Annie Parsons

    • Company: General Mills

    • Best Companies rank: 64

    • Role: Community host, Larabar

    • Age: 31

    In 2010, Annie Parsons unknowingly submitted to General Mills as unorthodox a resume as it gets. The food company had just announced that it officially had retired its Cocoa Mole Larabar flavor. It had just a few dozen boxes of the fruit and nut bars left and invited fans on Facebook to vie for the limited supply. Parsons, a country music songwriter, submitted a song.

    Cocoa Mole, Parsons wrote in the song, is the "best Larabar I ever tasted."

    The company responded by sending Parsons several boxes of the discontinued flavor. "I thought that'd be the end of it," says Parsons.

    But a few months later General Mills asked Parsons to write several more songs about its Larabars and perform them at a natural foods trade show in California. A job offer followed in late 2011. General Mills wanted Parsons to work as the Larabar community host.

    "My first reaction was that I wasn't looking for another job," recalls Parsons, who had no marketing experience at the time and was happy with her day job in tech support at an email marketer. But the opportunities associated with being the consumer-facing voice of the Larabar brand—like traveling to a fair trade cocoa farm in the Dominican Republican—won her over.

    Before she worked at General Mills, Parson was already eating several Larabars a week. Now, she says, "it's one a day," all for the sake of the brand, of course. "It's a lot easier to be enthusiastic about a product that you personally love."   

    安妮•帕森斯

    • 所属公司：通用磨坊

    • 最佳雇主公司排名：第64位

    • 职位：能量棒社区主管

    • 年龄：31岁

    2010年，安妮•帕森斯在不知情的情况下向通用磨坊公司（General Mills）递交了一份非传统意义上的简历。当时这家食品公司刚刚宣布正式弃用能量棒（Larabar）的可可摩尔（Cocoa Mole）口味。它还有几盒水果味能量棒和果仁长条饼的存货，于是就请Facebook上的粉丝抓紧争取这些数量有限的小吃。而帕森斯这位乡村音乐的歌曲作者这时恰恰向公司提交了一支歌。

    她在歌中写道，可可摩尔口味是“我所吃过的最好的能量棒。”

    于是公司就给她寄了几盒这种已经停产的能量棒。帕森斯说：“我当时觉得不会再有下文了。”

    不料几个月后，通用磨坊突然邀请帕森斯再写几首关于能量棒的歌，还请她在加州举行的天然食品展销会上自弹自唱这些歌。到了2011年年底，通用磨坊就请她去工作了，职位是担任能量棒社区的主管。

    帕森斯回忆道：“当时我的第一反应是我没想要跳槽。”她那时没有营销经验，而且也挺满意自己在一家电子邮件营销公司里承担技术支持的工作。但是去通用磨坊就能担当能量棒品牌直接面对消费者的代言人——比如可以去多米尼加共和国的公平交易可可农场出差，这让她真正动了心。

    进入通用磨坊工作前，帕森斯就已经每周都要吃上几根能量棒了。而现在呢，她说：“一天一根！”当然这主要是为了品牌推广，“对你本来就很喜欢的产品来说，要对它充满热情真是太容易了!”   

    Jim Barton

    • Company: David Weekley Homes

    • Best Companies rank: 13

    • Role: Sales consultant

    • Age: 51

    Jim Barton had loved home design for as long as he could remember, as far back as when he played with Lincoln Logs and Legos. But the math skills he'd need to be an architect weren't nearly as prevalent. He worked in advertising after college, but on a drive through New Jersey, his love of construction and home building resurfaced. After passing a site for new home construction and having a conversation with the developer, Barton decided on somewhat of a whim to purchase two lots and try his amateur hand at his life-long dream.

    The risk was worth it. After building his first home on one lot and flipping the other, Barton started his own home building company that specialized in historic reproductions. It was an outlet for his design ideas, minus the math. He'd draw up the plans; an architect would execute them.

    After 18 years of working for himself in the northeast, Barton decided in 2006 he needed to be closer to his parents in Houston, so he closed his business and moved. In 2013, Barton felt the itch to get back to work. A longtime friend said Barton would be a perfect fit at her former employer, home developer David Weekley Homes. "It was sort of like getting set up on a blind date. Your friend tells you how wonderful Sue is, but you never know if you're going to feel the same way," Barton says. After three months of interviews, Barton and DWH turned out to be a perfect match.

