Helping Justice Involved Individuals Get Living Wage Jobs with Rose Velasquez

Hi. This is Paul Zellizer, and welcome to the Awarepreneurs podcast. On this show, we dive deep into wisdom from some of the world's leading social entrepreneurs. Our goal is to help increase your positive impact, your profitability, and your quality of money. Before we get into today's topic, I have one request. If you could hit subscribe and do a review on your favorite podcast app, it helps more people learn how to have positive impact through a values based business. Thank you so much. Today, I am thrilled to introduce you to another rock star from New Mexico.

Can you tell I love living here? Rose Velasquez. Our title is helping justice involved individuals get living wage jobs. Rose Velasquez is the CEO of Hiringhub, an executive recruitment firm specializing in helping high performing companies find top talent. With over a decade of experience, Rose is passionate about matching individuals with roles that align with their true strengths. She believes the right job can transform lives and drive organizational success. A native of Arizona, Rose relocated to Albuquerque in 2002 and built her career around empowering job seekers and employers. Her commitment to building passionate, productive teams has made her a trusted partner for southwestern organizations, ensuring every hire strengthens a company's culture and long term success. One of the things hiring hub is best known for is its second chances placement.

Rose, welcome to the show.

Hi, Paul. Thank you for having me.

I am so thrilled to have you here. And full disclosure, sometimes I interview complete strangers, but Rose is not a complete stranger. Rose is a awesome participant in the SBA Thrive Albuquerque cohort, and I happen to have the honor of being the business coach for that. It's an accelerator here in Albuquerque. So we know each other. So if we're talking like there's some familiarity here, that's why. Rose, give us a sense, this whole piece around hiring some folks who've had some run ins with the justice system. Like, where did that come onto your radar? Most recruiters aren't thinking that way.

Like, when did you start to, like, say, okay. I like doing recruiting, but there's this whole group of justice involved individuals that aren't being well served, and I wanna do some of that work.

Right. Right. Actually, it was never on my radar either. It how I fell into it was a couple of years ago, we were awarded the city of Albuquerque contract for all of their temporary staffing. And one of the first requests we got from the city was, you know, we're gonna need 80 workers for sanitation. Anybody who dials 311 to say, somebody graffitied on this wall or somebody dumped a mattress over here, they would be doing cleanup. And, you know, New Mexico has lower wages than some other states. And in a city contract like that, they mandate exactly what you pay and exactly what you bill.

So we started to recruit for that, and I realized I am having a terrible time finding people that wanna work for 14:25 an hour to pick up trash. So I went back to the city of Albuquerque and their HR department. And at the time, they had a very progressive HR director that was willing to look at doing different things. And I said, would it be okay if we did second chance hiring in these positions? And so they hadn't done that before because the city had a regulation. I think at that time, you couldn't have had a felony within 3 to 5 years, and then there were only certain positions they would consider them for. So he thought about it, and he came back and he said, as long as the crime doesn't affect the position. Obviously, we can't put somebody who has been embezzling in the accounting department. He's like, let's let's go ahead and try it because just the city, like everybody else, has had a terrible time finding good candidates and hiring enough people.

So we started that program a couple of years ago, and it has been hugely successful. Nice.

And at that like, when was this? When are we talking, you had this conversation?

So it was fall of 22. So we've been doing it for about 2 years now.

Yeah. So we're recording this towards the end of October of 24. Nice. And just, like, are you wired this way? Like like, have you been thinking about how to help folks who maybe haven't had the easiest go of it in life? Or is is that something that Rosaleska has done before this came along? Or was this, like, just you saw an opportunity from an entrepreneur perspective, and that's how this got started? Was it a little bit of both?

Yeah. I think it was a little bit of both because I've you know, I'm in a rotary club here. I I do think that it's important to give back into your community. And and as a business owner, you gotta have a healthy community to have a healthy business. So so I have done a little bit of volunteer, but, honestly, it was not on my radar until I realized, hey. This can really work.

So when you started hiring up, this wasn't necessarily, like, baked into the d some people launch with an impact thesis, and and this one kinda like, oh, wow. Look at this. Here's this opportunity. Like, personally, you had some inclination to volunteer. It wasn't baked into the origins of Hiring Hub. And remind us, when did you start Hiring Hub?

So, well, I've been in recruiting for about 15 years, and I had an executive recruiting firm for about 10 years, Employers Pro Advantage. And then Hiring Hub was a spin off from that in July of 22, and that was the same time that the Citi contract was awarded was July of 22.

