Hey @apmallard! I've been with REI for the past nine years, and it's opened up a world of opportunity for me. I've met the best adventure partners I've ever had, and done things that I never would have done before beginning work here because these things just didn't exist in my outdoor Rolodex beforehand: ice climbing in Ouray, sea kayaking with orcas in the San Juans, mountain biking in Sedona, bike packing from DC to Pittsburgh along the C&O/GAP, etc. My passion is getting people into the outdoors, and I have been teaching Outdoor School classes for the past six years, both in store and out in the field. I've taught people in their 60s to ride a bike for the first time, and I've led a group of women into the woods for their first backpacking trip when the lows were in the 20s overnight. It's an amazing feeling, giving back to them what was given to me a decade ago. There are opportunities to move up within the company, but there's no guarantee that it will be a quick process. It all depends on how motivated you and your manager are as a team, what opportunities exist in your market, whether you're flexible and willing to relocate to a different market to achieve those goals, and which direction you'd like to grow within the company. I would much prefer to grow with Outdoor School, but those positions are very limited, especially now with COVID with us not having run any classes in six months. There are a lot of perks to working with REI, but the main benefit I've found is the people: everyone is like-minded, and you can generally find an activity partner for each day of the week. Mountain biking with Jane on Monday, hiking with Tom on Tuesday, etc. You actually want to hang out with your coworkers once you clock out. 🙂
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