Uline touts that it is more difficult to get hired than it is to get into Harvard. This is not even close to accurate. They base this on how many people are hired compared to how many people they interview, which is fine until you realize that they will pretty much give a first interview to anyone who applies.
They actually do a great job of hiring qualified and talented people for the most part, but that's where the problems begin. Highly-paid, highly-talented professional people are hired, and from the day you walk through the door you are essentially told that the rest of the professional world is wrong, forget everything you know, and we do things the "Uline" way.
What is the "Uline" way? Take everything you know, and have learned about industry-standards, User Experience, Design, Process, Typography, and everything else you can think of and throw it out the window. What you need to understand to survive at Uline is that your customer is not the people making the $5 billion of purchases. Your customer is Liz Uihlein. Just Google her, and you'll understand.
From the moment you start with Uline, they sell you the story that they started this company in their basement after her husband lost his job, and they built it into this huge company. That's true. What they fail to mention is that her husband is direct heir to the Schlitz Brewing fortune, and he actually quit his job because he didn't like his boss. I give them credit for growing the business, but the old adage of "It takes money to make money" certainly applies.
It's a cult-like environment. People shuffle through the halls, too scared to acknowledge each other for fear that one of the many spies will notice something and run to HR to put you on a naughty-list. Beware of HR at Uline. They do not work for you, and are not working with your interest in mind. Yes, you read that correctly. There are spies.
There's a lot of great management who's ideas are immediately squashed because "That's not what Liz wants." Loyalty to Liz is rewarded far more than talent or great ideas. You learn quickly that the 700 page catalog that no one wants continues to take 90% of the resources despite dismal performance.
The company is a bad parody of a professional corporate environment. You are not trusted. You are treated as a child. Even salaried employees clock in and out, and if you leave 5 minutes early be prepared for an email in the morning. You are expected to show up on Saturdays because Liz might be there. Your monitor on your desk must be at 45° and your desk spotless or you will get a cubicle violation. I can't stress this point enough. As an employee, you are treated as an untrustworthy child. You are watched.
While there are certainly great managers, there are a ton of terrible managers. These managers have attained their positions by the strategic positioning of their lips. I guess that can be said for a large part of Corporate America though.
Bottom line: If you looked at Uline and said to yourself "There's a lot of good here, they just need some help in some areas." Don't bother. You will not change Uline. Liz would rather drive her company into the ground than admit she could be wrong.
