A case for hiring candidates from nontraditional backgrounds

From 2008 to 2014 I was a personal trainer. I hated every minute of it.

I had just begun my professional career when the 2008 financial crisis happened. 

You might say I was a trend-setter: I was one of the first to lose my job. 

With such a short resume, I was one of the last to find a new one.

I needed money, and fitness was something people would pay me for. For six years, I pieced together an income with personal training and group fitness.

I'd risen from free orientations at my local YMCA to one of the highest-producing Equinox trainers in Northern California. I suppose that's a successful career path in fitness.

But I never felt successful. 

Fitness is a hard grind. 

Long days. Unpredictable schedules. Unpredictable income. Loud, overstimulating work environment. Emphasis on physical appearance. 

As an introvert, it was exhausting.

Even after I'd delivered thousands of sessions, I still got nervous before every single one. 

Flying home from my honeymoon, I wished the plane would fall out of the sky so I wouldn't have to go back to work.

I was sending out resumes, but I was having a really hard time breaking back into the corporate world. 

I was typecast as "out to recess." No one wanted to give me a chance at a "serious" job. 

One morning, a client happened to mention, "I need a new assistant. Let me know if you hear of anyone." 

A job where I got to sit at a desk? And write rather than talk? I could do that... I was sure of it!

That night, I wrote a really awkward email. 

I told my client how my fitness career had given me experience with:

• Maintaining client relationships

• Complex schedule management

• Multi-tasking

• Sales

• And maybe some more BS that I made up

I thought these experiences qualified me for the role—but if he didn't agree, we never had to talk about it again.

Luckily, taking unproven bets was what my client did for a living. 

He saw someone ambitious and scrappy who could reliably show up at 5am, and who just needed a chance. He gave it to me. 

The rest is history. 

I would never be where I am today if my former client-turned-boss hadn't seen potential in someone with a nontraditional background. 

Are you from a nontraditional background? Have you ever worked with a superstar from an unlikely background? Tell me their story!

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