    DWH hired Barton as a sales consultant in August 2013 in its build-on-your-lot division. He works with customers who already own a lot of land and want David Weekley to build a home on it. And he still gets to tap his creative side by customizing a home's finishes to the customer's specifications.

    吉姆•巴顿

    • 所属公司：David Weekley Homes

    • 最佳雇主公司排名：第13位

    • 职位：销售顾问

    • 年龄：51岁

    吉姆•巴顿自打开始玩林肯积木（Lincoln Log）和乐高（Lego）时就喜欢上家装设计了。不过他不怎么具备当好一名建筑师所必需的数学才能。大学毕业后他先是进了广告圈，但有一次开车穿过新泽西州时，他对建筑和家装的热情又重新涌上了心头。经过一个新的住房建筑工地并和开发商聊了聊之后，巴顿突然心血来潮，决定买两块地，打算用自己的业余水平试着打造从小就有的家居梦想。

    这次冒险经历很值得。巴顿在其中一块地上造完自己第一座房子并在另一块地上开工后创办了自己的建筑公司，主要从事复古改造的业务。这是他实现设计创意的地方，当然数学就算了。他负责制订设计规划，一个建筑师负责执行。

    巴顿在东北部地区创业18年后，到了2006年，他觉得自己得离住在休斯顿的父母近些，于是他就关停公司搬了家。到了2013年，他又觉得手痒，想重返工作岗位。他的一位老朋友认为，巴顿很适合她的老东家，即住房开发商David Weekley Homes。巴顿后来回顾说：“这有点像被安排去相亲。你朋友跟你说对方有多好，但你根本不知道自己会不会也这么想。”谈了三个月后，巴顿和DWH公司觉得双方确实算是天作之合。

    2013年8月，DWH公司聘请巴顿担任“自家地上造房”部门的销售顾问。他所服务的客户是那些家里有很多地，想请DWH公司来造房子的人。这份工作还是让他有机会发挥一下创意天赋，按客户的特定要求定制家居装潢。

    Afton Jacobson

    • Company: CarMax

    • Best Companies rank: 54

    • Role: Sales Manager

    • Age: 26

    Just prior to graduating college in 2010, Jacobson was looking for a job. With a degree in financial services, her goal was to land a gig as an advisor at a financial firm. As the hunt grew fruitless, she decided she'd look for an interim position -- one with benefits -- to pay the bills as she continued her search for her dream role.

    At the urging of her dad, she applied online to a business office opening at CarMax in her hometown of Dayton, Ohio. "Mentally, I was considering it a stepping stone," says Jacobson. She had a job offer within five days.

    Though she applied for a business office position, a sales manager convinced Jacobson into taking a sales consultant role, given her prior experience at a summer job selling pools and spas.

    About six months after starting as a sales consultant, Jacobson was promoted to a sales mentor, a job that allowed her to help train new hires. A little more than a year later she became a sales-manager-in-training, and in August 2012 she graduated to the sales manager title, which means she oversees other sales consultants.

    More than three years and three promotions later, her interim job has turned into the career she'd always wanted. Jacobson's goal to be in financial services was based on her desire to help people, and that's what she's doing now, she says, by helping customers find the right vehicle and appropriate payment plan.

    阿芙顿•雅各布森

    • 所属公司：车美仕

    • 最佳雇主公司排名：第54位

    • 职位：销售经理

    • 年龄：26岁

    2010年大学毕业前，雅各布森一直在为找工作而奔忙。因为拥有金融服务学位，她本来的目标是去金融公司当个咨询师。她找了好一阵都没有结果，于是决定先找个实习岗位——就是那种发薪的——以便在她继续为了理想工作奔走时能应付一下开销。

    后来，她在父亲的催促下上网申请了一份车美仕（CarMax）营业部的工作，工作地点在她老家——俄亥俄州代顿市。她说：“说心里话，我就觉得这份工作只是个跳板而已。”结果她五天后就被录用了。

