The Inception

I’m sure I’ve told this story before, but after my release from prison, I was searching for work. It was definitely a difficult task with the limitations I had. It was tough just getting money for bus fare to go looking for jobs and fill out applications. Luckily, I did have people who were helpful when they could be and I will always be grateful to them for that.

In the meantime, I immediately enrolled in college. That was something that was long overdue for me. I was living with my girlfriend and she was going to work every day, sometimes working two jobs to help support me. As a man, I loathed every single moment I was at home while she was at work. I commend her for being so strong at such a young age because she was ten years younger than me with the wits of a woman ten years my elder.

In this day and time searching for work doesn’t require as much leg work as it once did. So much information is at our fingertips through the internet that even more can be accomplished. I still believed in going to meet the people in charge of hiring when possible and making frequent follow up calls after submitting an application. I’ve never been fond of being judged based upon words on a piece of paper, but rather based on my character and who I am as an individual.

Having a large gap in my work history along with a felony was a double whammy against me in my endeavors to find a job. I was going to school at night in order to leave my day schedule available for work whenever someone did decide to give me an opportunity. But, I still needed something to supplement my time during the day. The solution I came up with was to volunteer. What better way could I network with others, gain new friends, learn of job leads, build character references AND genuinely help others. It was by far one of the proudest decisions I had ever made.

This is the principle upon which Volunteer For Work is based.