Second Chance Hiring

Finally, some companies are reevaluating their hiring processes and trying to eliminate needless steps in order to find people amidst The Great Resignation. 🙌 So what is second chance hiring?

Key topics:

✔️ Is that the same thing as "boomerang hiring" and inviting a former employee to come back? No. Second chance hiring refers to hiring people with some type of criminal record.
✔️ Does your hiring process have tests that don't make any sense? Be relentless about improvement. 
✔️ Are you asking a candidate with 10 years of accounting experience to take an Accounting 101 test as "proof" they know their stuff? Doesn't that seem condescending and unnecessary?

Links I mention in this episode:

https://www.uschamber.com/co/run/human-resources/second-chance-hiring

https://www-bostonglobe-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bostonglobe.com/2022/02/13/business/with-job-vacancies-high-employers-seek-out-workers-they-might-have-previously-passed-over/?outputType=amp

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/overlooked-fix-to-worker-shortage-5250004/

Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

Transcript

0:15

Welcome to the Causey Consulting Podcast. You can find us online anytime at CauseyConsultingLLC.com. And now, here's your host, Sara Causey. Hello, Hello, and thanks for tuning in. In today's episode, I want to talk about Second Chance hiring and how more people are giving a second chance to Second Chance hiring no pun intended there. In light of the great resignation, there's a great article about this topic found on us chamber.com. And naturally, I'll drop a link to that article in the write up for this podcast episode. And I want to read a little portion of it here, just so if you're sort of scratching your head and wondering, Well, what exactly is Second Chance hiring is that like bringing back a former employee? Well, that's really more like boomerang hiring. Second Chance hiring is a little bit different, and I'll talk about that. Now. Let me read from this article. Second, chance hiring is the practice of hiring individuals with a criminal record. Second Chance hiring is not only altruistic, but it also taps into a massive source of talent that many businesses can benefit from. There are an estimated 70 million Americans with arrest or conviction records that create significant barriers to reintegration into society. The more than 600,000 citizens who returned from prison each year offer talent, loyalty and motivation that big enterprises have begun to discover. Brands like Walmart, Starbucks and Home Depot have updated their hiring practices to include people with criminal records. A recent op ed by Jamie Dimon chairman and chief executive of JP Morgan Chase and company recognize the value that this labor group has to offer. For smaller merchants investing in Second Chance hiring could be the solution to finding talented individuals in an extremely competitive job market. And then they go on to list a few things to consider when exploring Second Chance hiring. And if you're interested in checking it out, which I recommend you can do so by following the link in the write up. There was also an article posted on LinkedIn news titled overlooked fix to worker shortage. And it was written by Jake Perez, one of the editors at LinkedIn news, and I'll read a little blurb for you here. Employers need to re examine the stigma against job applicants who have a criminal record, according to a new RAND Corporation study, which concludes it's one big reason they cannot find the workers they need right now. The RAND study billed as the first to estimate incidences of criminal histories among unemployed American men found 64% of unemployed men have been arrested and 46% have been convicted of a crime by the time they're 35. With criminal justice involvement, disproportionately higher for black men, tapping these overlooked job candidates in their 30s could be part of the solution to the worker shortage reports, CNN, I will also drop a link to the LinkedIn article so that you can check it out along with some of the responses to the article for yourself. It's good reading, and it's very interesting. This is something that I am seeing with a number of industries, I can't really say that it's just one particular industry. But I am seeing sort of across the board, more companies having at least the willingness to take a step back and say, you know, some of these pre employment checks that we have in place, do you even still really need them anymore. And I'm not necessarily talking specifically about criminal background checks or drug tests, although certainly that that type of testing is included. But you know, some of the, what I would call no offense to anybody, but kind of corny or cheesy pre employment testing, like we want you to sit down at a computer terminal, or we want you to log into a site and prove that you know how to do this job. Now, even though you've had 10 years of experience in accounting, we want you to sit here and take a basic accounting 101 test. I mean, it is a little bit insulting to a person's intelligence to look at their resume and see that they already have a pedigree of being able to do this kind of work, but then you want them to take a test as though they had no experience whatsoever. So I think sometimes companies can be their own worst enemy by trying to do tests that don't even matter get embroiled in too much red tape. There was also recently an article that appeared in The Boston Globe titled with job vacancies, high employers seek out workers they might have previously passed over. I will also drop a link to that as well in the write up for this episode, and I'll read a little bit