    尽管她申请的是营业厅的岗位，但一个销售经理考虑到她以前暑假时卖彩票和冷饮的经验，就说服她试试销售顾问这个职位。

    雅各布森干了大概六个月的销售顾问后就被提拔为销售指导，专门负责培训新员工。一年多后，她又被提为销售经理培训生，到了2012年8月，她终于成了销售经理，也就是说她开始负责管理其他销售顾问了。

    三年多期间经过三次提拔后，这份实习工作已经成了她想毕生从事的职业。她说，本来立志进入金融服务业也是想帮助更多人，但现在这份工作是帮助客户选车并制订合适的购买计划，它已经实现了这一点。

    Darren Campbell

    • Company: Quicken Loans

    • Best Companies rank: 5

    • Role: Desktop Tech Support Specialist

    • Age: 28

    A native of the Detroit area, Darren Campbell had long heard friends and acquaintances brag about how great it was to work at Quicken Loans, the online retail mortgage lender based in the Motor City. After a few rejected applications, Campbell would finally get to experience the Quicken workplace for himself.

    It took Campbell four tries to get a job at the lender. He applied three times with no luck. "I moved on and got a different job. I'd forgotten about Quicken Loans, but they didn't forget about me," he says. Then in May 2012, he received a call from a recruiter whom he'd talked to before. "[The recruiter] called me out of the blue and said, 'Hey, I have a position that's going to be perfect for you.'" Campbell says.

    Quicken Loans hired Campbell, who left college a year short of graduating, to a six-month temporary position in its IT department. Two weeks later, Campbell's supervisors told him that the company wanted to hire him full-time and encouraged him to apply for its head desktop tech support position in Arizona. He landed that job and moved to Arizona, and he now holds the same position in Detroit, his hometown, where he lives with his wife and young son.

    达伦•坎贝尔

    • 所属公司：快速贷款公司

    • 最佳雇主公司排名：第5位

    • 职位：桌面技术支持专家

    • 年龄：28岁

    达伦是一个在底特律土生土长的孩子，很早就听朋友和熟人吹过什么在快速贷款公司（Quicken Loans）工作有多棒。这是一家就在这个汽车城的网上零售贷款公司。被拒过几次后，坎贝尔终于有机会进这家公司亲身体验一番了。

    得到这份工作前坎贝尔一共试了四次。前三次都无功而返。他说：“我当时已经放弃了，开始另外找工作，也没再把这个公司放在心上，但他们并没忘了我。”结果到了2012年5月，他接到了此前曾经谈过的一个招聘经理的电话。坎贝尔说：“（他）突然给我来了个电话说，‘嗨，我现在有个岗位很适合你’。”

    坎贝尔当时毕业还不到一年，快速贷款公司给了他一个为期半年的IT部门临时岗位。两周后，坎贝尔的上级就对他说，公司想让他成为全职员工，同时还鼓励他去申请一个在亚利桑那州的首席桌面技术支持岗位。他拿到了这份工作，去了亚利桑那。而现在，他已经回到了老家底特律，干的还是同样的活，这样就能和爱妻幼子团聚了。

    Jerry Hapgood

    • Company: REI

    • Best Companies rank: 69

    • Role: Sales specialist, action sports

    • Age: 55

    As an action sports junkie—think biking, mountain climbing, skiing—you'd expect Jerry Hapgood to be fearless, but even he admits that the risk he took in 2007 at age 50 was a little terrifying. He quit his job as the director of a YMCA in New Hampshire. With a newly empty nest, he and his wife decided to move—without jobs—to Reno, NV. "We loved its proximity to everything outdoors," he says.

    But those outdoor hobbies don't come cheap. In the midst of his hunt for work, Hapgood came across a Craigslist posting for a job in the bike and ski shop of the Reno REI—a rare full-time retail position. Hapgood landed an interview, during which he emphasized the outdoor experience he had gained during his 25 years at YMCA. He'd been an adventure director and led cycling, climbing, skiing, and snowshoeing trips. Hapgood harped on that knowledge since his retail resume was thin: he'd worked only briefly at a ski shop in the 1980s.

