Anyone who’s been out of a job knows that filling out applications online can be terribly frustrating. Sometimes, it feels like you’re sending your resume into a black hole or straight into a garbage shoot on the other end.
According to Zip Job, around 250 resumes are sent to the average job opening and the most people receive a response to around 10 to 20% of the applications they submit. Someone with a grade-A resume will get a response rate somewhere around 30%.
Patrick Hoagland, a father in Arizona, was laid off of his job at a metal recycling company and it hit his family hard financially.
“I definitely had fear,” Hoagland told “Good Morning America.” “My wife and I, we don’t make a whole lot of money individually. Once I lost my job, everything was put on her.”
So, after sending out countless resumes online, he decided to get aggressive in his job search by standing on a street corner, in 110-degree Phoenix heat, and passed out his resume to anyone who would take it.
“I wasn’t getting any responses,” he said. “I was getting frustrated. It popped into my head, stand on a corner and hold a sign and hand out resumes. At first, I laughed about it…and then it kind of went crazy.”
For a few hours a day for three days, he stood on a street corner with a sign that read: “Please take a resume. Laid-off. Looking for a job.”
Melissa DiGianfilippo / Facebook
One of the people who accepted a copy of his resume was Melissa DiGianfilippo, the owner of a PR firm. She was so impressed by Hoagland’s tenacity, she posted a photo of his resume on Facebook.
“I figured, ‘I have a pretty wide network. I’ll share on social media,'” DiGianfilippo said.
“I was driving down Camelback Road near my office and spotted this guy, Patrick, on the side of the road with a huge smile on his face in 110-degree heat, with a sign asking people to please take his resume,” she wrote. “I love that he was not asking for a handout, just for people to consider him for a job.”
Immediately, the job offers poured in by the hundreds to his LinkedIn page. Eventually, he landed a job at Flatline Concrete as a concrete grinder.
“They reached out to me over email phone, and I am glad that they did,” he said. “It’s my dream job scenario.”
“I can’t say thank you enough to everybody,” Hoagland said. “I had a lot of people who sent messages that weren’t necessarily job offers but were well-wishes [saying], ‘Good luck in your search.’ It was nice to see that.'”
Times are hard for a lot of people these days and there’s no assurance that in today’s tough job market, Hoagland’s strategy will work for everyone. But his story is a great example of how people genuinely want to help those who are down on their luck and are willing to work hard to get back on their feet.