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Building Jobs/Rebuilding Lives: Placing Ex-offenders with Employers in the Residential and Light Commercial Construction Industry

NCJ Number
207484
Date Published
1999
Length
34 pages
Annotation
This paper proposes a job strategy for ex-inmates that views them as valuable resources for employers in the home-building industry.
Abstract
The paper applies the six basic steps in a marketing plan to the specific task of marketing ex-offenders to employers in home-building. This involves first identifying the needs of the target market, i.e., the home-building industry; an overview of the home-building industry is presented. The next step is to determine what employers need in the home-building industry; the characteristics of a good employee in this industry are outlined, and specific trades in the home-building industry are profiled. The third step is to evaluate the product, i.e., the skills and abilities of ex-offenders. Some questions an interviewer might pose to ex-offenders in determining their fitness for home-building work are listed and briefly discussed. The fourth step is called the "penetration" strategy, which involves locating potential employers. This section of the paper focuses on marketing a program of ex-offender employment to employers in the home-building industry. The fifth step is postplacement follow-up that identifies and addresses any problems that have occurred, as well as preventing potential problems from occurring. The final step in the marketing plan is to assess its overall effectiveness, in order to ensure that the plan is providing the highest possible level of service to ex-offenders and employers for the amount of time and money invested in the plan. Other topics discussed are accountability, cultivating working relationships with employers, tools for planning and implementation, support for placement programs, and public relations strategies. 21 resources