Mia Myers

Internship Experiential Learning Class

19 August 2019

Bellhops: The Pleasure of a High-Five Experience

Bellhops is a technology-based moving company originally founded by two college kids

in 2013. The company, first headquartered in Auburn, Georgia, moved to Chattanooga, TN,

when given seed money by Lamp Post Group to expand their business. The Chattanooga

headquarters has approximately 160 employees during its peak in the summer, and there are

approximately 40 employees in the Atlanta office. Bellhops has a huge annual peak starting in

May and ending in September, in addition to the small spikes that happen at the end of each

month.

Bellhops stakes its claim as being the company that produces “high-five experiences” in

an industry known for letting people down. Other moving companies send substandard people

to move their customers’ furniture, leading to furniture damages and unhappy customers.

Bellhops ensures that each of its moves end with the epitome of a good time: a high-five.

Bellhops does this by utilizing technology and working with high-quality contractors to do the

moving. Our contracted movers--called wingmen--are booked for moves using an algorithm that

takes into account the wingmen’s availability, average rating on moves, and percent of moves

with damages claimed. Using this sort of algorithm ensures that the better movers are always

going to the most moves and gives the wingmen continuous feedback about how they stack up

against others. Bellhops services about 40 cities across the United States and looks to expand

its city count each peak season.

My job title is Seasonal Talent Acquisition Associate, but I work more functionally under

the term of “onboarder.” I work on a team with five other interns to recruit and onboard
applicants for 17 cities in the Southeast. We regularly communicate with, schedule, and review

applicants as they complete the required two trainee moves to become wingmen on the

Bellhops platform. A majority of my day is spent on the phone talking or texting recruits to give

them a full view of their responsibilities as a Bellhop and answer any questions they have. I also

spend a portion of my time analyzing data that relates to the recruiting team’s contribution to

Bellhops’s success. This includes data concerning Monthly First Moves, Wingman Conversion

rates, and Market Slots Constrained (how in need a market is for labor). To fully understand this

data and how it contributes to Bellhops’s success, I must have a base knowledge of what the

data is and how it can influence and be influenced by other factors, both inside and outside of

the company’s control.

Having this internship has been very beneficial to my professional and personal

development. The amount of on-the-job knowledge that I have gained from this summer has

been expansive. Seeing how the recruiting process works in real time is very different than

learning about it in classes. While I may not have necessarily seen all of the different aspects of

Human Resources, I did experience the full life cycle of recruiting, onboarding, and seeing

through an applicant until he or she is promoted during my stint with Bellhops. Seeing the

process of how a company acquires talent has opened my eyes to how critical an institution’s

culture and values are for a good fit in the company. There were countless times when we had

to terminate our contracts with wingmen and recruits because they were not a good fit with what

Bellhops’s four main values are: Owner’s Grit, Servant’s Heart, Innovator’s Mind, and Playful

Spirit. I truly enjoyed my time at Bellhops. Not only did I learn a lot about my future field, but I

also made great connections here that I hope to keep throughout my career in Chattanooga.

Bellhops taught me a lot about my major of Human Resources and also taught me about how

an office works, specifically in a start-up culture. Start-ups are all about flexibility and innovation,
two skills that I am not strong in. Working at Bellhops has allowed me to personally develop

these skills while expanding on my strengths: organization, attention to detail, and personability.

One of the most pronounced insights I gained from this experience is the reassurance

that I want to work in Human Resources, more specifically in recruiting. From my short time as a

recruiter and my longer stint as an onboarder, I found that I love helping people succeed and

move through the onboarding process. It brought me much joy to see that so-and-so made it to

his move or that so-and-so from a month ago has done so well that he has been promoted to a

lead position. I would like to pursue another recruiting role after college where I can continue to

be the first person a new employee meets in a company and help him or her through the first

few weeks. Had I not taken this internship, I would not have fully realized my passion for this

field.