By Matt PresserThe Daily Northwestern
Flora Spencer has held many jobs during her 43 years.
The Evanston resident has worked as a personal assistant, a factory worker and in “a lot” of restaurant jobs.
On Thursday morning, she came to Sherman Plaza, the downtown lifestyle center bordered by Sherman and Benson avenues and Church and Davis streets, to interview for something different. She came for the chance to be a Cereologist, an employee at Cereality, the restaurant opening at 1622 Sherman Ave. around Thanksgiving.
“I like cereal (and) I love breakfast,” said Spencer, who came with her 17-year-old daughter, Sierra, who also interviewed for a position. “They say you’re going to be working in your pajamas, and that sounds like a lot of fun.”
The Spencers came as part of the Cereality Job Fair held Thursday and continuing today from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Trish Duke, director of operations for the East Coast and one of the interviewers at Thursday’s event, said the store is looking to hire at least 20 applicants from a field of hundreds of people who already have displayed interest.
“We’re looking for enthusiastic people that may or may not have restaurant or retail experience,” she said. “Someone who’s excited about Cereality, excited about our brand, excited to come to work in pajamas … friendly, happy, team-player-type people.”
More than two hours into the job fair, six applicants stopped by and interviewed, although Niki Conrad, Cereality’s communications coordinator, said she didn’t think any were NU students.
Some appointments were set up for later in the day, while they also expected more walk-in applicants.
Jessica Jibowu, 20, a student at Chicago’s Robert Morris College and an associate trainer at Panera Bread, 1700 Sherman Ave., said working at Cereality sounded like an exciting opportunity.
“The environment is different from where I work now, and the idea of wearing pajamas sounds fun to me,” she said. “This is the first time I’ve heard of the store, so it’d be fun to see what it’s all about.”
The 15-minute interviews took place inside two training rooms at Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, 1640 Sherman Ave. The interviewees applied for positions ranging from Cereologists to managers, but Lisa Kovitz, the company’s spokeswoman, declined to give specific salary information.
“It’s the most fun you’ll have wearing pajamas,” joked Duke.
The company opened its first store at Arizona State University in 2003 and has expanded to sites in Philadelphia and Chicago’s Loop. The store offers signature cereal blends like “Life’s Experience,” which includes Life cereal, sliced bananas, almonds and honey, in addition to smoothies, parfaits and a variety of baked goods, coffees and espresso drinks.
After her interview, Sierra Spencer, a student at Olympia College in Skokie, said it was “easy.”
“This would be my first job, and I’m looking for something easy to do,” she said.
Kovitz said they are looking for people who are especially excited about the brand.
“People are sometimes like ‘Oh, you’re selling cereal,’ and we’re like ‘Nope, we’re selling Saturday morning,'” she said. “And that’s a really important attitude to have – that we’re selling more than just cereal.”
Reach Matt Presser at [email protected].
