An Open Letter to My Previous Employer

This is my open letter to my past employer.?

I will save some of you the time and let you know up front that this isn’t the salacious exciting tell-all that you might have thought it would be when you clicked on this post, sorry if I got your hopes up! Realistically, no one is reading this, and writing this is just a way for me to process my emotions about leaving. And also to make sure that when things get difficult in the future, I remember what it was like to be a young woman with way more hopes and dreams than skills, trying to find my place in the world.

In the age of “The Great Resignation”, every social media post you see seems to be someone talking about leaving the “toxic work environments” where they were never appreciated or overworked. My experience as a part of the Aimbridge Family was anything but. Rather, I’d like to tell my story to encourage other aspiring professionals or soon to be college grads that were just like me, that there is light at the end of the job search tunnel.

I met Aimbridge when I was a sophomore in college studying hospitality. Jamelia Lehn, Kevin Detz, Elaine Jiang, and a few others came into my Hospitality Financial Accounting class with Jeff Britain at UNT. It was about halfway through the semester, I had started really taking a liking to the financial side of hospitality management, and to be honest, I had been considering leaving the major to study accounting. (Thank goodness, I did not do this) I remember being incredibly inspired by this group of professionals; they were from all different cultures, departments, walks of life, and levels in the organization. They spoke about being a part of the type of company that had people from all over the world, multi-generational, every gender, every race. And this was certainly the case – I even remember a day in the office where I recall hearing Spanish, Czech, French from the Congo, and Mandarin all being spoken in the common space. As a college student I had made it my mission in college to make active choices to surround myself with people who were different from me so I could grow as a person – and I found that with Aimbridge.?

I started as an Intern with Aimbridge in the accounting department. If I’m being honest, this was total chaos and I’m so glad they have completely improved this program – shout out to Grant Stout and Angie Abston who have been so diligent with this! Regardless of my experience as an intern, I remember vividly as my stress was reaching a breaking point, that Kevin Detz pulled me aside and let me know that they would definitely have a place for me post grad. I was one of those “I had a bunch of majors until I found hospitality” people, so I had a summer graduation date. Late in the summer, I received my offer from Aimbridge to be an Accounting Analyst. I graduated college on a Thursday and had a full time salaried role on a Friday – it was every college kid’s dream.

The learning curve was real, but thankfully I had the most incredible trainer (Thanks Vicente) and a truly one of a kind manager, Cleo Benjamin.?

To Cleo, you did not have to be as kind and welcoming as you were. I remember many times you going above the call of duty to care for your team, going to bat for us, and encouraging us. I also remember getting sick for the first time and you and Laura bringing me soup and medicine to my apartment. I can honestly say that if it wasn’t for you, I would not have the career I do today.?

To aspiring accounting professionals, if there is ever a spot open to work with Cleo at Aimbridge, it would be the chance of a lifetime and she alone would be a good enough reason to apply.

Although I loved my role in accounting, there was still something missing. I pursued hospitality because of the interpersonal communication and the chance to use my passion to serve in a professional setting. Through Aimbridge’s WLEAD (Women in leadership) program, I was assigned a mentor, Trenice. She was in the HR department. I was very interested in exploring that side of HR and encouraged me to apply to something I was interested in and that she would help me get my information in the right hands.?

To this day, I maintain that they probably would have never interviewed me if I had not been internal (shout out to Aimbridge’s culture of internal promotions). My resume did not read HR or Recruiting Coordinator in the slightest. Nevertheless, they gave me a chance, and I am so glad that they did.?

