What does your typical day look like at Instrumental?
I’m currently working on a set of exciting projects (like interview trainings!) as well as running searches for roles across the board. I’ve learned recently that not context switching too much helps me a ton (also keeps me happier in the day! :)).
Every morning I’ll make a plan on the top 3-4 buckets of work that I want to tackle for the day. It might start with going through open threads on 2-3 particularly important roles. Those open threads could range from following up on candidate requests & questions to pulling together content for a new drip campaign I’m using for outreach!
I might end the day with project work around building a slide-deck for an internal training or creating materials for our hiring managers.
Why did you choose Instrumental?
I’m the most motivated and creative when I’m surrounded by really kind, smart people. When I was going through Instrumental’s interview process, I was really impressed by the quality of questions that the team had planned. I had a lot of fun completing the take-home and really appreciated how much the interview process highlighted critical-thinking skills.
It gave me a flavor of how fun it is to solve really fascinating problems with other talented people in a really safe environment. I’d worked in places with similar types of people but the piece that was always missing was psychological safety. I have that here and I don’t have to worry about what others around me might think if I throw out a half-baked idea. That half-baked idea might be the starter fuel for other ideas that get us to something incredible by the end of a 30-minute meeting. That’s the power of psychological safety.
Tell us one thing people may not know about you.
I’m a highly sensitive person. 15-20% of the human population is born with a slightly more in-tune sensory system and I’m one of them! It means that everything I perceive in my environment is a lot stronger than the average person (hearing, smell, etc.).
It has made work harder for me in the past because I’m constantly taking in stimuli and work environments where I can focus on the business challenges rather than politics, make me tremendously more effective.
I just wanted to put this out there in case there are other HSPs looking for a great place to work! This is a wonderful spot. 🙂
Since joining Instrumental, what has been your favorite memory working here?
We’re an office that really loves plants and over the pandemic, unfortunately we lost some of them despite our team watering them quite diligently! We turned this problem into a fun event and had many of our team-members come into the office to pot a new batch of beautiful plants.
My favorite memories actually all involve times that I really felt part of a team – another moment of that kind was actually our office move to our new Cal Ave. location. The full team came together and we had 5 committees that planned everything from organization to decor. We actually have some really incredible AI-generated art in our office!
What is your favorite Instrumental Slack Channel and why?
Our most active channel at Instrumental is our #we-love-to-read channel and we’ve been consistently holding book club meetings every month for over a year now. We’ve read everything from fast-paced thrillers to inspirational non-fiction. I think my favorite book we’ve read so far was The Boys in the Boat.
It’s an incredible story of an American college rowing team that made it to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. To this day, our Instrumental team will sometimes use rowing metaphors because of how powerful/inspiring reading about this team was!
What do you like most about your job?
I really enjoy my work currently because of how diverse & rich it is, while feeling truly impactful. It also gives me a sense of meaning because I’m living out my primary values – building real, authentic relationships, helping others, and building a truly inclusive environment. I’ve found that a lot of companies say they’re inclusive without following through on the tiny micro-behaviors that make that real (e.g. making sure everyone has time to give thoughts in meetings!). I see these small things happen naturally in my everyday work environment.
I’m constantly impressed and in awe of the level of transparency & integrity with which our executive team operates. It also makes everything I do worth it when I know new hires will be coming into such an inspiring environment.
