're at Starbucks because they get everyone's name wrong, but for me, this became a longer conversation than I wanted it to be.

It would go like this, "Can I get a name for this order?" and I would answer "Nery." After a pause, the questions would begin, "where are you from?" "Is that your real name?" "What is it short for?" It was entertaining at first, but after it continued to happen I just wanted to get a chicken sandwich without having to tell someone my origin story.

This is when I became Sam, sometimes.

To be continued...

I recently had a recruiter friend send me an email with an article on millennials. It outlined some pros and cons of characteristics within the generation(including you if you’re born between 1980-2000), and advised employers on “how to hire and deal with them.” He requested my thoughts on the matter, and probably won’t do this again, since he unknowingly struck a nerve and I wrote a small novel back. I summarize it below:

“Working and hiring for a company almost 100% run and staffed by millennials has taught me a lot about the truth of my generation. I can't deny that a lot of millennials are self absorbed and need recognition, but I could say that about people of all ages!

In particular, interviewing gives me the awesome chance to meet people of all walks of life. I love discovering what makes each candidate tick. I do not discriminate on age, but I've often wondered why the people we actually end up hiring are indeed millennials, so I find myself putting thought into this frequently.

At least for the SlideBelts culture, being a young and agile company, we need minds that are committed to the bigger picture of the company - ‘the purpose’ as that article referred to. The day to day here can be crazy. We can be going a million miles in one direction, and the complete opposite direction the next day, but it's what has made us so successful thus far. We're willing to try new things, and we're not afraid to fail along the way....workers that say things like "that's not in my job description" or like to stay in their box, just don't cut it here.

We need people on our team that are excited about that fast paced growth, and oftentimes we find that most within the Millennial Generation.

So to conclude, I think the best strategy for utilizing millennials is to attract, harness, and use for good their passion for their purpose while it's alive and kicking. This passion is not restricted to millennials either by any means. I've seen it in people of all ages. In fact, one of the things that bothers me most is to meet someone ‘stuck’ in a job they're not passionate about. And that's what I run into a lot with people of all different generations. A lot of times they're unwilling to take that risky chance to pivot and find something they really love…”

Hopefully you can take this rant today and be proud of being a millennial, or at least have some ammo for when people fall into the stereotypical views of them. Sorry for the novel (:

winter clings to us
even through our brightest days.
push on, beckons the sun

adventure is more
about who we are with than
where we are ourselves

we, adventurers,
crossing bridges to nowhere
only to find...