Overview
Without committed and active Mentor/Employment Partners, The Redemption Project doesn’t work. These incredible people have seen the power and potential of second chance hiring and have chosen to take the leap and dive into our process which not only transforms lives and strengthens communities, but is simply good for business.
Vocabulary and Definitions:
Second Chance Hiring – The hiring of individuals with a criminal record.
Recidivism – The relapse of a former felon into criminal behavior and return to prison.
TRP – The Redemption Project
EP – Employment Partner
TRP Fellow – An individual who has successfully graduated from The Redemption Project’s Virtues for Success class. TRP Fellow is used interchangeably with “Mentee Candidate” and “Mentee” for the purposes of this Guide.
Goals of the Guide
The goals of this Guide are to transparently (1) highlight the valuable business benefits of second chance hiring and (2) help prospective Employment Partners deepen their understanding of how our process of mentoring into employment works.
Additional ResourceS:
This Guide does not offer in-depth information regarding industry-specific regulations, legal advice, or HR details regarding second chance hiring. Below are additional resources for that information:
Twin Cities Rise Minnesota Employers’ Fair Chance Hiring Guide (Free)
Twin Cities Rise in partnership with Root & Rebound Reentry Advocates gives detailed information about navigating areas like legal compliance, minimizing risks, and business insurance when second chance hiring.
Dave’s Killer Bread Foundation Playbook (Free)
Dave’s Killer Bread is a pioneer and longtime advocate of second chance hiring. Their foundation has released a series of helpful videos for business leaders and HR professionals on a variety of second chance hiring topics.
Outline
This Guide takes about 60 minutes to complete, but we’ve purposefully formatted the content into smaller, blog-like articles for a more mobile and schedule-friendly training experience. There are 4 chapters made up of 2-4 sections each.
Chapter 1: Getting Started
Section 1: Why Should I Become an Employment Partner?
Section 2: What Makes a Great Employment Partner?
Section 3: Including Your Team
Section 4: What to Expect from TRP
Chapter 2: Mentorship
Section 1: Mentee Candidates
Section 2: What to Expect from the Prison Environment
Section 3: Communication Methods
Section 4: What to Discuss
Chapter 3: Job Offer
Section 1: A Question of Trust
Section 2: Offering the Job
Chapter 4: Transition and Success
Section 1: Orientation Before Orientation
Section 2: “ACE” the Employment Transition
Section 3: Visualizing Success
Note: Chapter/Section labels appear throughout the Guide. For example, C1S1, denotes Chapter 1, Section 1.
Application and Next Steps
If after completing all 4 chapters you want to move forward with mentoring/employing a TRP Fellow, you can submit an introductory application (located at the end of the Guide) along with a Memorandum of Understanding.
After completing the application, if you haven’t met with us before, we will schedule a Discovery Meeting where we’ll:
Answer any remaining questions you have,
Find out more about the needs of your business, and
Evaluate making the best Mentee Candidate recommendation possible.
If you have met with us before and we have a good understanding of your business’ needs, we’ll schedule a meeting to recommend a Mentee Candidate.
Can I be a Mentor, but not an employer or vice versa?
What if I’m interested in just mentoring or just employing a TRP Fellow, not both? Can I do that? Yes! However, we ask that all prospective Employment Partners go through this Guide in its entirety.
Mentorship and successful employment are connected. Mentors need to know what to be preparing the Mentee for, employers need to know how the Mentee has been prepared, and the Mentee needs to have a clear understanding of what they need to do at all times. The more separate Mentor and Employment Partners are informed about how the other is contributing to preparing a Mentee for employment, the better and more effective the experience will be for everyone.
TRP will help facilitate this integral communication between parties.
Basic Training. Continuous Education.
This Guide is a basic training. A crash course. A starting place. However, the learning won’t stop here. A large part of what we do is continuously educate and support you throughout our process, so when it’s time to potentially make a job offer to your mentee, you’re equipped to do so confidently.
Whether you’re ready to begin this transformative role as soon as possible or just checking out the process to see if you’re a good fit, we’re excited you’re here and eager to answer any questions you may have along the way. You can always message us via the link in the Guide Dashboard description or the buttons at end of each chapter.
Let’s get started!