For human resources professionals, it pays you back many times over to find the best employees for your company’s open positions. Hiring is an expensive process in and of itself. Then there’s training, job acclimation, and culture adoption. That is all worth it if your employee is dependable, learns the job, gets along with others on the team, is happy with the wage, and stays with the company. But it can also be very frustrating when these things fail.
Sometimes you feel like you’ll never find the right people to fill certain positions. They don’t work out time and time again, and you’re back to square one.
Perhaps you’ve been looking for employees in the wrong places. Perhaps the right employees for your openings are out there, you just can’t find them because you use the same or similar methods to find them. And perhaps you use those methods because your company policy prevents you from looking in other directions.
A Large Untapped Resource
There is a large, untapped resource where you can find employees. Some of them may be perfect for your openings. These employees will help you smile in the morning, meet your business’s output and quality goals, and make your own job much more pleasant. Unfortunately, in many cases, your own corporate policy may actually prevent you from hiring people from this pool!
These particular employees are former felons. And before you say “Oh no!” please at least read on.
What Former Felons Bring to Their Jobs
Here are some attributes of the former felons available for work through The Job Post:
- They’re hungry to get back to work. . . and eager to find a job.
- Most are looking to change their lives. They’ve learned their lesson and are ready to prove they can be a success story.
- They’ve learned regimen, structure, routine, and hard work while being in prison or jail. These habits usually spill over to help them in the workplace by being on time for work, being willing to do whatever it takes, and working as a team.
- They aren’t looking for the highest pay rate. They understand they’ve been out of the workforce and that they’ll need to work their way up again.
- Most have learned new skills, taken classes, or picked up a trade while incarcerated.
- They improve your company’s retention rates. . . . They stay in jobs longer because they know their options are limited.
What these attributes mean on the job also mean a lot to your company’s bottom line.
On top of all of this, there are even more benefits to becoming a felon-friendly employer:
- You may qualify for tax credits after you permanently hire a former felon.
- You’re impacting the community in a positive way—building up the city around you by hiring former felons and helping them stay away from their former behavior.
One of The Job Post’s clients said it so well:
“There is an untouched wealth of talent and skills in hiring individuals with felony records. Their experiences in navigating many different life situations, when channeled in a positive direction, can have a profound impact on a company’s culture, output, and quality. Giving people a second chance—something we all are in need of—is one of the most gratifying feelings when you see them become whole, fulfilled, and eventually able to give back to others.”
Andy Ribbens, Premier Finishing, Inc.
Minimize Risk with Selection and Vetting
By hiring former felons through The Job Post, the job of selection and vetting is done on our end. We want to send the best employee for your opening, whether that person is from our former felon pool or not. Often there’s a great job fit in the former felon pool, but the company policy requires a 7-year waiting period before hiring former felons. Yet through thorough pre-selection and vetting, as well as temp to hire, it actually minimizes your risk.
Perhaps you can update that policy and require a 2-year waiting period. Perhaps you could allow for special considerations depending on the offense, previous job experience, or programs the candidate has completed that demonstrate high potential.
Give ‘em a Chance – Become a Felon-Friendly Employer
Ex-prisoners face staggering unemployment rates. It often is not because they are not looking for work or don’t want to work. It’s the hiring practices that often keep them from finding the very employment they need to keep them on the right path.
Small businesses are responsible for more than half of the American workforce. Your influence on this issue is tremendous. And only you can fix this: update your policies, obtain great employees from a different pool, and positively impact the community. Connect with The Job Post today, and learn more about finding more employees by becoming a felon-friendly business.
