I should fire myself

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Hi! I’m Peter, CEO of Kickresume, and these career-related stories caught my attention this month — and might catch yours too.

Did you know that some of the best work doesn’t happen at work? It happens after work! 

I didn’t know that. At least not until recently.

And I definitely didn’t know there’s actual science behind it. But before I get to that, let me rewind a bit.

Every first Tuesday of the month, we do this thing at Kickresume called Las Catch-up.

It’s our unofficial after-work hangout — the name’s a not-so-subtle nod to Las Ketchup and their early 2000s earworm of a hit, Aserejé. (Highly recommend giving it a listen if you’re from the US and somehow missed it.)

What we do at a Las Catch-up changes every time. Sometimes it’s burgers and beers, sometimes bowling, karting, or whatever else the team votes for. Everyone’s invited, but it’s always voluntary — no pressure, just whoever’s up for it. (Luckily, it’s usually most of us.)

I rarely fail to attend. But last month, something came up unexpectedly. So I handed over the company credit card, apologized to the team, and left them to it.

Still, I figured I knew what I’d walk into the next morning: a few empty beer bottles, a new lap record in Gran Turismo, and maybe a suspicious stain on the carpet.

What I actually found caught me completely off guard. In the best way possible.

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The most productive meeting we never had

Okay… there were a couple of empty bottles.

But also, the printer that’s been broken for over a month was suddenly working. 

The Ikea bed frame that had been sitting in a box since January? Built. With tools I didn’t know we owned. Which means our nap room is fully furnished now.

There was a new product idea floating around too — with actual notes, name ideas, even early sketches — which I found a bit chaotically crammed onto the whiteboard, but hey, ideamaking is always somewhat messy.

And at some point during the evening someone from the content team finally forced the developers to fix a minor issue they've been complaining about for ages.

It made me pause and ask myself… what the hell did I miss? 

Of course Germans have a really long name for it

I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

No planning. No nudging. No “quick alignment call”.

And yet, they managed to do a lot of awesome work-related things. In their free time and not completely sober either.

Naturally, I had questions.

Mainly: What the hell just happened?

And more importantly: Should we be doing this on purpose?

Turns out, there’s actual science behind this kind of thing. 

There’s this concept called informal knowledge sharing interactions (IKSI). I love that name! 😄 

To translate this into human language: it’s when people (usually coworkers) help each other out casually, outside of formal roles, meetings, or environments. 

And apparently, it's one of the most powerful drivers of innovation and problem-solving. 

Especially, if these interactions are serendipitous, a.k.a. random or unplanned. 

A German study tracked 41 product developers in Germany and Switzerland to see what kinds of interactions they were having at work (was it planned or did it happen spontaneously), with whom (was it someone from their team or outside of it), and which of those actually led to new ideas. 

Here are a couple of things the study found:

1. The most valuable insights didn’t come from planned meetings or brainstorming sessions — they came from unplanned chats.

2. These unplanned chats, which they called serendipitous informal knowledge sharing interactions (I would love to see this name in German) — were more likely to connect people from different teams or departments.

3. Finally, the study found that serendipitous (=unplanned), informal knowledge-sharing interactions (=informal chats) were significantly more likely to introduce “new perspectives” than anything that was planned.

Which brings me back to the Las Catch-up.

Because when I looked at what actually happened that night — the devs jumping in to fix bugs, someone finally building that cursed Ikea bed, a random idea turning into a product concept — it all fit the pattern.

So the science checks out.

People talk, stuff gets done.

No manager in sight.

Which led me to a slightly uncomfortable thought.

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Flat teams, Dutch nurses, and my existential crisis

It's not that long ago we at Kickresume created managerial roles. I talked about that a bit in a previous newsletter.

Kickresume grew, our team got bigger, and we felt like some changes to the mostly flat structure were necessary.

Now, I’m thinking… was that actually a good move?

Because everything that happened at Las Catch-up — the impromptu cross-team bug fixes and product ideas — happened with zero management involved.

And the science kind of backs that up.

A study published in Frontiers in Psychology found that simply giving people more autonomy — even just the feeling of autonomy — led to both higher productivity (+5.2%) and a 31% increase in positive mood compared to the control group. 

Then there’s Buurtzorg, a Dutch home-care company with over 14,000 employees and no middle managers. Their nurses work in self-managed teams of about 12.

According to a recent case study, Buurtzorg delivers better patient outcomes and lowers costs compared to the industry average. (You can find the specific metrics in the linked study — they’re genuinely impressive.)

In that same earlier newsletter, I also mentioned a stat that worried me at the time:

• 52% of Gen Z professionals don’t want to become middle managers

And at Kickresume? It’s 100%. Every single Gen Z employee we have wants nothing to do with it.

Back then, I wasn’t sure what to do with that. I worried it might sabotage our shiny new structure in the future.

Now I’m thinking… maybe that’s not something to fix?

Maybe it’s something to embrace.

We need more meetings hanging out

Alright, but what do you actually do with all this?

Why should you care about a printer, a Dutch healthcare company, a serendipitous IKSI (the name still gets me), or me spiral-reading workplace studies?

Well, if you’re stuck on a problem, or feel like you’re expected to bring some groundbreaking idea to the table… definitely don’t start with a brainstorm or a strategy session.

Instead, try this:

• Talk to someone who has no idea what you’re working on.

• Not in a meeting room. Or a scheduled 1-on-1.

• Grab a coffee with them. Or a beer. 

• And don’t loop in the manager just yet.

Serendipity’s not something you can schedule. But you can make space for it.

And if you’re a manager reading this:

Employees often already know what’s needed for the company to function and move forward. Sometimes, if you just leave them alone, they’ll come up with the solution on their own. 

And as for Kickresume?

Maybe all this team ever needed was a little less management… and a little more wine. Oh, and I might leave the office more. I guess that in the end, everybody benefits.

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Random piece of career advice

Wondering what to write in email when sending a resume? 

The thing is, it takes more than just attaching your CV and hitting “send”. 

In fact, knowing how to compose an email for sending a resume can be the difference between landing an interview and getting ignored. 

Sometimes employers provide clear instructions on what the email format should include. If that’s the case, follow the employer’s directions closely. 

But if you can’t find any instructions, don’t worry — just follow these best practices:

1. Start off with a formal greeting and address the hiring manager by name. 

   Look at the company website or LinkedIn and try to find the contact person. 

2. Continue with an introductory paragraph and explain the who and the why.

   In the first short paragraph you should state who you are, why you're sending this email, and what the email contains.

3. In the main paragraph highlight your achievements & the value you can bring.

   Close this paragraph by saying what value you would bring to the company and which skills you will use to accomplish this.

4. Close with a call to action and propose next steps.
   In the closing paragraph you need to say that you're looking forward to hearing back from them and meeting in person. But be careful not to sound rude or overly keen.

5. Add a professional signature. 

   Finally, end your email with a classic signoff, like “Yours faithfully,” or “Yours sincerely.” Also, remember to include your contact details: your name, your job title, email address, phone number, and LinkedIn profile (optional). To be even more professional, consider creating a custom email signature. 

6. Attach your resume (and cover letter).

   Don’t forget to name your resume in a professional way, for example  Name_Surname_Resume.pdf and go with a PDF format or a docx.

Ready to see an example? Here are 3 simple email templates you can copy or download to make sure you know exactly what to say when emailing a resume.

I hope you didn't think I'd forget! 

As a token of appreciation for your excellent scrolling skills, here’s a 20% discount code for Kickresume Premium. 

Catch you later! 

Peter