Today I checked my email to see a very pleasant surprise: I finally landed an interview for one of the many retail jobs I applied for! As someone who grew up kinda sheltered with limited opportunities for job experience and is just trying to get out on their own, this is a big deal for me and I’m hoping it’ll be the next step in becoming an independent and functional adult if I’m successful.This particular job is for a nonprofit organization that I have been volunteering with over the past two years. Because of this, I already have connections with some important people in the organization who were happy to provide letters of recommendation for me. I also feel very passionate about this organization and genuinely want to do things to help them. I feel confident that I could pass... as long as the drivers license thing isn’t an issue, that is.I don’t have a license because I never learned as a teen. I had/have driving anxiety that I’m still working to overcome and I had a lot of family emergencies beyond my control happening in my late teens so it was never “the right time” to learn from my parents. Now I’m living with my partner and I’m learning from him but it’s slow going. I also can’t afford car insurance/regular maintenance until I do have a consistent job. I have three different “side jobs” going on but all of that just makes enough to cover my other living expenses + school expenses so it’s time to get a real salaried job one way or another.This specific job is to be a sales associate in the nonprofit’s community thrift store. One of the listed job requirements is to have a license with a clean driving record. At first I thought this probably just meant they needed applicants to not have any infractions with the law period, and I have a clean record with everything else so I thought maybe it wouldn’t be a dealbreaker. Then upon re-reading the job requirements more carefully, I considered that they may also be looking for someone to drive the company vehicle for pickups in addition to working inside the store. That’s something I’m just not qualified for as it stands now. Even if I were to magically get my license today I probably still couldn’t do it depending on what sort of insurance they have on the vehicle (e.g. novice driver limitations).I’ve thought about just being honest and explaining that I can’t afford to have a car/license right now and that I’m looking for work so I can eventually afford one, but I really don’t want to come off as desperate or self-victimizing. I also don’t want to appear disrespectful by stating that I didn’t thoroughly read the requirements at first and did not realize that having a license was a hard requirement (which I’m still not 100% sure that it is). Should I just ask about it when I get there and see what happens? I’m thinking of playing up my general strengths and my commitment to this organization, but I’m worried that won’t be enough.Is there anything I can say to win them over or to at least not completely bomb this interview? Is there any chance they will hire me anyway, even without a drivers license? I want to be excited about this job because I feel good about it otherwise but I really just don’t want to get my hopes up :(
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