Right. That's about 15 years into recruiting, 5 years into this specific iteration of the business. Something came along, and you're like, oh, wow. Okay. This is here. We have a problem. Right? One of my clients has a problem, and here's like, you were thinking outside of the knowing you, like I said, listeners, I know Rose a little bit. You're an innovator.

You're you're not like, oh, well, it kinda sucks that you can't find anybody to hire, but, you know, we'd we did our best. Have a good life. That's not how you're wired. Is that fair to say?

Yeah. Absolutely. But all those departments are all fully staffed. And the city of Albuquerque said, this is the first time we have been fully staffed in these divisions in about 7 years. So they were completely surprised also.

Yeah. Awesome. So so you had this innovator mindset. And if anybody's listening, if you haven't really thought about innovation as one of your key strengths as an entrepreneur, then I would encourage you to lean into that a little more. But you had this innovation, you know, mindset. Here was a problem. Let's give this a try. Like, give us a sense when you were thinking of pitching this.

We have we have social entrepreneurs who are listening from all over the world, and and they're looking for these types of creative solutions. But, like, how did you think about some of the objections? Like, okay. Wait a second. You want me to hire not only one person, but maybe at scale people who are coming from prison? Like, what were some of the objections that you were trying to solve for before you made this pitch? Right? You know, whether it's a climate entrepreneur who's like, oh my gosh. It's gonna be, like it's gonna be so expensive to do it in a more green way or, like, how can what you did with the city, knowing you again, I I know that you're not just somebody who would, like, randomly toss it out there. I know Rose. Right? Rose would, like, do her homework a little bit and say, okay. They might think about x y z objections.

What were some of the objections that you were planning for as you pitch this to your first client who said yes to this, the city of Albuquerque?

Well, I think it's specific to our own community, and I don't know how specific, but Albuquerque has had a real problem with homelessness and the crime rates. So since the city is the one that gets the heat or the flack for not solving that problem. I knew that they were gonna have some challenges and questions, but I went in with, you know, not only will this help these people, but it's going to help our community. And who better than the city of Albuquerque to give somebody a chance? I mean, they're coming out of the city's justice systems and gonna go right back in if there's no opportunities. So and then knowing that we would be very specific in how we placed because throughout the city, we there can be community centers. There can be parks where children are. So I had to assure them, we will be very specific in who we place where.

Awesome. Yeah. I'm pretty sure that Albuquerque is the only city in America that's dealing with homelessness. Right? Nobody else Right. No. Nobody else is dealing with that at all. Right? Yeah. No.

I'm I'm joking here. Yes. So so you thought about both from their perspective, like, if you are a city that has homelessness, seeing trash, there's there's graffiti, You thought, wow. They're have a very they're getting heat. Right? The city I've been to chamber meetings and other things here in Albuquerque. There's things getting into the media. Like, even I saw one this morning. Right? There are very robust and powerful people who are really mad at the city about certain things like you're describing, and you put yourself in their shoes.

A mentor of mine says, always start with empathy, Paul. You started with empathy, thinking about what it was like to be in the decision maker's shoes, and then you said, let me help you understand how this could be really good for you. Is is that somewhat along the thought process? Yeah.

Exactly. I wanted to show them that there could be a value and a benefit to them for doing this in more than one way. Not just that, hey. We'll get the city cleaned up, but, you know, help some other people in the process. And, you know, I found that originally it started as let's just get some people to to pick up trash. But I really wasn't aware of, as a regular citizen and a business owner, I don't think most people are aware of what the process is of when you're getting out of jail or prison regardless of what you did and how challenging it is to get a job and get yourself back on track. And when I did find out, I kind of thought, you gotta be kidding me. No wonder everybody is a re offender.

They absolutely get in a situation where they don't know what else to do. So, I mean, it kind of made me aware and think, oh, there's a lot of problems that need to be fixed, but this is one easy way to start helping them. And now we look at them for all kinds of positions. You know, they don't just have to be entry level positions. They're productive in filling all different levels of positions and with different companies, not just the city.

We're gonna we're gonna get to some of that technical things you've learned. Before we do that, let's just tell a story. You told me a story before we hit record of a woman's life who is changed by this program. Tell us tell tell tell our listeners what you told me about her story.

Right. Recently, we did some testimonials, and we were just blown away by by what they said. We even had no idea what an impact we were making until we did these. But one young lady said she had gotten out of out of jail. It was a drug charge. And one of the things that happens is they they cut they have to go to a halfway house, and they actually have to pay to stay at the halfway house to get themselves started. So she was homeless. And as she was graduating out of the halfway house, she literally didn't have a place to live next to nothing.

