Without Limits: 'The Armless Archer' Matt Stutzman on How His Job Search Led to a Gold Medal

Matt Stutzman couldn't find work during the Great Recession. When one company reached out because they thought Matt was the perfect candidate, their enthusiasm evaporated when they met him in person. They thought Matt, who was born without arms, couldn't do the job.

In hopes of feeding his family, he taught himself to shoot a bow. His career in archery was born. Over the years, he has earned world records and a gold medal at the Paralympics. Matt joined LinkedIn News Editor Andrew Seaman on the latest episode of the Get Hired podcast to share his story. He also offers his suggestions to employers hesitant to hire people with disabilities.

A transcript of the conversation is below. You can listen to the episode above or by clicking here.

TRANSCRIPT: Without Limits: 'The Armless Archer' Matt Stutzman on How His Job Search Led to a Gold Medal

Andrew Seaman: October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month or NDEAM for short. So this month, Get Hired is celebrating the stories, talents and contributions of workers with disabilities from across the country. We're also talking about the many challenges people with disabilities still face. This is the final episode in our NDEAM series. And today, we'll hear the story of how one man's struggles landing a job inspired him to do something pretty incredible, teach himself how to shoot a bow and arrow with his feet and eventually snag a gold medal. Stay tuned. From LinkedIn News, this is Get Hired, a podcast for the ups and downs and the ever-changing landscape of our professional lives. I'm Andrew Seaman, LinkedIn's editor-at-large for jobs and career development, bringing you conversations with experts who, like me, want to see you succeed at work, at home and everywhere in between.

My guest today is Matt Stutzman, aka the Armless Archer. Matt's a Paralympic gold medalist in archery and arguably one of the best archers in the world. He was born without arms, so he's been adapting and exceeding expectations his entire life. He turned to archery in his late 20s as a means of supporting his family. And he taught himself the sport through trial, error and persistence. Five years after picking up a bow for the first time, he'd break the world record for the furthest accurate distance shot, a record which had previously been held by an archer with arms. In our conversation, Matt shared his story of how his experiences of trying to get hired as a visibly disabled person led to his groundbreaking career in archery. Here's Matt. Thank you so much for joining us and obviously congratulations on your recent medals. Super incredible. How was Paris?

Matt Stutzman: Oh my goodness. So I've been to Paris three times in the last eight months. The last trip over there, my family was there and it's definitely a memory I'll never forget, ever, because it's the first time my family flew out of the state. The first time they got on a plane, they got passports and I remember them being so happy and it was my intention to just show them a good time in Paris. So for me, I don't know what can top it really at this moment.

Andrew: It looked like an incredible experience and fantastic work. And to sort of get to the idea of how you got into archery. For people who don't know the backstory and if I'm correct, you were having trouble finding work, especially during the downturn, and you decided to pick up archery as way to go hunting, right?

Matt: Yeah. So I remember day very clearly. I got a call from a company and they're like, "Your resume is awesome, please come in." I went into the company and as soon as he saw me, you saw his face just change. He made a comment to me where he said, "If you had prosthetics, I would hire you." And I remember thinking to myself I haven't had prosthetics, I was pretty bitty when I did have them and they didn't last very long and here he was judging me based on what I looked like, not what I could do. And so I was pretty sad. It was kind of like, "What am I going to do? My kids need food and nobody's going to give me this chance to prove that I can work."

So that day, I was sitting at home with my kids and the free TV, the local channels is what I had and there was a guy on there with a bow and arrow. And my brain was like, "Matt, that's how you're going to provide for your family. You're going to get a bow, teach yourself how to shoot it and you're going to go in the woods and you're going to put food on the table." And I never second guessed myself at all. I remember Googling how to teach an armless man how to shoot a bow. And in 2010, there was nothing on Google that would teach me how to shoot. So I pretty much was left to just figure it out on my own.

Andrew: And for people who don't know, despite not having arms, you do pretty much everything unassisted. You drive without any adaptations or anything like that. And even your archery style is pretty much as it would be for anyone with arms.

Matt: So I tell everybody this, that if you were to come into my house, besides a picture on the wall, you would not know that I live there. My house is normal. It's just like everybody else's. I don't have any special modifications, none of that. And even when it comes to driving, I put my right foot on the steering wheel and my left foot runs the gas and the brake. That's it. I can drive the same car you drive. It's something that I've always been pretty proud of is that I learned how to adapt to what is already around me versus having something made or adapted for me. So even the archery, for example, it's not a bow made for me. It's a bow that, I can just take any bow off the shelf and I can shoot it.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: And I think that's a valuable thing for me to be able to adapt to it because not only does it make me feel awesome, but it also shows the world that as human beings, you can adapt if you really want to.

