Believe in Who You Serve and Your Mission in Serving Them

It was 2006 and I remember my first position out of college like it was just yesterday. Excited to join the work force that summer, I arrived to my first day of work wearing a freshly ironed dress shirt, a tie, and slacks. Nervous and ready, I walked into the building shaking hands, meeting our team and eventually sat down at my desk to log in to my computer. My new position was a home and auto loan account executive for a large bank based in the Midwest. I had business cards!

My daily responsibilities were to call current bank customers to find opportunities with refinancing homes, autos, or purchasing insurance products. Our individual and group goals as account executives were to hit monthly loan quotas which required customers refinancing their homes, autos and personal loans all at generally high interest rates. After some time and success in loan closings, I felt like what I was doing was wrong. It was all legal, however it just felt wrong. Offering home equity loans over the value of their home appraisal and at high interest rates began to bother me. Each day our leadership team pushed me to continue hitting higher goals requiring even more loans at higher interest rates. What I didn't know at that time was that our country was on the verge of a home mortgage meltdown, and I was playing a small hand in it. My manager and I could not align on what I should or should not sell, and I didn't believe in our values anymore. Just under a year after that day I walked in doors so excited for my first full time position, I resigned from my position and moved on to my next new opportunity.

We have all likely experienced working somewhere or for someone that we did not share similar values or principles with. In these circumstances, it can be extremely hard to perform at our very best and serve our customers with the most value. After my time in the professional workforce, I have realized that to have a meaningful professional work experience, our beliefs and morals should be completely aligned with our company's. In other words, choose a company based on these two things 1) Who You Serve "your company's principles & values" and 2) Your Mission "our daily responsibilities". If either of these two critical areas are flawed or do not align with our belief system than our productive value in time will be likely tarnished leading to burnout or turnover.

16 years later, I have found a company that I am proud to serve knowing that we share the very same values and also have never been happier with my daily mission. As an employee in our transportation and logistics division our mission is to transport and deliver high quality, essential food products to our customers with the goal of nourishing the world. It took me years to find this great company, and I wish that same experience for you along the way in a much shorter time. If you are just out of college and looking for an opportunity or an experienced professional searching for a company that is safe, principled with a clear vision, please reach out! Parker