Ahmad Popal reveals how he missed out on dream job

A father of four thought he had found the dream job he had worked a long time to secure. But one tiny detail saw him lose the position.

Nine-year-old Zahra Popal gives her father, Ahmad Popal, a hug at their home in Hope Island on the Gold Coast. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

A father of four struggling with the cost of living crisis has missed out on a dream job – because he was left waiting three weeks for a police certificate.

Ahmad Popal, who survived war in Afghanistan as a child before his family moved to Australia when he was 15, said he had long been working to secure a position at a respected car dealership.

He finally got his big break when a Gold Coast dealer offered him a job in September, but the offer was withdrawn because the police certificate – organised through a third party company – was taking too long to arrive.

“I couldn’t get the job. I got my police check – it’s all clean, everything’s clear – but I got it too late,” Mr Popal said.

“The employer was like, look man, we need someone ASAP.

“The guy when he rang me up, it was a Saturday, it was my birthday. He told me I didn’t get the job.

“It destroyed me. I’m 44 now. In 44 years I never cried. Even my little daughter, she came and put her head on my chest.

“I’m like, this is crazy.”

Mr Popal said he had worked a long time to get the right opportunity – only to have paperwork snatch it away. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

Mr Popal, a former Keebra Park High School student, has previously worked in the motoring business, owned a cafe and also worked in the Gold Coast’s movie industry after studying film-making.

He has spoken frequently about his love of Australia and gratitude for escaping the clutches of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

“I’ve been back to Afghanistan only once, for my wedding in 2008. On my wedding day, there were three suicide bomb attacks in Kabul,” he told the Bulletin in 2018. “When I arrived back in Australia, the customs officer said to me ‘welcome back, mate’ and I had tears in my eyes. I could have hugged him.”

However Mr Popal, who has four daughters aged from three to 15, said the struggle he was experiencing to provide for his family amid the current cost of living crisis was proving to be one of the greatest challenges he had faced. The cinephile compared his quest to find a well-paying job to the experience of Will Smith’s character in celebrated 2006 movie The Pursuit of Happyness.

“It (cost of living) is super difficult. Rent is expensive. We’re paying close to $800 a week rent. Everything is expensive. There is nothing cheap any more,” he said.

“This job would have changed my life. Imagine a man who is surviving with $600, what he could do with a $100,000-a-year job. It would have changed everything.

“I don’t blame the employer. I blame the long wait. I’ve lived in Australia for 28 years. It shouldn’t happen.

“The government is making it super tough for us.”

Mr Popal said he is hopeful of getting another chance. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

The company Mr Popal used to obtain his police certificate advises that the majority of applications are completed on the day of submission, however about 30 per cent are referred for manual processing.

When that happens, results can take up to three weeks to be returned.

“Processing of a national police check in Queensland can take longer if the applicant shares similar details with other individuals recorded in police databases, particularly if they have a common name,” they said.

“It is therefore always recommended that applicants order their police check at least two weeks before the certificate is required for employment or other purposes in Queensland.”

It is unclear why Mr Popal’s check took so long, however he suspects his name and Afghan background may have been a factor.

While devastated to have missed out on the job he was previously offered, he has not given up hope that – police certificate now in hand – another dealership may give him an opportunity.

“This is the closest I ever got. I told them, I’m willing to work for free until this police check turns up. He (the employer) said, mate, it’s out of my hands, I have to pull the offer,” he said.

“I missed out on a dream job basically.

“I just hope I can get another chance. To miss out because I was waiting on a police check – it’s crazy.”

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