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| Helping Inmates Prepare with Career Readiness |
| By Jeremy Holkup, ND DOC, Instructor |
| Published: 07/29/2013 |
The Department
of Corrections
and Rehabilitation
(DOCR) has
designed a course
to help inmates
prepare for their
re-entry into
society called
Career Readiness.
It is a two part class that focuses
on Employability Skills and Money
Management.
During the Employability Skills part of the class the inmates will gather information that they will need when beginning to look for employment. They receive a workbook that has a large amount of resources for them. In their workbook they will complete an application, create a rough draft of a resume, as well as write a script of how they should talk about their felonies. Through the course of Employability Skills the instructor helps them take an Interest Profiler to get them thinking about other types of jobs they could explore rather than going back to what they were doing before they became incarcerated. The instructor works with the inmates and helps them to create a final resume on the computer. The inmates also use a mock kiosk program on the computer to make sure they are prepared to fill out an application using a computer. They write rough draft cover letters as well as “thank you” letters, after they complete their mock interview with the instructor. The instructor offers them feedback to help them with the interview process. Talking about their felonies during the mock interviews can be a difficult part of the class for some, but feedback from the inmates at the end of the course has proved that it has been a positive experience. The second part of the course is the Money Management program. The DOCR uses the (FDIC) Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s program titled, “Money Smart”. It is a very detailed program that inmates complete using the computer. It takes them through the beginning steps of opening an account and writing a check, to the more advanced issues such as credit cards and owning your own home. The whole computer program is interactive and has each individual answering questions and completing activities to check for comprehension. As a final wrap up to the course, each individual completes a mock budget of their projected living expenses to calculate their monthly expenses. Upon completion of Career Readiness, our hope is that each inmate takes something away from the course that they feel will be beneficial to helping them get back on their feet when their release date arrives. |
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