Speaker 1 (00:15):
``Welcome to Networks Looks At, topics that are near and dear to our hearts at Networks that are really at the core of who we are. We hope you really find these helpful, so enjoy it. Take care.

Joe Murphy (00:30):
So, welcome. We're being joined by Hakimah to talk about another employment success story. Would you like to introduce yourself?

Hakimah Reed (00:36):
I'm Hakimah Reed.

Joe Murphy (00:38):
Whe- Where do you live? Are you from-

Hakimah Reed (00:40):
I'm from the projects [inaudible 00:00:41] homes, not far from the job here, and where ShopRite at.

Joe Murphy (00:46):
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, right?

Hakimah Reed (00:48):
Yeah.

Joe Murphy (00:49):
Cool. Aaron?

Aaron Williams (00:51):
Hello. My name is Aaron Williams. I'm a job developer here at SpARC, uh, services, and I also live in Philadelphia.

Hakimah Reed (01:00):
(laughs)

Joe Murphy (01:00):
Great. Heather?

Heather Robb (01:01):
Hi, I'm Heather Robb, and I'm the Associate Director of Administration at SpARC Services. I've known Hakimah for nine years. And, I also live in Philadelphia, in South Philly.

Aaron Williams (01:14):
Wow. We're neighbors.

Hakimah Reed (01:14):
(laughing)

Aaron Williams (01:14):
We're neighbors. (laughs)

Heather Robb (01:14):
Nice.

Gwen (01:21):
Hi, I'm Gwen. I'm from the SpARC Philadelphia marketing team and I just kind of hopped on the bandwagon to see, check what this was about.

Joe Murphy (01:28):
Cool, thank you.

Hakimah Reed (01:28):
Great.

Aaron Williams (01:28):
(laughs)

Joe Murphy (01:30):
And, for anyone listening, I'm Joe Murphy with Networks for Training and Development. I'm waving to a camera here and we're actually just recording the audio. We're excited to hear to, to hear Hakimah's story and to tell us a little more about where are you working at now?

Hakimah Reed (01:44):
I'm at ShopRite. I'm at SpARC and ShopRite.

Joe Murphy (01:44):
You're at SpARC and ShopRite.

Hakimah Reed (01:44):
Yeah.

Joe Murphy (01:51):
So, how long have you been at ShopRite for?

Hakimah Reed (01:56):
Probably.

Aaron Williams (01:57):
Uh, it was the end of...

Hakimah Reed (02:00):
Like, I feel like it was the end of January.

Aaron Williams (02:02):
Yeah.

Hakimah Reed (02:03):
It's probably been what, like?

Aaron Williams (02:04):
About three months.

Hakimah Reed (02:05):
Three months.

Joe Murphy (02:09):
Okay.

Hakimah Reed (02:09):
Yeah.

Joe Murphy (02:09):
So, ShopRite is a local supermarket in Philadelphia region and e- around the East Coast. And, Hakimah Reed is from there and

Hakimah Reed (02:15):
Yeah.

Joe Murphy (02:16):
People from all over the country and all over the world can listen to this, so. And, we're talking about a, a supermarket here. So, what do you do at ShopRite?

Hakimah Reed (02:25):
I do, uh, returns. Like I return the items and put them back on the shelf we're they're supposed to be at.

Joe Murphy (02:33):
So you say you've been doing that for about three months?

Hakimah Reed (02:35):
Yes.

Joe Murphy (02:35):
Do you do anything else besides returns?

Hakimah Reed (02:37):
Well, for now, that's what I'm doing until they give me something else.

Joe Murphy (02:42):
Oh, so you're looking to expand in the future?

Hakimah Reed (02:45):
Yeah.

Joe Murphy (02:45):
Okay. So, I guess this question is probably for the whole team, for Aaron and Heather and Gwen if you want to jump on. I'm not sure w- um, but what led you to ShopRite? And what led you and your team to exploring that industry?