I count this as my first big risk in my career as it was technically a step down in rank. However, my dad’s voice saying “if you want to be the minimum, do the minimum” was ringing in my head and reminding me that doing even just 15% more than the minimum would make me stand out. I was promoted to a specialist role after just 5 months in my role. Here was where another huge risk came into play:

It was January 2019, I had just been promoted a month prior, and life was good. Aimbridge was about to launch our first official centralized internship program and a highly skilled and experienced woman was going to be leading it, when all of a sudden she decided to retire from her role. I remember having the radical thought, “could I do this?” I had the crazy idea that I would pitch myself to direct this program, and design a program from the eyes of someone who was in those college students’ shoes just a few years prior. I practiced my pitch to three parties – 1st up was my parents. Of course, being the amazing people we are, encouraged me and told me that I could do anything (gotta love the late Gen Z parenting style). I pitched to my friend who cautioned me that I may be in over my head with this and that it may not be a good look to already be trying to get a new job after just being given one. (Where is this friend today you may ask? Well oddly I married him so I guess I forgive him for being a Debbie downer ? ). And finally, my coworker who definitely thought I was crazy, reminded me I had literally just been promoted and finally she said that there may be someone with more experience who also wanted the job. I actually did value everyone’s input and used it in some form or fashion to help refine my pitch, but once I heard the words “someone else might want the job” I knew I had to act fast or not act at all.?

Dear Jason, I don’t know that you were expecting to be bombarded with this pitch from your 23 year old team member, but I could not be more grateful that you took me as seriously as you did. This moment in my career is what has shaped my entire vision of Aimbridge Hospitality and what I proceeded to share around the country in the years that followed. I tell every student in every presentation that if they take nothing else from my story it should be this:

Aimbridge Hospitality is not the kind of company who discredits you for your youth or your inexperience. What they care about is people with ideas and enough energy and drive to get those ideas across the finish line. Period.

Designing the Aimbridge Hospitality Management Internship Program and traveling to hospitality schools around the country will forever be the highlight of my career. I probably loved my job too much in a way that would make me unpopular with my peers in today’s culture. I was invested in my hotels that I partnered with, I cared individually for every one of the students in the program. The travel was tough and managing my recruiting workflow at the same time was difficult, but I knew I was making a difference and that I had the powerhouse of the largest and most successful third party hotel management company behind me. We ran an amazing first summer and we geared up for Summer 2020 to be even better. Fast forward to early 2020.

I was in Kent Ohio at Kent State getting ready to meet with the hospitality students at their annual career fair when all of a sudden an announcement was made over the intercom, “Employers, please refrain from shaking hands with the students”. That was the beginning of the end. The next day was an interview day and the school, naturally, closed. I caught a flight home a couple days later after learning of the rest of the schools closing down.?

My memory of that time is filled with concern for all of the students who had been selected and offered for summer 2020. I remember looking everywhere online to see if companies like Marriott and Hilton were sending out cancellations and praying this would pass quickly. I even went as far as creating a Reddit account and pretending to be interested in Marriott’s Voyager program to see if I could find information from one of their students on any cancellation or emails they had gotten. Of course, eventually hotels pulled out one by one and I learned that the internship would not be happening. Drafting that cancellation email for the students took hours for me and was one of the most difficult moments of my career. I recall thinking “whoa was me – I think this is difficult – imagine what the students must be going through”. And that’s when it hit me – Aimbridge had always shown me that they cared about early talent and investing in students, maybe if I came up with another pitch – I just might be able to save this program and give back to these students.

Each night that I could not sleep, thinking about what it would be like to be a hospitality student right now, I opened up the notes app on my phone and began jotting down ideas. Over the course of a couple weeks I had written an entire virtual program on my phone and all there was left to do was pitch.?

I should not have been surprised that Aimbridge stayed true to who they were and told me to go full steam ahead. We held our first ever “AVIP”, The Aimbridge Virtual Internship Program and it was a success. We brought in leaders from around the country to connect with students, interns worked on SWOT Analysis projects around the country. Many students received jobs during and after this program and I could not have been more proud to be a part of a company that put so much trust in me and did not leave students empty handed.

To Jason C and Brenda H – How did I get so lucky to have you as my leaders for these past years? I was young, not too experienced, but filled with ideas – just like most of my generation – and rather than telling me to wait my turn, you gave me a seat at the table. I will forever be grateful for your leadership.

When I was awarded a spot in Hospitality’s 30 under 30 that year, I was shocked. I knew that I had put all that I had into my work and to see that rewarded by my industry was an incredible feeling.?