for you here. Faced with too many job openings and not enough people to fill them employers are considering Canada They might not have even looked at in the past, a change that could have lasting implications for the labor market. Companies are reaching out to applicants with criminal records and disabilities. They're dropping drug testing and welcoming those struggling with homelessness. In some cases, college degrees and related job experience are no longer required. At the end of last year, there were nearly 11 million job openings nationwide, but only 6.3 million unemployed people, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and even as the economy continues to recover, and the need for workers rises, some people are leaving the workforce entirely. In Massachusetts, the labor force dropped by almost 63,000 people last year, while more than 222,000 jobs were added, tight labor markets often lead to the temporary loosening of hiring practices. But this time around, there's potential to bring more people into the workforce permanently. Economists and employment specialists say in quote, as you know, I am not afraid of making bold statements and bold predictions. And I really think that moving forward, companies that are going to be the most competitive are the ones that can be laser focused, and incisive, are there any tests that we're doing that we don't really need to be doing? Are these tests serving a purpose? I mean, if there are tests that are dictated by federal law that you have to do, maybe a D, o, t physical could be one example. If it's a test that you by law have to do, I get it, we obviously don't want to get ourselves into any kind of hot water legally. But if you're doing tests, for example, what I mentioned earlier, you're making someone with 10 years of Accounting and Finance, finance experience, take an accounting 101 test on the internet, which is insulting to their intelligence, and it's a waste of their time. And then you're wondering why you don't have enough applicants? Hmm, hello. In the same way that cringy job rejection emails and certain buzzwords and corporate speak, in job descriptions give me a headache. Whenever I see companies requiring years and years and years of experience in a technology that's relatively new, or they're requiring a college degree, where it really isn't necessary for that person to be degreed, in order to do the job, I cringe. And I, I just sort of take a step back and think, why are they doing that? And look, I'm not biased against college education, I have three college degrees myself, and I can definitely say that I learned a lot. From my time at university, it was not time that wasn't well spent by any means. But particularly when we're thinking about it positions, for example, if I see someone that has an online certification, and 10 years of experience in their field, you know, I don't really sweat whether or not they have an associates or a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. Yet there are still some companies out there that do they just have a boilerplate in all of their job descriptions bachelor's degree required, and it's almost like no one's ever thought to go back and ask the question, Is this even still necessary? Is this current does it really impact the job or the person's ability to perform well, if they do or do not have this degree? I mean, that's really food for thought. And if you're listening to this, and you're in recruiting, staffing HR, or you're a hiring manager in a department, and you're not seeing enough applicants for a job that you're posting, then you should be ruthless about looking at how you can improve your job descriptions and your hiring funnel. Now, I want to dip down into this Boston Globe article again, and read another selection. Kelly Services a national staffing agency that works with 165, employers in New England, launched the equity at Work initiative in the fall to improve access for job seekers, including those on the autism spectrum, or without college degrees. In the run up to launching the program, Kelly placed 645 job seekers with criminal records at a Toyota plant in Kentucky and said the effort reduced monthly turnover to an all time low and increase the diversity rate by 8%. Because of the talent shortage, customers are willing to revisit their hiring policies said Kelly, Chief Executive Peter quickly and quote, yes, I mean, I do think in some respects, it's a bit sad that it's taken the big quit or the great resignation, to light a fire under some of these companies to force them essentially to rethink their hiring funnel, their hiring policies. Maybe they had a long protracted hiring cycle where they wanted to have eight different interviews and Oh, dragging it on and on and they're figuring out now that's not good. Protocol. You know, I was reading not long ago that some companies are doing speed hiring in the same way that some singles do speed dating. It's like, okay, can you do this job, let's have a quick and dirty interview, ding ring the bell and hired. So times are definitely changing. And again, if you're listening to this, you're a hiring manager, you're in HR, you're in talent acquisition and you're not seeing the kind of applicants that you need, or you're just not getting the volume, you're not having people complete the hiring funnel and turn into a bonafide employee. Please, please take a look at your job descriptions and your processes and make a cogent effort to cut out any waste, or needless steps. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you haven't already, please take a quick second to subscribe to this podcast and share it with your friends. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time.