Heather Robb (03:04):
So, just to give you a little bit of background before Hakimah answers that, Hakimah has been looking for a job, like a job in the community, competitive job in the community for as long as I've known her, so.

Hakimah Reed (03:16):
Yeah.

Heather Robb (03:16):
The nine years I've known her, she's like, "I wanna get a job, I wanna get a job in the community."

Joe Murphy (03:20):
(laughs)

Heather Robb (03:21):
She's been training and doing so well in our training program.

Hakimah Reed (03:31):
Yeah, hey, she's known me, I actually did it. (laughs)

Joe Murphy (03:32):
(laughs)

Aaron Williams (03:33):
Yeah, um, I believe, I, I, I'll just go ahead and chime in, um, we have a lot of people from this local area, um, in West Philadelphia - the Allegheney West area, and that ShopRite, they do a lot in the community, it is really kind of like a community center in this area. Um, and Hakimah had told me, you know, that was an option, that she wanted to work there. And we have an existing relationship with them as well. So, I had put the application in for that ShopRite location but, uh, also there was one in, close to a neighborhood named Roxborough. So we filled out the application for a lot of locations and, um, you know, me and my colleague, Tim, he's another job developer here at SpARC services, we went up there and talked to HR to, you know, see if they had any positions open and the manager of HR said they were looking for staff at that point and that they had some open positions.

(04:26):
I believe that she had spoken to Hakimah at that point. Do you remember if she texted you or called you or something like that?

Hakimah Reed (04:32):
She called, uh, she texted me.

Aaron Williams (04:33):
Yeah, and so she called her back for an interview and then we nailed the position. Hakimah nailed the position, sorry about that.

Hakimah Reed (04:39):
Yeah. (laugh)

Joe Murphy (04:43):
So, Hakimah, when we were talking before we started, actually the last time we were together, you talked, you knew a lot of the people there, right?

Hakimah Reed (04:50):
Yeah. I still do. I get along with my coworkers here.

Joe Murphy (04:53):
Okay. Did, did you know them prior to working there? Some of them?

Hakimah Reed (05:01):
Yeah, some of them.

Joe Murphy (05:03):
But that social capital really helps a lot when we're looking for jobs.

Hakimah Reed (05:06):
Yeah.

Joe Murphy (05:07):
A lot of us has found jobs that way with people making those connections.

Hakimah Reed (05:11):
Yeah.

Joe Murphy (05:12):
That's awesome. So, have you tried working anywhere else in the past? I mean, Heather was saying you've been looking for a job for a while, have you tried-

Hakimah Reed (05:19):
So, when Aaron was helping me with my application for ShopRite, I had put in for Foreman Mills too. So, and we was waiting for ShopRite to get back, I had put in another application for Foreman Mills 'cause they was, they needed people too. But then ShopRite came and texted me and said that they was happy to do an interview and then I did my orientation. And then I went for my training there. And then after my training, I did my job, like, on that Sunday that I started when I had that job coach, and I've been on my own ever since.

Heather Robb (05:59):
So, Aaron could probably fill you in on when she started getting the job coaching services and the job development to help her get the job. But the whole nine years that she's been wanting this job, she hasn't been seeking a job, just to be clear.

Hakimah Reed (06:11):
Yeah.

Heather Robb (06:11):
That, this was just recent, so there were obstacles that she had, there were some obstacles preventing her from searching for a job, from being able to get one until recently when we were given the clear that she could finally start searching for a job and I, I think she got it pretty quick. I think Aaron can fill you in, but.

Aaron Williams (06:30):
Um, I believe the authorization we've had was for July of 2021, that's the change of the fiscal year for, you know, like I said, if, if this is [inaudible 00:06:41] of July, that's the change of our fiscal year, so that's when the new authorizations come through. Um, but it had been sitting for awhile due to staff, uh, turnover and just like a transition with staffing, um, and the employment department. So, uh, me and Hakimah actually didn't really start working together until, what, maybe November, December period, would you say?

Hakimah Reed (06:58):
Yeah.