To college kids and future professionals reading: choose wisely when choosing your first job. It’s true that many companies will take your work ethic for granted and there will be no reward for your extra work. This was not my experience with Aimbridge. My advice is to ask the right questions in your interview to find out what the company values and what that manager or director believes success looks like so you can know what you are getting into.?

Example: “Manager, can you tell me about one of your most successful employees you have had in the past?”

Good answer: “I had a team member who always had great ideas or took on challenges with innovative thoughts and solutions” – this tells you that they will likely value your thoughts and be open to new ideas.

Not so good answer: “I had an employee who worked really hard and was always the first to get to the office and the last to leave – they were a rock star” – this tells you that they will care more about the time you are putting in and your lack of care for work life balance.?

Anyways, back to the story.?

Aimbridge had always taken great care of me professionally but push came to shove in August/September of 2020 when I received some terrible news. My little sister Sarah had been diagnosed with Brain Cancer. All of a sudden, life shifted into perspective. I will always be grateful for the way my Aimbridge Family showed up for me during this period of panic, anxiety, and uncertainty. They encouraged me to take time to see family. My VP Brenda Helps, called often to see how she was doing and how my family was, and others on my team stepped up in countless ways when I was distracted or needed a day to drive down and be near the hospital during her surgeries.?

Notice that I said near, this was a result of the COVID impact on hospital policies. My little sister had to go alone, and be alone during the entirety of her time there. We wanted so bad to be near her and once again, the benefit of the Aimbridge family struck again. We had a very nice hotel that was in walking distance from her hospital and after reaching out to the team, they not only gave us a great room at a reasonable rate, but also offered up one of their offices to me so that I could get some work done.?

To Ed Sylcox and Melissa Sical, I know that I have thanked you in the past, but your responsiveness, your hospitality, and your care, meant more to my family than we'll ever be able to express.?

Working through 2020 and 2021 was a challenge but it was incredible to see everyone bind together to develop new resources and ideas to help us manage the war on talent that was underway. More than ever, young, eager talent was given the opportunity to step into the spotlight and lead. I felt that the ideas of my team were heard and implemented and we were given creative freedom to find new solutions.?We were growing rapidly, developing new teams and trainings, and finding way to make sure we could support Aimbridge's mission with top level talent.

So why did I leave??

I was actually hoping that writing this would bring that clarity to me, and as I sit here writing, it has now been 27 days since my last day with the most incredible company, I am still not fully sure. I do know that my leaders have always pushed me to develop myself, pursue challenges, and grow as a person - and I think that growth has led me to this new challenge.?

I remember struggling to say to my incredible VP that I was calling to let her know that I was leaving. I thought it would get easier the more people I told, but it was really quite the opposite. I really started to understand why I was so attached to my place of work - that it wasn’t just the work, but the people who made up that family.?

I know in today’s age, words like “family” and “culture” are laughed at and viewed as “red flags” in company descriptions. So maybe a better way to phrase it is that, at Aimbridge, there was a sense of community. Community that pushed each other, that leaned on one another, and that lifted up those from all walks of life and levels in a way that I really hope to find again.

To Andrea, Nikita, Jessica L, Christine, Kymberly, Catie, and countless others,

thank you for bringing your whole self into the workplace, thank you for caring about my life outside of the workplace. You were a group of power, outspoken, determined, intelligent women that I was always empowered to be in a room with.?

I don’t know that this is the end of my Aimbridge story, but I have deeply appreciated the pages on it’s chapter.?

And finally,

Dear Ann, I will forever be indebted to the incredible example you showed me for how to be a strong woman in leadership. How you lead a large team and yet made everyone feel seen and heard, will always be a mystery to me. My career growth is a result of many incredible women who opened doors and lifted me up, but your name is well known amongst my friends and family due to your kindness and encouragement over the past few years. I will continue to strive to be half the leader you have been. Thank you.

And to all of Aimbridge,

?Please don’t forget to share the Open Positions Report with your friends, network, and colleagues ;)

Sincerely, Hannah