September 18, 2023

Second Chance Hiring:
Human Resources Strategies to Lower Your Risk Through Inclusive Recruiting
Ty Reed
Aviva Publishing (2023)
ISBN: 978-1-63618-266-7

New Book Reveals Benefits of Hiring Those with Criminal Records

Ty Reed’s Second Chance Hiring: Human Resources Strategies to Lower Your Risk Through Inclusive Recruiting is an eye-opening and fact-filled book about how businesses can benefit by hiring from the large pool of Americans—more than 70 million—who have a criminal record but want to be a viable part of the workplace.

While many businesses may feel reluctant to hire someone with a criminal record, it is hard to argue with the facts and benefits Reed provides, and he certainly is knowledgeable about his topic. For starters, Reed has his own criminal record. He has been a drug addict and homeless. But he was given a second chance and has never forgotten it, and now he works to help others who find themselves in similar situations.

However, Reed’s arguments are not based in feeling good because you helped someone else—though that is definitely part of the equation. The fact is that hiring the formerly incarcerated can offer an advantage to your business. It is largely a myth that those with criminal records are unreliable or might commit a crime on the job. Reed shows that the real experiences of companies who have hired from this population do not support this misperception.

The book is divided into ten chapters that discuss such topics as how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the workplace and reduced the number of workers and how second chance hiring can help the situation, the benefits of second chance hiring, the risks of second chance hiring, and how to implement efforts to make second chance hiring part of your company’s hiring policies. Each chapter also contains a success story about a company that has implemented second chance hiring and the benefits that have resulted. These businesses range from US Rubber Recycling in California and internationally popular Dave’s Killer Bread to the national company CKS Packaging and Koch Industries owned by the conservative Koch family.

The book’s purpose is to bring attention to the difficulties those with a criminal history face in finding work and why employers need to rethink their position on this matter. In truth, second chance hiring offers a tremendous opportunity for employers, job seekers, and communities. The last might surprise you, but Reed discusses how crime actually decreases in areas where people have good jobs.

Reed has done his research, discussing everything from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) 2012 guidance regarding how employers should treat applicants who have criminal convictions to showing what is wrong with “fair chance” hiring and how background checks are used against potential employees. He also discusses terminology, arguing that people with a criminal background need to be treated with respect, not called felons, convicts, or worse, crooks or jailbirds but simply people with a criminal history or criminal convictions.

The success stories in the book testify to the benefits, with company leaders saying those they gave a second chance to are among their hardest-working employees. Harp, a second-chance employee at MOD Pizza, so impressed his employers that his boss told him to hire more people with the same background as his own.

Reed also clarifies that we should not judge unless we look first at ourselves. He states that every good person has done something bad. Most of us have committed a crime or misdemeanor at some point and been fortunate not to be caught, whether it was driving under the influence, smoking marijuana before it was legal, or committing petty theft. Therefore, we should give others grace.

Because so many people who have been incarcerated have been among the minority population—and consequently from lower income neighborhoods where there is a heightened police presence, it is to be expected they make up a large part of the criminal population. However, hiring people with a criminal history will also help to fulfill your diversity and inclusion goals. Plus, it will help those new employees to lift themselves and their families out of poverty; since poverty is often the motivation for crime, everyone will benefit. Prior to the pandemic, the unemployment rate for those previously involved with the criminal justice system was at 27 percent, but the current goal is to reduce unemployment rates for this population to single digits by 2024. Reed shows how employers can be part of the solution in helping to reach this goal.

Reed ends each chapter with a couple of exercise questions to help the reader think about how they might implement second chance hiring practices. One of the most powerful questions asked is to think back to a time when someone gave you a second chance and how it made you feel. People given a second chance tend to be loyal employees and stay in their positions longer. They range in experience and skills from being professionals to entry-level, and they provide a large pool of applicants to choose from, plus you are likely to have less competition in hiring them. By the time you finish reading this book, I believe you’ll be convinced that second chance hiring is right for your organization.

For more information about Ty Reed and Second Chance Hiring, visit www.RecoveryAndWork.org.

— Tyler R. Tichelaar, PhD and award-winning author of Narrow Lives and The Best Place