    "This is not a direction I thought I would've gone, but this particular retail environment is unique," he says. As a sales specialist in the action sports division, Hapgood spends his days talking with customers about their big bike rides, powder ski days, and backcountry trips. "For me it's a rewarding experience, to have these conversations and give [customers] advice about products and relate some of my knowledge having been a user of all these things."   

    杰里•哈珀古德

    • 所属公司：REI

    • 最佳雇主公司排名：第69位

    • 职位：极限运动销售专员

    • 年龄：55岁

    杰里•哈珀古德是一个极限运动迷（不妨想想骑单车、登山、滑雪之类的运动），大家可能会觉得他胆子很大。但是就连他自己也承认，2007年他50岁那年碰到的危险让他也有点吓着了。当时，他辞去了基督教青年会（YMCA）主管的工作。之后，他和妻子成了新的空巢一族，于是他们决定在没有工作的情况下搬到内华达州的里诺市。他说：“这里能很方便地开展各种户外运动，我们很喜欢这一点。”

    不过搞这些户外运动开销可不小。于是哈珀古德开始找工作，结果他在克雷格（Craigslist）分类网站上凑巧看到一份里诺市REI店招聘自行车和滑雪装备销售的工作——这在零售行业里是很少见的全职岗位。哈珀古德去面试了，面试时他特别强调了自己过去25年来在基督教青年会里积累的户外运动经验。那时他是探险运动主管，主要负责自行车、登山、滑雪和雪鞋徒步走等项目。由于他零售经验有限，只在20世纪80年代在一家滑雪用品商店干过一小段时间，于是哈珀古德就抓着自己这点经验说个没完。

    他说：“这不是我本来想从事的行业，但这个零售店环境很特别。”作为极限运动部的销售专员，哈珀古德整天就和客户聊自行车骑行，高速滑雪和野外徒步的经历。他说：“对我来说，能和这些客户聊，为他们挑选产品提供建议，再把自己曾经用这些产品的一些经验跟他们分享，这是一种很受用的体验。”   

    FerdieLopez

    • Company: Nordstrom

    • Best Companies rank: 89

    • Role: Director of Talent Development, Canada

    • Age: 47

    In 1985, after a year of college on the East Coast, Ferdie Lopez wanted to move back home to San Diego. "I wanted to go to school part-time and work part-time," he says.

    Applying to Nordstrom was a no-brainer. A fashion fanatic from an early age, Lopez recalled with fondness the shopping trips he made to the Seattle-based retailer with his parents: the friendly sales people, the cozy café, even the way items were gift-wrapped. "It always stuck with me," he says.

    Nordstrom hired Lopez as a sales person in the young men's department. It quickly became apparent that the job Lopez had taken to supplement school was a career path unto itself. In the new-hire orientation, he learned about Nordstrom's culture of promoting from within. "You feel completely supported by the people you work with," he says. He soon left school to work at Nordstrom full time. Fast-forward 30 years, and Lopez has climbed up a good swath of the company's ladder. He moved from sales to department manager to buyer to the store manager of five locations in California. He then worked a stint as general manager of the Manhattan outpost of Jeffrey, the luxury boutique Nordstrom has had a stake in since 2005.

    The experiences Lopez has gained in his three decades at Nordstrom prepared him from his current job: creating and implementing an immersion program for the managers of Nordstrom's five new stores in Canada, which are set to open by fall 2016. "I really love developing a team and seeing them succeed. And at Jeffrey, I gained an understanding of how to sell and create a customer experience," Lopez says. When the Canada opportunity arose, he says, it was the perfect match.

    费迪尔•洛佩兹

    • 所属公司：诺德斯特姆

    • 最佳雇主公司排名：第89位

    • 职位：加拿大人力资源开发总监

    • 年龄：47岁

    1985年，在美国东海岸一所大学就读一年后，费迪尔•洛佩兹就想回老家圣地亚哥了。他说：“我想边上学边打工。”

    对他来说，向诺德斯特姆公司（Nordstrom）求职是理所当然的事。他很小就对时尚着迷，现在还会充满愉悦地回想自己当年和父母一起去逛西雅图那些零售商店的情景：那些友好的售货员，舒服的咖啡吧，甚至沿途摆放的东西也都是用礼品纸包好的。他说：“那时候我就一直对这些东西很着迷。”