Andrew: And going back to those days too, when you were applying for work, was it one of those things where you were getting the calls back and then like you said, you walked in and they said, "Oh, how are you going to do this?" Was there sort of a string of setbacks when it came to that?

Matt: Yeah, honestly, it was one of those things where I was a confused individual because everywhere I went I was told no, "You can't do that. No, you can't do that." And I've always wondered why couldn't I do that?

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Why can't I do that? And for me, it was pretty depressing. I remember that part of my life where I was just kind of like, "I just want a chance. Just give me a chance. It's all I'm ever asking for." It's funny, it's funny because my first games was London 2012. I won silver there and then two weeks later I get home and all those companies that told me no, were like, "Hey, you want a job?" And I was like, "Wait a minute here." But what I learned later on in life was that my London moment was an education thing for everyone. It wasn't like they wanted me to work for them because I'd won a medal, it's because they're like, "Whoa, he can do stuff. He's a hard worker. He can put his mind to it. He can make it happen." And I think that's why after the London Games, people were like, "Okay, let's give you a job."

Andrew: What was your reaction? Did you end up taking any of those jobs?

Matt: No. I was like, "You know what? I can figure this out." I just figured out how to shoot a bow with my feet and now I could start making money for my family. And offers started rolling in from sponsors and then I started getting opportunities to go do motivational speeches. And I was just able to create my own income shooting bows, which is amazing because I never thought I would have this kind of life.

Andrew: For other managers out there, who when they meet someone who has maybe a physical disability or doesn't look like other people, what would your message be for them?

Matt: I guess first of all, give them a chance to prove that they can do it. Don't stereotype the person because of their disability because you'll be surprised what the physical disability can actually do. In fact, a lot of times, employers will find out that people with disabilities are really motivated. They're motivated to work hard just because even me as someone without arms, I still feel like I need to still prove to the world that I can still do it. So I'm going to put extra effort in. That kind of stuff. Even myself at the games, watching the Paralympics and the athletes that are there blow my mind. It motivates me to want to even do better because I'm just seeing what they can do. I'm just like, "That is insane." I can't believe the guy with no arms is swimming against people with arms and winning. That's crazy to me. How awesome is that?

Andrew: We'll be right back with Matt Stutzman.

Andrew: And we're back with Paralympic gold medalist, Matt Stutzman. When you started getting into archery, what was that like? Was the archery world receptive to you?

Matt: When I first started shooting in my very first tournament, everybody that was there was just blown away by there was the fact that there's this armless guy shooting a bow.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: No one's ever seen that before. And I remember the whole room, I don't know thousands of people, they all just stop in the middle of the tournament and they watch me shoot. And I was so nervous that I'm pretty sure I shot an eight and the whole room just started clapping and cheering, just going crazy like, "Whoa." And I was like, "I missed the target and everybody's clapping right now. The whole world is clapping." And nowadays, let's just talk about Paris, for example, on my last match, I shot only one nine. And when I shot that nine, everybody in the stands was like, "Ooh." And I'm like, "Wait a minute. It's okay, I missed one." So to see kind of where at the beginning of my career, everybody claps that I shot an eight because they think it's so cool to now when I miss one, they're all like, "Oh, he missed one."

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah. And also something that I'm curious about too is just in terms of drive and interest, what is the leap from, "I want to feed my family," to like, "Oh, I could just do this as a competition"?

Matt: So my first tournament, I just went because there was a lot of money to be won, and I was like, "I need money." So that's why I went. And when I was there, obviously I didn't win, I got almost the last place. But on the way home, a bow manufacturer contacted me and said they wanted to sponsor me. And I remember I was like, "How cool is that? This bow company wants to help me out."

And I remember this day very clearly, I tell my friend about the bow and he goes, "Matt, the reason why they sponsor you is because you have no arms and you bring attention to their product. It's not because you're good." And that was when I was like, "Okay, nope, nope. I want to be sponsored because I'm the best and I'm going to do whatever it takes to be the best." And that's where that transition for me from in the woods just providing to really buckling down. That was the day. The next day I started eight hours a day for the first several years-

Andrew: Wow.

Matt: ... just shooting and shooting and shooting and learning and trying to figure this skill out.

Andrew: That's incredible. Eight hours a day is a lot.

Matt: It's a lot. It is a lot. Hundreds of thousands of arrows I've shot in my lifetime.

Andrew: How did you get into the para sports, those sort of competitions?

