Employers Look for Help in Unlikely Place at Allegheny County Jail's Second Annual Job Fair

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By Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Published: 08/06/2003

Carpenters and handymen can be hard to find, particularly if you run a small company that buys, renovates and rents Mon Valley houses.
So on July 17, Rick Burke, owner of R.J. Burke Property Development Co., went hunting for help in an unlikely venue -- the Allegheny County Jail, where he sat at a small table and talked to inmates who are looking for jobs for when they are released. He was looking for a carpenter, a handyman and a secretary with good computer skills.
Inmate Barbara Seibert, 35, of Shaler, handed Burke her neatly typed resume, prepared on a computer.
'Do you have experience with Excel? That is very important,' he asked.
'Yes,' answered Seibert, who expects to be released in the next few months. She was held on a probation violation she said arose from a domestic dispute. She has been in and out of jail at least three or four times in her life for misdemeanors and felonies, but says she wants to turn her life around.
Burke, of Brookline, took her resume and promised to look at it. He left the second annual job fair at the Allegheny County Jail with resumes from other inmates who are looking for work.
'I have a couple of ex-offenders working for me now,' Burke said, adding that both men have proven to be good employees.
'There are a lot of good people in jail. I think they get a bad rap,' Burke said. Giant Eagle, Plasma Care Pittsburgh and the Radisson Hotel all had representatives at yesterday's second annual job fair at the jail. Inmates also could pick up employment information for companies like Crossroads convenience stores, Sunoco APlus and the Olive Garden.
Employers who hire former inmates may qualify for a Work Opportunity Tax Credit, an incentive that can reduce the employers' federal income taxes by $2,400 for each new worker they hire from certain target groups. One of the target groups is recently convicted, economically disadvantaged ex-felons. Not all inmates in the county jail are felons. Many were sentenced there for relatively minor offenses like simple assault, retail theft, driving under the influence or parole violations.
The job fair was organized by the Allegheny Intermediate Unit and Goodwill Industries of Pittsburgh, partners in The Allegheny County Jail Project, which offers readiness classes to inmates, helping them finish resumes, participate in mock interviews and learn about career development.
The jail project is a broad training program in behavior, interpersonal and goal-setting skills. It was developed through a collaboration that includes the Allegheny County Department of Human Services, The Pittsburgh Partnership, Wholistic Consulting and Development Inc. and Duquesne University's Department of Occupational Therapy.
Even though the country's unemployment rate reached a nine-year high of 6.4 percent in June, hotels, convenience stores and restaurants have a hard time attracting and retaining workers for low-paying jobs.
Clyde Duffy of Goodwill Industries said it is difficult to get employers to come to a job fair inside the jail because they fear it would not be good for their image. He said companies that have hired inmates who went through the jail project tend to like it because their new employees are closely monitored.
'If they call me and say there is a problem, we will have a site visit with the employee,' he said. 'I like to say that we provide a warranty.' Yesterday, Alyssa Brenneman, a representative of the Radisson Hotel in Green Tree, was looking for housekeepers and dishwashers.
'Sometimes we find that people who are coming out of incarceration are more motivated than the general work force,' she said.
Wade Chambers, executive sous chef at Pittsburgh Steak Co. on East Carson Street, South Side, said the restaurant already has hired some ex-offenders who live at halfway houses on the South Side and are working out well.
While national recidivism rates for offenders average about 65 to 75 percent, Michael Olack, director of community reintegration for Goodwill Industries, said only about 7 to 8 percent of inmates who have gone through the jail project in the past two years have returned to jail.
Officials still are evaluating the program, waiting to see whether it has long-term effects on recidivism and is helping ex-offenders to hold down jobs and stay out of trouble.

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