My First Starbucks Experience, and Why I’m Coming Back a Decade Later
Concise version: I’m super excited to “brew” a new journey and return back to Starbucks after a decade to fill a newly created role as the talent acquisition operations specialist, within the Partner Resource Organization in the Toronto Head Office, Support Centre.
Story version:
When I was 16, I volunteered to help out at the annual coffee house hosted by my youth group at the time. One of the group leaders, Anita Huang worked part time as a shift supervisor at Starbucks, so not-so-coincidentally, we met there for our initial planning session.
It was my first time stepping into a Starbucks, and I was immediately mesmerized. The combination of the savory coffee aroma, the warmth store lights, jazzy music being played and the elaborate menu boards with an infinite number of drinks was so intriguing, intimidating and lovely all at once. As a teenager, I had no idea the difference between a cappuccino and an americano (heck – I didn’t even know what they were)! But our leader was super kind and patient, and took me through a series of questions (similar to what you would complete in an online buzz feed questionnaire today to figure out what Disney princess you are 😛). After a number of questions like, “Hot or cold?, Caffeine or caffeine-free?, Chocolatey or fruity?”, we decided on a Tall Strawberry Frappuccino, which still remains to be one of my favourite cold drinks at Starbucks today.
The year after, I volunteered to assist for the event again, and naturally, rose my hand to help with the refreshments portion as I’ve always had a natural affinity for food. I thought to myself, what would a coffee house be without *amazing coffee*?
That got my thinking cap on:
What if…
We could get someone to sponsor us?…
What if Starbucks sponsored us?
Thus, I decided that I would gather courage to ask them – I figured the worst thing that could happen would be that they’d politely decline. So I opened my computer, typed up a quick one pager about the event (arguably the first of many sponsorship proposals I’ve written), number of people projected to attend, and listed what I was hoping they could donate. I didn’t go in with much expectations, since why on earth would a premium coffee chain give free coffee to an unknown local event in the community? To my surprise, this is exactly what Starbucks is all about – with a mission to “inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighbourhood at a time,” they generously accepted my proposal with a smile, and gave us coffee and pastries! As a teenager, that act of kindness touched me very personally.

Photo above: the actual carafe of coffee from the coffeehouse event. The cups are featuring the old logo from 2008.
After the event had passed, I decided to draft a resume and applied online to a local Starbucks. For good measure, I also printed my resume and dropped it off to the closest store by my high school. The store manager called me in, interviewed me, and gave me the job as a partner (barista)! I was so happy!
I loved my time working in the store, and learned so much. Everything from how to: maintain a welcoming environment; treat customers with the utmost care; and making/calling out drinks (which is not far from learning a new language). To this day, Starbucks retail training has been unparalleled with any other organization I’ve worked at.
Even though I was only there for a few months (as grade 12 was hectic, and I needed to focus on getting into a good university), I always took great pride in having worked at such an incredible place.
Anyway, fast forward 11 years, I recently received a LinkedIn message in my inbox from Jeremy Jones, a recruiter at *Starbucks* about a role within Talent Acquisition team. My eyes widened. I responded immediately to learn more due to my love for the brand and awesome experience a decade back. What started as a casual conversation, turned into an interview, which then realized into an offer, which I accepted :).
It’s funny how things come full circle, isn’t it?
Thus, it’s with great excitement that I boomerang back to Starbucks. This is a lateral move and at this point in my career, it’s exactly what I need. I am a firm believer that it is critical to build a solid foundation before you start raising your hand for more. To my fellow partners reading this, I have so much to learn from each one of you. I cannot wait to meet you and work together after my in-store immersion finishes.
To all the people that would like to connect for coffee to learn more about Starbucks once I get my feet wet in the role, of course I am down. My only request (especially for those who are still in university and know me from campus days), please be sure to google and read the 2-part “Unspoken rules of coffee chats” articles I worked with TalentEgg to produce before you reach out. It’ll set you up for success for all recruiters you connect with!
If you got this far, thanks for taking the time to read my announcement :).