    洛佩兹一开始在诺德斯特姆公司的青年男性部门当销售。他很快就意识到，这份用来贴补学费的工作也是一条值得终身追求的职业道路。在新员工培训课上他了解了诺德斯特姆公司的内部擢升文化。他说：“你能充分感受到同事对自己的支持。”结果他很快就离开学校进入诺德斯特姆公司开始全职工作。在这家公司效力的30年弹指一挥间，他在晋升阶梯上不断攀爬，一直升到现在的位置。他从一名销售做起，一路上担任过部门经理、买手、加州五个地方的店铺经理。然后他在杰弗里（Jeffrey）曼哈顿分店当了一段时间总经理，这是一家诺德斯特姆2005年就入股的精品店。

    洛佩兹在诺德斯特姆积累的三十年经验为他胜任现在的工作奠定了坚实基础：为诺德斯特姆在加拿大五个新店的经理开发并实施深入培训项目。这些店计划2016年秋季正式开业。洛佩兹说：“我确实很喜欢培养一个团队，看着他们取得成功。正是在杰弗里那个分店我懂得了如何做好销售并创造客户体验。”当加拿大这个机会到来时，他就觉得大显身手的时候到了。

    Kathryn Monahan

    • Company: Bright Horizons Family Solutions

    • Best Companies rank: 77

    • Role: Toddler Teacher

    • Age: 25

    "As silly as it sounds," Kathryn Monahan says, "I believe I was born to work with children."

    It's that passion that made up for Monahan's lack of experience when she interviewed at the Bright Horizons childcare center in Boston's Prudential Center.

    Monahan's sister is also a Bright Horizons employee and had spoken highly of the company. Monahan applied to the company's general job portal, listing her sister as a reference. At the time she was working at a social center helping kids ages 6 to 7 after school with homework, a job she'd held since graduating high school.

    A company recruiter received Monahan's application and put her in touch with the director of the Prudential Center Bright Horizons, which was hiring. It took two interviews and two days of waiting by the phone in early 2008 for Monahan to land the job. "My boss says she hired me more for my attitude than my experience," she says.

    And six years later, Monahan now has the training to match her enthusiastic nature. She earned her early education certificate by taking Bright Horizon-sponsored classes in the evenings for several weeks. She then earned her Child Development Associate certificate at the urging of her director, which qualified her for a lead teacher role—a job she now holds.

    Those evening classes pay off every time she goes to work. "Walking through the door and hearing the kids shout my name is the best part of my day," she says. "They're like leeches on my legs."   

    凯瑟琳•莫纳汉

    • 公司：Bright Horizons Family Solutions

    • 最佳雇主公司排名：第77位

    • 职位：幼教老师

    • 年龄：25岁

    凯瑟琳•莫纳汉说：“尽管这么说听起来挺傻的，但我确实相信自己生来就要从事和孩子有关的工作。”

    当她在位于波士顿保诚中心（Prudential Center）的Bright Horizons公司幼教中心面试时，正是这份热情弥补了她经验的不足。

    莫纳汉的姐姐也是Bright Horizons公司的员工，对这家公司评价很高。莫纳汉在公司的招聘门户上投了简历，把姐姐列为了推荐人。那时她在一家社教中心工作，主要是帮6到7岁的孩子放学后辅导作业，这份工作她从高中毕业起就一直在做。

    一个公司招聘人员接受了莫纳汉的工作申请，随后让她和保诚中心的Bright Horizons的总监接触，当时这家公司正在招聘。面试了两次，在电话边等了两天后，2008年初，莫纳汉得到了这份工作。她说：“我老板说了，雇我主要是冲着我的态度，而不是经验。”入职六年后，莫纳汉现在接受的培训已经能和她热情的天性相匹配了。她好几周晚上都去上Bright Horizon赞助的课程，获得了早教证书。随后在总监的督促下，她又获得了专业幼师资格证书（Child Development Associate certificate），这让她当上了主导教师——也就是她现在的岗位。

    这些夜校课程在她每次工作时都能派上用场。她说：“走进教室大门，听到孩子们大声喊我的名字，这是我一天中最开心的时候。他们紧紧抱着我的腿，就像小蚂蝗一样。”（财富中文网）

    译者：清远