Is there a formula to fix this issue?

When I download any report from my local bank, the first thing I want to do is sort it by the DATE field. However, their DATE field is formatted as GENERAL (no specific number format (you’d think a bank would know better)! Therefore, 1/27/2023 sorts lower than 1/3/2023 – or – 12/1/2023 sorts lower than 2/1/2023. Is there a formula I can use to pad ZEROS or to change the format/syntax from 9/9/9999 to 99/99/9999? I imagine the first thing I need to do is to change it to numeric(?) but I’m not successful in doing that. (and, yes, I hate my bank).