With rising unemployment rates in our country, people are desperate and looking for jobs to do in every possible way. After getting laid off from his job as forklift operator, at a metal recycling firm, Patrick Hoagland of Phoenix printed out 200 copies of his resumes, and started handing it out like no body’s business, but wasn’t getting any responses.
So he decided to do something totally different and decided to stand at a street corner with a sign. “I had only been unemployed a few weeks, but it was very unexpected and I needed to figure something out fast,” Hoagland, 30, wrote in an email. “I at first laughed and thought that was silly, but I kept thinking about it. I figured, why not?! There are millions of people in Phoenix driving around, someone might hire me.”
Melissa DiGianfilippo saw him while she was driving through Phoenix. ” She says, she was impressed with Patrick because it was 110° outside and he was standing on the side of the road with a sign and a stack of resumes with a big smile on his face.
DiGianfilippo is the owner of a marketing and PR agency and very impressed by his creativity, so she took a copy of his résumé, but soon realized that wasn’t a fit for her agency, so she shared the résumé on social media to see if anyone in her network could help him. The unexpected happened.
I was driving down Camelback Rd in Phx near my office and saw this guy on the side of the road with a smile in 110-degree heat, with a sign asking people to take his resume. I love that he was not asking for a handout, just for people to consider him for a job. #pleaseshare #job pic.twitter.com/5QAUpCkGWk
— MelissaDiGianfilippo (@MelissaPR) July 23, 2019
Hoagland got thousands of messages from businesses, contractors, recruiters and even people just wishing him luck, and much more job offers than he ever expected.
DiGianFillipo said, “I was definitely hoping he would get some good job leads out of the post, but I definitely did not anticipate it blowing up in the way it did!, the post on LinkedIn is what really has taken off the most, generating thousands and thousands of re-shares, reactions, and likes. I also posted it as an Instagram story which got a ton of engagements and people wanting to reach out to him, on Facebook and on Twitter. I am so amazed by how many people re-shared the post because they really wanted to be a part of a positive story.”
Hey friends!
I was driving down Camelback Road near my office and spotted this guy, Patrick, on the side of the road…
Posted by Melissa DiGianfilippo on Wednesday, July 17, 2019
It was a difficult choice for Hoagland, but he finally decided to join Flatline Concrete Grinding in Phoenix. After meeting owner Kerry Burkhart, he knew that her company was the right fit for him. “I think in general this is a good reminder for people that it takes just a few minutes sometimes out of your day to really change someone’s life or make their day better,” DiGianfilippo said.
Hoagland and DiGianfilippo have kept in touch, and he updated her with all that was going on in his life, DiGianfilippo is glad that she stopped by and decided to help Hoagland
and he is grateful for that. He says, “She has been so great, she didn’t need to help me, but she did and it has changed my life,” he said. “I am so grateful for her.”
This is just the story we needed to read today, because it’s not difficult to change somebody’s life, all we need is to be kind and thoughtful towards everybody we meet today.