Management

JOB FAIRS GIVE EX-CONVICTS HOPE IN DOWN MARKET

In September, 600 men and a sprinkling of women nervously clutched their
resumes and waited for a chance to land an interview with one of several
dozen recruiters at the civic center's main library in downtown San Francisco.

The scene was pretty much like any of the hundreds of job fairs that have
sprung up in the first recession in more than a decade to help the
unemployed find work. But there was one big difference: every single job
seeker was a former convict.

In the last several years, job fairs for convicted felons have proliferated
around the country, many held inside the prisons themselves. They generally
attract a decent number of local businesses searching for entry-level
workers in factory and telemarketing positions. Some vocational positions
in welding and custodial work can pay as much as $20 an hour, though most
are closer to the minimum wage. But all the jobs offer former convicts an
opportunity to become a part of mainstream society.

The Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility in Clinton Township, N.J.,
which holds 1,200 men age 18 to 30, has held three job fairs since 1999.
The inmates must be three to six months away from release, participate in a
career-awareness class and arrive with a printed resume. This year, 45 New
Jersey companies, including the QuickChek grocery chain and Jarchem
Industries, a chemical manufacturer, met with about 400 inmates.

"The experience of meeting these recruiters itself brings a big change in
attitude," said Carol Winer, Mountainview's education director. "The
offenders say, 'They're interested in me, they shook my hand.' The
companies see that these aren't convict stereotypes hanging from bars and
drooling. They're human beings who deserve a chance."

In Ohio, the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has sponsored more
than 140 job fairs the last six years and even holds teleconferences for
companies that cannot attend in person. Only inmates with clean prison
records who have completed academic or vocational programs will be
recommended to potential employers, the department says. The department has
placed 785 of 2,834 inmates interviewed in jobs since 1996.

At the San Francisco job fair, at least one recruiter understood how it
felt to be an ex-offender needing a break. Ishmael Redden, 40, is now the
manager of an Oakland, Calif., auto-service store called Oil Changers, but
two years ago he was serving a three-year sentence for armed robbery.

After his release in 1999, he entered a drug-treatment program, and last
year he was referred to the Northern California Service League, a nonprofit
agency that helps former offenders find work and navigate the outside
world. After attending a workshop on basic skills like paying bills and
managing stress, and taking an automotive-technology class at the City
College of San Francisco, he was hired in July 2000 as a technician at the
Oil Changers chain, earning $7.50 an hour.

In less than a year, Mr. Redden ascended from technician to manager and
doubled his pay, to $30,000 annually. He returned to the league's job fair
to talk about his experience and give hope to those who were now
struggling. He also hired two new technicians.

"I'm not any better than they are," he said. "You get a lot of enthusiasm
from an ex-con who decides to turn it around. We have more to prove. People
are always wondering when you're going to screw up and go back to jail."

The league's executive director, Shirley Melnicoe, said hiring former
convicts benefited both employers and employees. "Many of these people
realize that this is their last chance," she said. "Businesses get highly
skilled and motivated people who often make better workers."

The Mountainview site in New Jersey has its own education program, and
offers inmates both academic and vocational training in engine repair,
horticultural studies, welding and fork-lift operation. As incentives,
businesses that hire former offenders receive tax credits and free
insurance against employee theft.

Time was, most employers avoided ex-convicts at all costs, but that
attitude is slowly changing. The Uponer ETI Company, a pipe-manufacturing
plant in Columbia, Mo., for example, says 17 of its 87 employees have
felony records, mostly for robbery or drug offenses. (It draws the line at
hiring people convicted of violent or sexual crimes.)

Bev Pottebaum, the company's human resource manager, says most of them work
without complaining, even though they have to lift and pack 500-pound pipes
in often-sweltering weather.

"These are not bad guys," Ms. Pottebaum said. "I try to treat them like
everybody else." She says the men earn $10 an hour and receive company
benefits after 60 days.

Still, old prejudices die hard. And with the onset of hard times, workplace
specialists say, the newfound tolerance of some employers toward ex-felons
may be short-lived.

Last year, Kristy Littauer, a branch manager of the Manpower recruitment
agency in Long Beach, Calif., spent time at the Los Angles County Jail,
advising inmates on job-searching techniques. At the time, a soaring
economy and low unemployment made the prospect of finding a job more promising.

Now though, she and others say, placing a former offender in any job is
considered an achievement. "The best shot with a criminal record is light
industrial and sometimes clerical jobs," Ms. Littauer said. "But they're
always difficult to place."

It helps if your new boss was once in the same position you are. Maurice
Foster, 35, a former drug dealer who ended a two-year jail term for drug
dealing in September, was hired as a technician at Oil Changers after
meeting Mr. Redden, the manager who once did time for armed robbery, at the
San Francisco job fair.

Mr. Foster also has a second job as a forklift operator. His combined
income pales beside the $2,000 he said he sometimes made in a single day in
his drug-dealing past, and sometimes he has trouble making ends meet. But
he said he was grateful for the chance to support his wife and three
children legally.

"My record does make it difficult to get higher paying jobs, but I expect
that," he said. "It's a company's prerogative. I try not to let it get me
down. There are thousands of jobs out there."