And we told her, you know, we can put you in the sanitation division and get you started, and she was very willing. So she did well, and she actually ended up getting hired permanently by the city about 9 months later. So the 1st year that we were working with the city, we decided to give out Christmas gifts, and we got beanies because it's cold in Albuquerque for all of the temporaries to wear as they're outside working. And in her testimonial, she said, you know, one thing they didn't consider is they really cared. They came around and gave Christmas gifts. And that year, that was the only Christmas gift I got, and I still have my beanie. And I just made us realize, you know, when somebody gets sideways, sometimes they disconnect from their family and their friends because of the issues they've had. And they're not just in a spot where they don't have a job.

They're in a spot where they don't have anybody. And little things like that made a huge difference.

What a beautiful story. So listeners, we'll put a link to the there's a video of the testimonies. You can hear actually both sides on the employee as well as the employer side. Those will all be in video on the hiring hub website. You can check the show notes and go watch that for yourself. What a beautiful story. Yeah. And, what's it like to go to work when that's like, every day, you're working for more of that? What what's that like to be somebody who goes to work for that to help more of that?

You know, it's it's amazing because work is work. And even in this field, whether you're dealing no matter who you're dealing with, work is work. And to get a little bit of feel good and know that what you're doing is making a difference gives you the motivation to come back the next day.

Yeah. Cool. So we have some more stories, but but we have some very granular listeners. Actually, I use that word so much that people tease me about it. Oh, there goes Paul. If if if there were any big drinkers, I'm not a big drinker. It could be a drinking game. How oftentimes I use the word either granular or nuanced.

So, anyway, let's do it that whatever you want. Yeah. But but so people are I'm like, okay. We get it. That's super cool. Thanks for that story, but give you some more details for us. So you've been doing this now for 2 years. And as you mentioned, it's not just the city of Albert.

It's not just one employer. It's a number of employers. And we're not just talking about a few people. So give us a little bit of a sense of the scale we're talking about. So 2 year, you know, 2 years ago or a little more, you start saying, oh, I have one client with one problem, which is we can't get anybody in to fill these positions around trash and graffiti and stuff. But, like, it's blossomed from there. So what does it look like as we're recording the the the second chances part of hiring comp? It's not all you do, but it's a pretty robust program by now. If I'm a listener saying, what what's the scale here? And wait.

There's more than one employer? Like, give me some sense of what's on the ground right now as we're recording this.

You know, I would say right now, we probably have 20 to 30 different companies in Albuquerque that are willing to hire this way. And some people are you know, I like to to help in the community. Staffing tends to target a larger company, medium to large company. So some of the small companies that I've talked to, what I've made them aware is, you know, you could do this on your own. I can help you make some connections to find these kind of candidates, and and then you get a tax credit. And that's the other part of it. There is a work opportunity tax credit by the federal government that's good through 2025, so at least through next year, but it's been ongoing for different years. The congress makes some changes in it.

Hopefully, it's still around, but it will give you I believe it's $22190 per felon that is hired. It will give you a tax credit after they work with your company for only a 120 hours. So within a couple of months of hiring this kind of person, you can have a huge tax credit. And it's just and it it's isn't just for that. You can hire just so everybody knows. It works for veterans, somebody who's been unemployed or on SNAP, people with felonies. There's about 4 different categories.

Great. But I

don't think people are aware of the that felony tax credit.

Thank you so much. Again, we'll put a link in the show notes to that work opportunity tax credit. Thanks for sharing that. So there's you get motivated people, like, super, super motivated. You get a tax credit, and that's turning out to be an interesting pitch. So you you have 20 to 30 employers in the greater Albuquerque area. And, by the way, you don't just place people at Albuquerque. You could work pretty much anywhere in the US is my understanding.

Yes. Yes. We can work anywhere.

So if you're listening, you're like, that's is this sounds awesome, and I would love to have somebody who has this experience, but I'm in Florida, Hawaii, or California. The call Rose. Don't don't stress out. Keep breathing. She's got you back there. So 20, 30 employers, like, give us a sense. As you were saying, this this is kinda mushroomed way beyond, like, cleaning up trash and and, you know, getting rid of graffiti. You have people doing a wide variety of tasks.

What are some of the things that people in this program, the 2nd chances type hires are doing right now as we are recording this?

Well, we have people that are project coordinators. We have a lot of warehouse employees. You know, basically, customer service. We have all kinds of people. And then some of the people that went in to be working in sanitation have been hired in different divisions of the city because they were able to prove themselves. You know, really the only area that we have a difficulty with would be something like accounting and finance for children, where children are in the environment. Yeah. But they can pretty I mean, there's there's all kinds of people who maybe get off track.