Aaron Williams (07:00):
Uh, November or December of 2021.

Hakimah Reed (07:01):
Yeah.

Aaron Williams (07:03):
And we had got together, spoken about the type of job that she might like.

Hakimah Reed (07:07):
Yeah.

Aaron Williams (07:08):
Um, but, the positions that she might like, logistics like how far she's willing to work, closer would be better, she doesn't, you know, really wanna work too late into the day. So we got all that down and, and you know, I, I kinda did my thing along with the rest of the employment team, reaching out to, uh, you know, any connections that we may have in the community. Um, and like I said, we have the pre-existing relationship with ShopRite, and they liked her in the interview after they called her back. The, uh, HR manager gave me stunning reviews of the interview that she had, she was so happy that she had her resume and everything. It was really just like a, a home run for lack of a better term.

Joe Murphy (07:47):
So, did you develop your own resume or did you have some assistance?

Hakimah Reed (07:49):
I had help. Aaron helped me with it.

Joe Murphy (07:53):
So, I think you had mentioned briefly that you had support for a day, is that all the support you get from SpARC on your job right now?

Hakimah Reed (08:01):
I, um, just like return stuff in the carts, you know, put stuff back on the shelves, and then I get like a 15 break and a 15 minute meal. Yeah.

Aaron Williams (08:14):
So as far as like, I know Wednesdays were

Hakimah Reed (08:16):
Wednesdays is my late shifts, like six to 11.

Aaron Williams (08:20):
And then with the, Mark usually [inaudible 00:08:21]

Hakimah Reed (08:22):
Mark, my friend, my other job coach picks me up, takes me home.

Aaron Williams (08:26):
Yeah.

Hakimah Reed (08:27):
So, I don't walk home like around 11 at, at night. I get a ride home. (laughs)

Joe Murphy (08:32):
I don't blame you. So, when you first started three months ago, and, Aaron you're saying you had started basically December 2021 and we're talking April of 2022, I had to think of what month this was.

Aaron Williams (08:44):
Right. (laughs)

Joe Murphy (08:44):
So, you've been working for three months, that was a pretty quick turnaround from when you first started-

Hakimah Reed (08:48):
Yeah.

Joe Murphy (08:49):
to your] getting your job.

Hakimah Reed (08:51):
I had gotten a job real quick. It was real, real quick that they contacted me. When I got a call for the interview, I was just coming back from Sean's TastyKake. And I had came up here and text, and showed Aaron the text that she texted me about a interview. And it went from there. Then, it went from my orientation, and then through my training, Aaron helped me with my training 'cause I had to watch a whole 47 videos.

Joe Murphy (09:22):
(laughs)

Hakimah Reed (09:24):
(laughs) there. Yeah, it was a lot.

Aaron Williams (09:27):
Yeah, so that, I can speak to that too. I think that's what, uh, Joe was speaking of. Yeah, we, so the first shift, the first shift she got paid for was all, you know, orientation, you get the W9 form, all those long forms and then the, the pre-employment training, so that was a hassle. I actually had worked at a ShopRite when I was a teenager, so we struggled together. I did assist her with that and you know we, we got through it, reading comprehension, you know, some of the stuff was a lot and things like that but we got through that, text documents and things like that. And I believe a colleague of mine, uh, Marietta, s- we call her Sis, she assisted Hakimah on her first actual full shift on the job.

Hakimah Reed (10:09):
Yeah.

Joe Murphy (10:09):
Mm-hmm- It's impressive how you guys are, worked at SpARC to really coordinate together to, um, to make this successful. I mean, you, you've named four or five different employment professionals, uh, and they probably all have different titles, I'm not even gonna try to attempt them. But at that time, its interesting how you coordinated all that, that's, that probably falls on you, Heather, trying to, to make that all work and manage, I can't, that's neat.

(10:33):
So, Hakimah, how did you learn your job? Besides all those, like you said, 47 hours of videos, or 47 videos that you had to watch.

