THE PROCESS
I found out about the program through LinkedIn and directly applied on there in July (around the last week). About a week later (in August), I get an email from a recruiter. The recruiter set a time to speak with me and told me to apply on the company website and so I did. Once I applied to the website, I sat back and waited for the phone call to come through on my cell phone. On that Friday, I got not one but two overlapping phone calls from two different people. The first was from the HR manager (in the state I applied to) who saw my application online. He mostly talked about the company and the (blue collar) store position. His phone call was impromptu and very "random" as he "happened" to call me right before the Recruiter. I did not say anything about my predicament, thinking perhaps he let the Recruiter know that he wanted to talk to me. Anyway, the HR manager emphasized that it was a blue collar position, which I could infer from the website. However, I let him have his spiel. Answering any questions that he asked along the way. About 10 minutes into my conversation, the Recruiter calls twice. It was then that I knew that the "right hand" had no clue what the "left hand" was doing. I did not answer her call, thinking I could deal with her after I dealt with the HR manager. At the end of the conversation, the HR manager offered me a 1:1 interview, and I accepted.
After I hung up, I tried to get in contact with the Recruiter via phone, but I was unable to (just got voice mail), and later, I received back-to-back, scathing emails saying how unprofessional I was and that I should have let her know that I had a "meeting" with the HR manager. I didn't. As I said above, the HR manager's call was not scheduled. Anyway, I wrote her back in a professional, polite, and apologetic tone, explaining what happened. I'm sure she's over it, but I'm not.
So the 1:1 interview went alot like the phone interview except that I got to talk a lot more, and we exchanged info about ourselves. He kept getting my name wrong, and that was really annoying (especially since I corrected him), but I ignored it. Just like I didn't mention the phone mishap the other day. The questions were text book. The only highlight of the interview was the fact that I mentioned HGTV, the new paint colors, and David Bromstad because I saw the ads in House Beautiful and on HGTV (which I enjoy watching), and I had some time before the interview to flip through the corporate magazines on the table stand. He even said that I was the first candidate to mention that stuff, and it made me happy. (But. then, that begs the question: How many college graduates did he interview for this same position? Why not expand his search to military personnel and high school graduates? Because clearly he must think that me and the others with a college degree would bail when a good paying, intrinsically motivating job/career comes along, right? Because I suppose that is what a "college degree" must mean: we aren't suited to work in "blue collar" positions. Besides the corporate magazine chronicled how a competitive and motivated high school graduate became one of their star players after X amount of years.)
I haven't really reached the end of the interviewing process, but I doubt I'll get a "call-back." If I do, I'll get to tour the store as a "reality-check" (his words not mine), and then I'll be offered the position and go straight to work learning all there is to know about paint and selling it to customers and running a store.
CONCLUSION
The job "requires" a degree but the work in question is something that I could have done straight out of high school, and I have the feeling that the HR manager feels the same. If I had a nickel or dollar for every time he emphasized the work in nature (i.e. manual, you won't see suits and ties, stirring paint, etc), I would be rich. However, I don't think interviewing at Sherwin Williams was a waste of time because I need (interviewing) experience.
If I am offered a job with Sherwin-Williams, I probably won't take it because I would only be working for instrumental reasons (i.e. money, perhaps I will prove my worth and earn a seat in the marketing department [marketing/advertising is where I think I want to work], I will have time to film and edit stuff at night or on weekends, etc.).
Apologies, I am using this to vent alot. Hopefully, some of this info will be helpful to you.