Bizarre HR: Teenager walks 16km for a job interview

An unemployed teenager finally landed himself a job after trekking 16km through the snow for a job interview – but it wasn't the job he thought he’d get.

Jahqueil Reagan was so desperate to get a minimum-wage paying job at a thrift store in Indianapolis that he decided to walk 16km to the interview. The 18-year-old didn’t even have enough money for a bus fare.

However, about halfway through his journey, Reagan stopped to ask a man for directions.

The man, Art Bouvier, owner of the nearby restaurant Papa Roux Po Boys and Cajun Food, asked Reagan how much further he had to go and was shocked to discover how far he had already walked.

“I’m thinking to myself, here’s a kid walking almost 10 miles in the ice and slush and snow for the hope of a job at minimum wage,” Bouvier told Fox 59.

“That’s the kind of story your parents used to tell, my parents used to tell, up both ways in the snow.”

Bouvier and his wife ended up giving Reagan a lift to his interview, but knew they had found a dedicated staff member.

The restaurant owner was even more impressed when he found out Reagan had dropped out of school two years prior to care for his younger siblings after their mother died. He finished high school while studying from home.

Bouvier posted about his encounter with Reagan on Facebook – with the post going viral in a matter of hours – promising Reagan a job at his restaurant.

Bouvier said his work ethic is something you “dream about” as a business owner, but Reagan maintains he is the lucky one.

“I'm lucky I met him,” Reagan told Fox 59. “I'm really lucky I met him. It's crazy. I don't even know. It's really crazy.

“My heart's just racing right now. I'm just too excited, just excited to start.”

In addition to a new job, the local transit authority gave Reagan a one-year travel pass free of charge.