Hernan Smiley Smith now has a job he never thought he could have and that’s helping him become an example for his children.
“I want my kids to see that hard work and consistency will get you what you want,” Smiley Smith said. “I don’t want them to ever say that they can’t do something.”
The road to Metro Transit took a few twists and turns for this native Panamanian, but he knows it’s the right path for him and his family.
In 1987, Smiley Smith and mother immigrated to the United States. As a teenager of a single mother and due to language and cultural shock, he rebelled and had a difficult transition. Today, as a father himself, he better understands the lessons his mother taught him.
“She strove and worked hard to build a better life,” he said. “My mother gave me everything and I try to carry myself like her.”
He eventually went to college in Kentucky, had a child, but struggled to find balance. “With a child and my background, I thought it was more important for me to work,” Smiley Smith said. “I even rejected help that could have kept me in college.”
In the early 2000s, he arrived in Minnesota to seek better job opportunities. While he was able to find work easily, he’d need to work 2 to 3 jobs and more than 40 hours a week and without benefits to make ends meet.
What changed his life was a chance conversation with a bus operator at a gym who inspired him not only to apply but learn to accept help in the process.
“Now I can get by with 40 hours on one job and choose whether or not to work more,” Smiley Smith said. “It’s impossible to do it all on your own – you need to let people in to help and Metro Transit has people that will help.”
Today with a more stable career with good pay and benefits that support his family, Smiley Smith doesn’t plan on looking anywhere else. “This is my future. I plan to retire here,” he said.
Keep the metro moving! Apply to be a bus operator.
We're hiring part- and full-time bus operators. Earn $26.16 per hour to start with annual pay increases and outstanding benefits. And a $5,000 bonus if you have your CDL (with passenger endorsement and no air brake restriction) or $3,000 bonus for those without a CDL! Check this list of what you’ll need to apply. You can also apply online in advance to further speed up the process.