An Interview Experience by Frank Sorise
Indeed, Monster, Linked In, SimplyHired, phone calls, emails, cover letters, resumes, qualifications, portfolios, references, experience, and the list goes on and on. Job searching can be one of the most frustrating and arduous processes to go through as a young professional, and after a while it can almost seem hopeless. Does this process sound familiar? Enter: the online application.
Step 1: Please upload your resume and cover letter to our website.
Step 2: Please enter all of the information that is listed on your resume and in your cover letter again, but this time put it into these designated squares and please give us your work history dating all the way back to your first job when you swept floors at your uncle’s flower shop at age 14 and please provide reasons for any unemployment gaps throughout your entire life.
Step 3: Enter exactly how much money you want to make, but please note if you enter a number that is too high our automated system will forward your digital resume right into our digital trash.
Step 4: Pick one word that has no more than eight characters to describe exactly who you are as a human being and encompasses everything you will bring to our company.
Step 5: Submit.
Step 6: Generic “we got your resume!” email received. Now wait until you forget what position you applied for before any form of contact from said company occurs.
I started living and working out in Chicago, IL in January 2014 and while my time in Chicago was an amazing opportunity and an experience I would surely never forget, around the middle of 2015 I had made the decision that my hometown of Detroit is where I wanted to live and pursue the next step of my career. From this point the application process began, and it was a frustrating one. I graduated college with a degree in Journalism with a focus in Marketing, which leaves a wide window of career paths, which is something that works as both a blessing and a curse at times. While having a lot of options is something I wanted to leave myself open to, not knowing exactly the career I wanted, or the industry I wanted to work in makes applying difficult and is not the ideal thought process recruiters want to hear when they are considering bringing you onto their team. On top of my lack of definitive direction, I was also looking to move three hundred miles back east; a move that would require leaving my current job, finding a sublet for my apartment, searching for a new place of residency back home, and purchasing a vehicle (I used public transit in Chicago), plus physically moving all of my possessions from one time zone to the previous, all within a matter of ~two weeks. Whoa.
My contact with Shift Digital came through an old friend who I happened to run into while visiting my home in Detroit in Late September, he heard I was looking for a position back home and mentioned Shift to me. I forwarded my resume onto him, he passed it on to the right individuals at Shift, I had my first contact with the company on October 2nd, and my first day of work with Shift Digital was November 2nd. Most companies and HR departments drag out the process, giving vague dates about when they might potentially get back to you, and most of the time there is a cut and dry date of when you are to start. With coming to Shift their timely communication and adaptation to my unique situation (moving from Chicago to the Detroit area) showed their dedication to me joining the team. They provided me three weeks before my starting date and provided me personal training as I could not start with the large group that was hired the week before me. It was this support and understanding with my situation which made me turn down any and all other offers that were coming down the pipeline, and to cut off all ongoing conversations with other companies. Feeling wanted is a rare quality that many young professionals my age do not experience, but with timely, human communication and a respect for my personal situation I knew Shift would be a great place to work. Knowing I had their support from the beginning, it went a long way for my focus on being a reliable employee. Starting day one I was ready and motivated to work hard for the company that dedicated their time and resources into bringing me on. – Frank Sorise