How We Support Employers
Finding talent is a challenge. Finding the right talent is an expensive challenge. Cincinnati Works can be an extension of your human resources department, reviewing hundreds of resumes every year and funneling appropriate candidates to your office.
We work closely with dozens of local employers, and we understand the skills, experience, temperament or personality they prefer – enabling us to screen the candidates that are likely to fit.
Our goal is to help our Members build stable careers they can be proud of, so it is in our best interest to send you candidates who are likely to grow with you and your company. We are not a staffing company looking to place a candidate and move on. We are a partner for our Members and our employers.
Contact our Employer Relations team to learn more about becoming an employer partner of Cincinnati Works.
Benefits to Employers
Our programs pair soft-skills training with ongoing personal support services to ensure our Members are and remain job-ready – improving retention for our employer partners. We understand that personal stability is essential to a successful job search and is even more important to maintaining employment.
Our mission requires regular, two-way communication with Members and employer partners. We value pre- and post-employment feedback so we can help our Members continually learn, grow and thrive.
In return, we offer a range of benefits to our employer partners:
- Candidates have completed a drug screen and background check
- Diverse pool of candidates, pre-qualified according to your requirements and desired skills
- Regular engagement with our Members, including on-site recruitment and retention coaching
- Frontline supervisor training and quarterly Employer Resource Seminars
- Ongoing support from Cincinnati Works staff, including communication with you to increase retention
Our Coaches
Our coaches are trained professionals with access to resources across the social spectrum. They have helped thousands of Members identify their strengths and goals while honing the skills they need to succeed in the workplace. No challenge is too big, no dream is too small.
Our coaches begin by addressing the barriers that many frontline workers face: unreliable transportation, expensive childcare, unstable housing, lingering legal troubles. As an individual becomes more stable, our coaches shift to a proactive approach, focusing on the passions that inspire them and the skills needed to pursue that inspiration. The goal is for them to not only survive within the workforce but thrive and advance.
Because coaching is a profession and not merely a position at Cincinnati Works, our coaches are trained in the core competencies as established by the International Coaching Federation – ensuring they lead with empathy and accountability.
Those competencies include:
- Establishing trust
- Active listening
- Direct communication
- Planning and goal-setting
- Managing progress and accountability
Second-Chance Hiring
While unemployment rates shrink and the talent pool appears to be drying up, there is a large, untapped pool of workers available for employers who are willing to make the effort: individuals who are returning from prison.
Thousands of willing, able job-seekers leave our prison system every year in search of stable employment, and Cincinnati Works offers them a proven job-search-readiness workshop and skills development; personalized coaching from professionals who understand their circumstances; and connections to a wide range of additional support services.
If you are willing to offer a second chance but aren’t sure you have the infrastructure to support vulnerable employees, the Beacon of Hope Business Alliance can help. More than 75 local companies and organizations have joined the Alliance, which offers mentoring and support services to second-chance employers.
The state of Ohio also offers a unique program that could help: the Certificate of Qualification for Employment. A CQE allows the state to vet the job-seeker based on his or her behavior since the last offense, rather than judge them solely by their criminal record. Click here to read more about CQEs.
Workforce Connection
Every time you need to replace an employee, your bottom line gets hit in multiple ways – from lost productivity on the floor to the time and expense to recruit and train new workers. Our coaches will work with your frontline employees to address a range of issues that may otherwise cause them to leave or be fired. Because your business works best when you can keep your best workers.
By allowing your employees to access our services, you are helping build a stronger and more-positive workplace culture and contributing to a stronger local economy.
Testimonials
“Cincinnati Works helped me figure out me. They gave me the courage to reach for something that I thought was out of my element. Without them I would have never been able to do it.”
– Melanie, CW Member
“Today, I am a driven young woman who works hard, has a wonderful job that will lead into a career, and is now a college graduate. If someone would have asked me four years ago if I could imagine myself being the woman I am today, I do not think I would have answered positively.”
– Jariah, CW Member
“Cincinnati Works changed my life. They helped me get my life back.”
– Glen, CW Member / Phoenix Program
“I know that when I interview a Cincinnati Works Member for one of our positions, he or she will shine above the rest of the candidates. They will come to the interview polished with an outstanding resume and prepared to answer interview questions. I take great pride in hiring Cincinnati Works Members.”
– Lydia, HR manager for a CW Employer Partner
“The rest of the HR team and I are grateful that we have someone to act as an advocate for our employees outside of us. This is a community resource that makes a difference in the lives of both us as employers and our employees.”
– Yvette, HR manager for a CW Employer Partner
“Having the support of Cincinnati Works has allowed me to be the woman and mother I was called to be. The poverty ends in my generation.”
– April, CW Member
“They allowed me to have some stability and get some confidence in myself and allow me to be a productive citizen in this city that I took so much from, and now I can give back. Cincinnati Works is needed in this community.”
– Ronnell, CW Member / Phoenix Program
“Holistically, whole-heartedly, when you’re with Cincinnati Works, they are working with you to have a better life.”
– Ebony, CW Member
“She pushed me. No, she shoved me. I never had the courage to overcome something like that. Everything I do now, I think, ‘What would she do? What would she tell me?’”
– Yolanda, CW Member speaking about her CW coach
“I cannot say enough good things about your organization. Many community organizations talk a good game, but Cincinnati Works ‘walks the walk.’”