Like an uncomfortable FBI interrogation. I was asked to go downtown Milwaukee for testing and interview. I walked into a horrible borderline creepy room with 60s blue carpet, a walled testing station like you’d see at the DMV. The receptionist was unfriendly and very curt. She gave me two tests which I thought were very easy but not at all relevant to my position. I was then led into another small room with a monitor on the wall. She closed the door behind me. It was not an in person interview like I was led to believe, but rather someone popped up on the screen after about five minutes of waiting. No Smalltalk no welcomes no pleasantries.. lots of questions about my résumé. I have heard from others around the Milwaukee area that you line is not a friendly work environment and the corporate culture is pretty cutthroat. I figured I’ve worked and very professional officers before and I wasn’t scared by that. But there wasn’t enough money that would have made me take this job, even if it was offered to me. I couldn’t imagine working at a company like this.

A few months ago, I was contacted by a recruiter for a VP position. I went thru the recruiter’s and HR’s screening process to be one of only four people to be considered to meet with the senior leadership team with Uline. However, when I got to my HR interview – I found they had the wrong job description and reporting manager. I was asked questions that were not relevant to the position I had spent a few weeks being screened on and prepared for. I also had to go thru all their assessments to test my ability to read numbers, do some basic math (I have a graduate business degree) and figure out how to get a sales call (despite this job not being in “sales”) around the buyer’s secretary. Yes. They asked about my strategy to work around a “secretary” as if we were still in the era of Mad Men. After being ghosted by the recruiter and HR for over 3 weeks – I learned that they were considering an internal candidate. However, four months later – I learned Uline never filled the position. Uline has a habit of promoting great jobs with very attractive compensation plans – only to not fill the roles. They like to collect ideas. Find out who is out there to get a gauge of the marketplace. Oh well. I was not too keen on working for the Uihlein family and their questionable political machinations and was not interested in wearing a tie for 5 days per week. Uline is a well-run company and has some great people there – but beware that the job you may be applying for may not really exist – and that you may be ghosted along the way. Good luck!