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Job fair opens door for ‘second-chance’ employees




Amienia Hulsey (left), a recruiting coordinator for One Direction Employment, and Elizabeth Guerrero, the office manager, set up at the Murfreesboro Day Reporting Center hiring event last week.DAN EPRIGHT

Amienia Hulsey (left), a recruiting coordinator for One Direction Employment, and Elizabeth Guerrero, the office manager, set up at the Murfreesboro Day Reporting Center hiring event last week.DAN EPRIGHT

The Murfreesboro Day Reporting Center & Community Resource Center held a hiring event last Wednesday to assist businesses in finding good employees and to help previous offenders in their search for gainful employment.

Many businesses in Rutherford County – including restaurants, warehouses, and manufacturers — continue to work hard to fully staff their operations.

The Day Reporting Centers and Community Resource Centers are offices of the Tennessee Department of Corrections.

Businesses participating in this job fair included: 1 Direction Employment, Express Professionals, Express Professionals at Taylor Farms, Randstad, Tyson, Marelli, Leviton, McDonald’s, Diverse Staffing, Goodwill, TN Vocational Rehab, HG Staffing, Schwan Cosmetics, Amazon, Old Time Pottery and Vi Jon.

Several employers who said they have had positive experiences in hiring formerly incarcerated workers, returned to the event, including 1 Direction Employment and Vi Jon.

“We have a lot of employers here who are ‘second-chance’ employers,” said Sandra Plumb, the Offender Workforce Development Specialist for the Murfreesboro Day Reporting Center. “I wanted to set a day before the Tennessee COVID-19 unemployment cutoff on July 3. Before everybody starts looking for a job, I wanted to give our population a step ahead.”

Chris Moses (left) helped Sandra Plumb, the Offender Workforce Development Specialist for the Murfreesboro Day Reporting Center, at the center’s hiring event last week.DAN EPRIGHT

Chris Moses (left) helped Sandra Plumb, the Offender Workforce Development Specialist for the Murfreesboro Day Reporting Center, at the center’s hiring event last week.DAN EPRIGHT

Angela Brown, a Vi Jon company human resources generalist advisor, said a criminal offense is not a dealbreaker for employment with the company, as long as the offense does not involve harm to other people.

“We are giving people second chances because they deserve second chances,” she said. “A lot of times people do get into situations or mishaps with their lives. At Vi-Jon we believe we are a family. We hold each other accountable, and we are intentional about building relationships with each other.”

Elizabeth Guerrero is the office manager at staffing agency 1 Direction Employment. She said her company is helping to find warehouse workers, forklift operators and machine operators. “Many of the companies we hire for are ‘second-chance employers’ and are willing to work with participants of the DRC program,” she said.

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