A Second Chance
One of our teammates at Dasher battled addiction at one point in their life. It led to poor decisions that landed them in prison. It also left them divorced and a single parent to a small child.
Now sober and out of a destructive marriage, one negative remnant remained: a criminal charge that, in the eyes of many employers, disqualified potential employees’ right out of the gate.
We decided to meet this candidate and see what they were really like.
Many state and federal contracts prohibit hiring someone with any convictions, so despite “Clean Slate” laws, these hires are complicated. But I knew this candidate could not afford to sit on the sidelines.
They came in, and we talked. They were clean, sober and ready to work hard. I called our client and said, “If this makes you uncomfortable, we won’t move forward.”
The client asked for time to think about it, but ultimately said, “Let’s do it.” We gave this person a second chance.
They now work for Dasher and they are doing exemplary work. In fact, a dream vacation for their cherished child is in the works.
A Message for Everyone
Our hiring process is all outlined and prescribed. However, we don’t reject someone out-of-hand, and the steps in our process don’t disqualify someone for one nervous answer.
The disease that consumed this candidate could have messed up their whole life. But when they overcame this addiction, strong values remained. Dasher gained a valuable employee because we took the time to look deeper.
It’s a valuable message for all employers.
Dasher is a data-driven, customer contact, services operation with a focus on communicating complex messages to diverse population. Specific capabilities include face-to-face communications provided by our field teams, customer engagement strategies provided by our call center and member engagement staff, and secure, complex variable mailing services provided by our production team. Dasher is an experienced minority woman disadvantaged business enterprise (MWDBE) with a bestselling book, “The Talent Pool” and is certified by AICPA with the SOC2SM Type2 data certification and validation.