David Casarez, 26, stood on the side of the road in Mountain View, California on Friday morning and wasn’t asking for money or food, but offering resumes with hopes to be considered for a job that he had been looking for for over a year.
Casarez's sign, which read “Homeless, Hungry 4 Success, Take a Resume,” was photographed by someone passing by. The driver, named Jasmine Scofield, tweeted the photo which went viral.
Today I saw this young homeless man asking for people to take a resume rather than asking for money. If anyone in the Silicon Valley could help him out, that would be amazing. Please RT so we can help David out! pic.twitter.com/ewoE3PKFx7
— FullMakeup Alchemist (@jaysc0) July 27, 2018
"I knew it would be posted on social media, I didn’t know it would blow up like this," he told NBC’s Bay Area branch. "I’m trying not to take any money, I really do just want a job opportunity, that’s all I’m asking."
Casarez moved to California from Austin, Texas, where he had a good job as a Web Developer for General Motors, so he could pursue his dream of starting his own tech company, but he eventually ran out of cash.
He told the New York Post that he was hired for a few small-time freelance gigs like web and logo designing, but it got to the point where he didn’t have any money and his car was repossessed. So he started sleeping on a bench.
After gaining the courage to give his dream in California one more shot, he dressed up and took to the street with his sign.
“I wanted to keep my head up high, keep looking forward and see what opportunity would come next,” he said. “I was thinking, you know, like this was like my last stop. If this didn’t work, I’d go back home and give up on my dream.”
After only a couple of hours with his sign and resumes, he ended up getting offers from companies like Google, Pandora, Bitcoin, and several startups.
Looks like he won’t be sleeping on a bench in the park for much longer!