In Thomas L. Friedman’s article, How to Get a Job at Google, he discusses an interview with Laszlo Bock, the senior vice president of people operations for Google. Friedman shares some of Bock’s insight about what he looks for when considering hiring an employee at Google. Bock explains that an individual’s grades or college degrees are not the first thing he looks for. According to Bock, the “proportion of people without any college education at Google has increased over time”. The skills that Bock looks for include cognitive ability, the ability to be a member of a team who knows when to step up and when to step down, humility, and ownership. I try to facilitate activities in my classroom that allow students room to develop these skills. Therefore, I do feel that I am preparing my students to get a job at Google or one of the thousands of other jobs that require employees to work in teams. During group tasks, team members hold each other accountable. Teams work together to solve investigations and I often call on a student at random to share their groups’ ideas. Also, students frequently participate in student presentations. These presentations allow students to practice speaking in front of a large group. Also, presentations help students to practice “processing on the fly”, another skill mentioned in the article. After presentations, the rest of the class is expected to ask questions and the presenter(s) take charge of the activity by calling on their peers. I would say that Google’s philosophy is aligned very closely with mine. I want to help my students to become excellent communicators so that they can thrive in the job market. I want students to understand the value in their own opinion as well as the opinions of others. Also, I really want students to understand that it is okay to be wrong. They need to be able to fail without being defeated. Students will fail at tasks. What is important is that they understand that they can get back up!
Here is the link to the article I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Here is the link to the article I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!