Woman With A Record Was Turned Down For A Dozen Jobs Before A Kind Boss Gave Her A Chance
We need more people willing to help other people in the world.
Ann Kosolapova / Shutterstock We live in a world filled with societal norms and rules that many of us feel like we must follow. One of these rules is to not be too trusting of anyone who has a criminal record.
Thankfully, one manager was able to look past that to hire one of the best employees he ever had.
One boss was willing to see a woman for who she really was instead of just her prison record.
13 years ago, a user on Reddit asked managers an interesting question: “Do you have special ‘tests’ for interviewees that you put them through without their knowing?”
One former manager replied with a comment that truly tugged at the heartstrings. The Redditor said they used to be a manager at Staples and were responsible for hiring for multiple positions, including cashiers.
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One day, they came across a job interviewee in a unique situation. “There was this one woman with six felony convictions that I had to interview for legal purposes,” they said.
The woman did not come to the interview very well prepared. “She wore ill-fitting clothes and looked like she just came from a war-torn area,” the boss said. “Her resumé was crap too.”
The manager was obligated to ask her about her criminal history, and she was prepared to answer.
“I had asked her about the felony convictions, and she told me that she used to do a lot of drugs and got caught. Also a few DUIs,” they said. “She pulled out her one-year Narcotics Anonymous and six-month Alcoholics Anonymous coins and said that she just needed someone to give her a chance.”
Despite her past, this boss could see her potential almost immediately. “I took her around the store, and several people asked me where things were, and I saw her watching me (I’d straighten things on the shelf, smile at people, talk to kids, etc.),” they explained. “She started doing the same thing after just a few minutes.”
The manager decided to take a chance. “I needed a cashier soon, so I hired her,” they said. “I stuck her on the register with another manager, and she did great. After two months, I promoted her to my customer service lead, and our overall customer satisfaction score rose by over 10 points because of this.”
“Can’t judge a book by its cover or where it has been, I guess,” they concluded.
It is difficult for people with a criminal record to get a job.
Unsurprisingly, it’s hard for those who have a criminal history to get hired. According to NBC, employers have become a bit more open-minded about hiring those who have been incarcerated. Because of this, the unemployment rate for this group is at 30%, which is lower compared with past data.
NBC said, “Job candidates say interest from employers often collides with other barriers, like lack of training or job placement support and regulations preventing them from working in a variety of professions.”
Despite the fact that the job market has plenty of open positions — nine million, by NBC’s count — people with criminal records are still not getting hired because of their pasts. This is incredibly unfair.
As for the woman hired at Staples, her story had a happy ending.
While many who have been imprisoned are not so fortunate, the woman hired as a cashier at Staples has gone on to do great things with her life.
Her former manager revealed that she is engaged to her one-time girlfriend, working as a manager and running the halfway house that once helped her.
Before she got the job at Staples, she was “turned down for more than a dozen jobs.”
She truly was able to make so much more out of her life, all because one person was willing to give her a chance.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.