Hakimah Reed (10:43):
With the training, it was 47 videos. That was the long one 'cause I had to like watch videos, and some of them didn't have videos, and just so you basically just like... Well, some of them didn't have the questions, some had videos and some had videos with questions. And some videos didn't have it. But it was also because Aaron was there to help me with it. I did good like with the, uh, training and stuff. I mean, I enjoyed, like I still enjoy ShopRite. Right before I came to SpARC, I had a job, so I was already experienced with the job that I had. 'Cause before I came to SpARC I had a job and I was working at McDonald's, so.

Joe Murphy (11:30):
Okay. How about, uh, I know you said, uh, Sis helped you out with the first shift. But what was the coworker you said that kind of helped you out your first shift? The older lady.

Hakimah Reed (11:40):
Oh, my, oh, her name was Patricia.

Aaron Williams (11:42):
It was a coworker?

Hakimah Reed (11:44):
Yeah, she does, she does maintenance but showed me around and then like, the, I can say the second day of my first day at ShopRite, my manager was showing me like what to do, what aisles it is that you would return the items and stuff.

(12:00):
So I was like, I'm grateful because, you know, I'm, this is all I ever wanted was like getting a second job and then like making my own money to be proud of myself and just like, just to get out of the house. I'm kinda grateful that I, I got a job, like have money in my pocket, so.

Joe Murphy (12:22):
[inaudible 00:12:23]

Hakimah Reed (12:24):
Yeah, and I stuck with it, because the... (laughs)

Joe Murphy (12:28):
Tell me some more about that.

Hakimah Reed (12:30):
Yeah.

Joe Murphy (12:30):
What are some of your... Do you have some that why you wanted your job?

Hakimah Reed (12:35):
Um, I just wanted to like make money and then like work hard, 'cause I do work hard and I wanted like more money in my pocket just to, you know, have some, so when I go out, like with my friends, I can have some money to go shopping and movies and stuff. So, yeah. It was-

Joe Murphy (12:58):
I can appreciate that.

Hakimah Reed (12:59):
And then like, I used to volunteer in school, so this is like not new to me. So, I've been doing like volunteer work, I had a school store in school and we named it ShopRite, so I basically did that too, so.

Joe Murphy (13:12):
(laughs)

Hakimah Reed (13:14):
It was a lot, but I managed to, you know, work hard and help others. Like I did, like, at school, I used to help... Like if some students they couldn't feed theyselves, I would help feed them, like volunteer extra.

Joe Murphy (13:34):
Yeah.

Hakimah Reed (13:35):
For like, you know, extra credit and stuff in school, and yeah. I'm proud of myself I did all that, but I did a lot.

Joe Murphy (13:42):
That's awesome.

Hakimah Reed (13:42):
Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Murphy (13:45):
So, is there anything else that anybody wants to add about Hakimah or any of the work that's she's done? Before I give Hakimah the last word, I wanna ask Aaron and Gwen and Heather.

Heather Robb (13:55):
Oh, I just wanna say that I'm, uh, so proud of Hakimah, like how far she's come and, and all the hard work she put into it. She really is a natural with working with people and with kids, like she said. Um, it doesn't surprise me that-

Hakimah Reed (14:06):
Yeah.

Heather Robb (14:07):
-she volunteered at school. I volunteered with Hakimah once, we both volunteered at the Democratic National Convention together.

Hakimah Reed (14:13):
Yeah. Oh, yeah, I remember, we went to the DNC democratic thing and we was, me and Michelle-

Joe Murphy (14:19):
(laughs)

Hakimah Reed (14:19):
-and a whole bunch of people. But, but they're playing with the kids at the DNC, we had a lot of fun down there.

Heather Robb (14:26):
They assigned us [inaudible 00:14:27]

Hakimah Reed (14:27):
Yeah.

Heather Robb (14:28):
To work with kids in the, um, in this kind of play area where they had a bunch of different activities. And I got so many compliments about Hakimah and how wonderful she was (laughs) working with, with kids. Like someone thought, someone asked me if she was a teacher. Remember that, Hakimah?