Matt: Yeah. So I remember going to Vegas, which is the largest money paying tournament in the world. In my mind, that's where the best of the best archers in the world are, so that's where I wanted to compete.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: And as I was there, I kept having this guy, he kept taking videos of me. A couple days later, I realized that he was actually the coach for the United States of America archery team.

Andrew: Oh, nice.

Matt: And he's like, "Hey, we need you on our team. If you can just let me help you make some adjustments, without a doubt, you could be a champion." And he was the first person to really see me as an archer, not just the guy without arms and was willing to coach me. Then he educated me about what the Paralympics were and the things that we could do there. And for me, initially, I kind of had reservations about it because I was like, "I just want to be the best in the world. I don't want to be the best person that has a physical disability." That was my first initial thought. But the more I looked into it, the more I realized that everybody I'd be shooting against at the games have arms and they're shooting elite scores that would win everywhere in the world. It's something to not be ashamed about. And then I was all in.

Andrew: What has competing over all these years been like for you? Because obviously you've been able to travel the world, you've been up against the best of the best, you've set records. What has it been like to go onto the world stage and be able to do that?

Matt: It's a dream really being able to represent something bigger than me, being able to represent the United States of America and my family and compete against the best in the world at it. And if I'm having a good day, I can win. And I feel very lucky and blessed that I'm able to do that. I still can't even really put it into words, I'm still even processing it all, the amazing career that I've had over the last 12, 13 years,

Andrew: And I did read that you said you were pretty sure that this go-around was going to be your last Paralympics, right?

Matt: Yeah. I'll still shoot my bow, just not at the caliber that I am shooting. I've been doing it for such a long time and every day, eight hours a day, so I'm 99% sure. But I am a professional race car driver now.

Andrew: Oh, nice.

Matt: Yeah. And so that part of my life has really taken off. The next couple years, what I've seen and where we're headed with that program looks amazing. And so I'm hoping to maybe change the world in the car racing scene kind of like I did with archery. The other armless archers in this world, it's up to them now to kind of continue the armless archer legacy.

Andrew: Do you have people reaching out to you and say like, "Hey, I would love to do this," or do you get a lot of outreach from people?

Matt: The amount of armless people in this world, you would never guess, there is lots and lots of them. It's almost probably several people a month without arms reach out. My prediction is that there'll probably be seven armless archers at the next games in LA.

Andrew: Oh, that's great.

Matt: Because just based on the people that I'm working with now, there's four that shoot elite level and I know that right now there's three to four more that are starting to creep up on scores good enough to participate in the games.

Andrew: Yeah, that's fantastic. And is there anything else that you think, especially when it comes to sort of employers, because obviously you've pushed yourself to the point where, "Hey, regardless of the environment I'm in, I'm going to force myself to thrive," for people who maybe they have that internal unconscious bias against people who look a little bit different than them or maybe they are missing limbs or they have a physical disability, what would you say to them? Employers and managers.

Matt: Have an open mind. When someone with a disability walks in, just have an open mind of who they are, ask them questions about them that that way you could fully understand what they're capable of. And I guess basically don't make decisions based on what they look like. We're making progress as a country in general towards the awareness of people with physical disabilities and what they can do. It's definitely better than it was even just a couple of years ago, but there's still room for improvement.

Andrew: Well, thank you so much, Matt.

Matt: You're welcome. Thank you.

Andrew: That was Matt Stutzman, Paralympic gold medalist in archery. If you missed any of our previous episodes in this series, you can find them wherever you get your podcast. Also, while National Disability Employment Awareness Month is coming to a close, I hope you'll take these stories and lessons learned with you for years to come. We like to think of this as a central topic of Get Hired, so stay tuned for more episodes on and including these topics. Also, remember that the disability community is large and diverse, so we can't cover everything in any one episode. Make sure to check out the additional resources in the show notes to learn more. If you're leaving this conversation with a new learning to apply to your job, search or career, tell me about it in a review on Apple Podcasts. And of course, don't forget to click the follow or subscribe button to get our podcast delivered to you every Wednesday because we'll be continuing these conversations on the next episode right here, wherever you like to listen.

Get Hired is a production of LinkedIn News. The show is produced by Grace Rubin and Emily Reeves. Assaf Gidron engineered our show. Tim Boland mixed our show. Dave Pond is head of news production. Enrique Montalvo is our executive producer. Courtney Coupe is the head of original programming for LinkedIn. Dan Roth is the editor-in-chief of LinkedIn. And I'm Andrew Seaman. Until next time, stay well and best of luck.