Having a job and career can come with challenges. For one man in Phoenix, Arizona it came in the form of losing his job.
In 2019, Patrick Hoagland was let go from his job as a forklift operator at a metal recycling company. Being the hard-working man he is, he quickly started to apply to as many jobs as he could. He applied online and in person to numerous positions but heard nothing.
After hearing no responses from any job prospects he decided to take matters into his own hands.
Hoagland printed out 200 copies of his resume and took them to the street. It was 110 degrees Fahrenheit while he was passing out his resume on the side of the road. One woman named Melissa DiGianfilippo who drove by and picked up one of his resumes was so impressed with what she saw that she decided to try and help. She owned a PR and marketing agency and used her connections to spread the word. After posting the resume to her social media, thousands of messages from businesses, contractors and recruiters came flooding in for Hoagland.
Her original post ended up getting thousands of re-shares and impressions. Hoagland ended up picking a job that would suit him and his family best. He picked a job offer with Flatline Concrete Grinding in the Phoenix area. After originally thinking standing on a street corner and passing out his resume was a silly idea, Hoagland is proud of his efforts to do what he needed to do to support himself and his family.
In an interview with CNN, the newly employed man shared, “I had only been unemployed a few weeks, but it was very unexpected and I needed to figure something out fast,” he shared.
He said he wondered if his idea was stupid or not. “I at first laughed and thought that was silly, but I kept thinking about it. I figured, why not?!” he said. “There are millions of people in Phoenix driving around, someone might hire me,” he added. He stood outside in the 110 degree Arizona weather and held a white sign that read, “Please take resume. Laid off. Looking for a job.”
DiGianfilippo shared that she was impressed with his efforts outside in the extremely hot temperatures. “I was impressed with Patrick because it was 110° outside and what I saw was really unexpected,” she shared. “He was standing on the side of the road with a sign and a stack of resumes and a huge smile on his face,” she said.
That’s when she posted this to social media: “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” Her post received over 350 retweets and over a thousand likes on Twitter.
Hoagland said this was unexpected but so appreciated. “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,” he shared. DiGianfilippo shared that sharing Hoagland’s resume with her network was the least she could do for someone in his position.
“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. People on the internet also noticed how kind her gesture was. One internet user wrote, “Good for you melissa for recognizing his dedication and tenacity in searching for a job. you are the positive we need to see more of!!” Another Twitter user shared that this was the best news they had seen all day. “Best story i’ve read all day. Thank you for this,” they wrote.
Hoagland shared that after her generous post, his phone was ringing off the hook. “It was crazy. It was hard to navigate my phone for a little bit, but I received so many great offers,” he said. He went on to say that companies didn’t even want to interview him, they were just ready to hire him. “I received offers from companies that wouldn’t hire you without experience, but because they saw my determination, they offered me a position without even an interview,” he shared.
On his resume, the newly employed man shared that his objectives in finding a new job were based around providing for his family and having a positive work environment. “To provide a better life for my family,” he wrote and “Have a positive impact on people and things around me.”
