Pros
I’ve loved Nike ever since I was a kid. It was my dream to work for this company. Years later, when I was given the opportunity to go work for them, I was so excited. I shared it across social media and my friends and I was so happy. I worked for years in mid-cap companies undergoing corporate restructuring, sales and investigations, so I was excited about working for a company that was on my assured feet. I could had not have been more wrong, and on so many levels. Needless to say, it cost me my savings and dignity to come work for the place, and I will not get it back. I was contacted by a recruiter in 2019 about a senior role and shared some information about my background and experience. My company was being acquired, so I was going to need to find a good role. I did not live in the Portland, OR area, so coming to Nike was going to be a big stretch for me if it did happen. The HR manager asked about my interest. I talked about running around soccer fields in the early 1990s with my swoosh boots on while every one else had the three stripes on their feet. I talked about the run club I ran where I lived and what love and joy it brought me as I ran every Tuesday and joined the club members for a beer afterwards. I always wore the swoosh and it meant so much. The interview process took 5 months. It was up and down for so long. I was actually ready to take a job and was going to sign a contract when they contacted me with an offer. It was $50K below what I made, and two steps lower but I was so keen to join the “swoosh” I was willing to do it to be a part of something that had made me intrinsically happy since I was 8 years old. I moved to Oregon, and on day one, I was told my job had been reassigned to another division. Instead of the people I interviewed with, I was told I would be working with a recently reassigned accountant whose organization had been downsized due to an HR issue and would be my representative. I was floored. I sold my home, move across the country and now had a boss who had no idea what it was that I did, nor how she was going to manage this group. Needless to say, the rest is easy to sum up. A manager out of their depth who could not handle the job. Then COVID struck and I was unable to build bridges. I worked 70+ hour weeks to make my job relevant while my boss spent time in Bend skiing. Everything about the Nike experience is awful unless you are an executive or a UofO graduate with no personality or cognitive function. After managing teams in France, Morocco and Singapore, I was shocked at how provincial and vindictive teams and leaders are there. No one cares about Sport or its positive impacts. They’re only there because they went to the UofO and knew the right person. I quit after being miserable for four years with no job offer. I won’t wear, buy, or give Nike products ever again.
Cons
Working with both mediocre and awful professionals day-in, day-out