Hakimah Reed (14:43):
I remember, you came to me and told me that.

Joe Murphy (14:43):
(laughs)

Hakimah Reed (14:46):
Me and Michelle and Felipe was having fun with the kids. We took a lot of pictures down there.

Heather Robb (14:53):
Yeah, so it... Sh- she, she works hard.

Hakimah Reed (14:55):
Yeah.

Heather Robb (14:56):
Whether it's volunteering or working for a paycheck, she, she always puts 100% in, uh, like every time.

Hakimah Reed (15:01):
Yeah.

Heather Robb (15:02):
So, they're lucky to have her at ShopRite.

Joe Murphy (15:05):
Thank you, Heather.

Hakimah Reed (15:05):
Yeah.

Aaron Williams (15:07):
I, I'll add a little bit to it. You know, I haven't been here as long as, you know, as a lot of our staff that we have here. We have staff who have been here for decades, so, you know, I'm, I'm a little bit new, uh, in comparison. But all of the reviews I've heard, I, you know, people who've been here 10 or 15 years, they said, you know, Hakimah's been here so long, um, and just seeing the growth in her and her having a, an actual, uh, community integrated employment position on top of, like she said, TastyKake. That, well, that's a little background. So, she'll come here at about, what, 8:30, nine o'clock?

Hakimah Reed (15:39):
Nine.

Aaron Williams (15:39):
In the morning and then go out to, um, TastyKake and pack up the food products. And she leaves at about 2:30 and sometimes she'll do that and her shift will start at four, and she'll got four to nine at ShopRite. So, she, she's definitely a hard worker, um.

Hakimah Reed (15:54):
Right.

Aaron Williams (15:56):
You know, definitely has a passion for working, um, and you know, very ambitious, one of the most ambitious people I've, you know, ever met.

Joe Murphy (16:06):
So, Hakimah, I wanna put you on the spot here, um, with a question. If there's somebody who is is looking for a job who has waited for a long time like you did.

Hakimah Reed (16:17):
Yeah.

Joe Murphy (16:18):
What advice would you give them?

Hakimah Reed (16:21):
I would say, uh, it'll come to you, just give it time. Um, um, do, first pray, because it will come by praying, 'cause I did a whole lotta praying.

Joe Murphy (16:39):
(laughs)

Hakimah Reed (16:41):
(laughs) And, uh, just let it come to you and you'll... They'll let you know when you get it. To know, you know just be positive and just wait, give it time. Basically just give it time.

Joe Murphy (16:57):
Thank you so much, thank you Heather, Gwen, Aaron, Hakimah especially, um, for sharing.

Hakimah Reed (17:03):
Oh, thank you, man, no, you're welcome. (laughs)

Joe Murphy (17:05):
I told you, we're gonna keep them short. We don't want, wanna hold people up real long.

Hakimah Reed (17:08):
(laughs)

Joe Murphy (17:09):
I think you guys, you ending like that was perfect.

Hakimah Reed (17:10):
Yeah.

Joe Murphy (17:13):
So, perfect. Uh, if people wanna get in touch with you, can they get in touch with you to ask you questions later?

Hakimah Reed (17:18):
Sure.

Joe Murphy (17:19):
What would be the best way? So we'll put up-

Heather Robb (17:22):
I, I think that Hakimah

Joe Murphy (17:23):
Heather's email in the... Is that okay with Heather, to you, you said?

Heather Robb (17:26):
Yeah, yep, I can come and bring her the messages and she can come to my office, reply to the messages

Joe Murphy (17:34):
All right, cool. So if anyone has questions for Hakimah [inaudible 00:17:34] you can get Heather's email in the show notes. Um, ladies and gentleman, thank you very much.

Hakimah Reed (17:42):
You're welcome.

Joe Murphy (17:42):
And I look forward to doing this again maybe.

Speaker 1 (17:43):
Thank you for listening. We hope the information provided was helpful. Don't forget to stop by our website and take advantage of all we have to offer.