You know, you can have a degreed anything, a degreed engineer that, you know, maybe had a drug problem and got themselves in trouble and, you know, now is having a hard time reintegrating into society and getting a job back.

Yeah.

I think people think of felons as everybody with a felony is a murderer or, you know, has been selling drugs or that it's really something terrible. And it doesn't it's actually not that way. I'm really kind of saddened by the justice system, but sometimes we see people with drug charges or transporting drugs where they've been in jail for 10 years and a murderer has been in for 12. I mean, it just

Yeah. Yeah. Thinking of think of what health care costs right now. I I used to be in community mental health and community organizing, and I know of a situation where somebody was selling drugs or transporting drugs. It's a while ago. I can't it was a drug charge. They were involved in the drugs because they were trying to get money for their loved one to get medical treatment, and they didn't have the money. Mhmm.

But what would I do if I didn't have the money and somebody I really, really, really loved was needing something to save? This was not a let's just say this was not like a face lift. This was like a life saving surgery. And if they didn't get it, they were gonna die. And they didn't the family didn't have the money, and they made that choice. And would I

It sounds like you're talking about Breaking Bad, Paul.

Well, yes. Yeah. We do live in Albuquerque, don't we? Yes. Yes. I wasn't thinking of Breaking Bad, but, yes, of course. Right? But, like, that's just an example of, like, somebody who's, like, a good human, who's lived a good life, has faced in a horrible situation. And that's you could say, well, Paul, you're just, like, picking one story about like, I did community mental health for 7 no. 15 years and saw so many heartbreaking stories where people who had lived good and ethical lives faced horrible choices in some communities where there were very little options.

And, like, who knows what I would do or what anybody would do in those horrible situations. And then you get good humans in tough situations who after they did their time or did the process that was to try to repair back the harm still needed to make a living. Right? And so I just tell that to say I I am thinking of dozens and dozens of families that I work with in those. My specialty as a male clinician was a lot of the young men who got justice involved in them. Moms and the grandmas are real. Paul's a guy, and he's a therapist, and everybody else is a woman. So let's go to Paul with our story. I did it for 15 years.

Yeah. Yeah. So good humans in title, especially when a young dad often became when a young man became a dad and he hadn't been on a real robust career track, and suddenly he was facing his kidney to diapers and or he had a medical challenge. And he Right. Was not he he didn't have a PhD and was not working at LANL or something like that. Right? Yeah.

And you also think when you said young man, I think we all did some pretty foolish things when we were 19, 20, 21, and a lot of it is is that too. People look at charges young, and and now they would never do something like that.

Yeah. Absolutely. Cool. Well, let's do this. In a minute, Rose, I wanna come back, and I wanna hear your suggestions with more. You you've learned something, and you're doing it at scale and how to put some guardrails up and what your suggestions are for people who do want to, a, assess, is this a good pathway for them, and, b, how do they think about safety and having it be a successful placement? You've developed a lot of processes there. Before we do that, I just wanna take a quick break, hear a word from our sponsor. Are you passionate about making a difference but feeling stuck on how to take your mission driven business to the next level? You don't need a lengthy coaching program.

You need targeted advice from someone who understands the unique challenges that social entrepreneurs face. With my strategy session package, we'll focus on your most pressing decisions, whether it's clarifying your value proposition, optimizing your marketing strategy, launching a new product or service, or adjusting your pricing to align with your mission. These sessions are perfect when you know the direction you wanna go, but you need someone with experience to help you get there. If you're ready to unlock your potential and amplify your impact, book your strategy session now. The link is in the show notes. So welcome back, everybody. I'm here with Burrows Velasquez, and we are talking about helping justice involved individuals get a well paying job and not just that, but really rebuild their lives and thrive after a, you know, tough moment, a a close encounter with our justice system. And, Rose, in the second part of the show, we like to get a little more detail.

So I think people have a sense of, like, the terrain we're talking about. Give us some suggestions now. Like, if I'm a decision maker and I'm like, okay. I got, you know, I I keep hearing about it. We were in the room yesterday together, Rose. Some of our CEOs are like, I am struggling, trying to find people who, a, wanna work, show up, are hungry, wanna get on a I I want people who are on a leadership track, not just get hired for a job, but, like, 5 years from now or 10 years from now running this company. I can't find them. And you're saying Right.

Here's some folks who have that hunger, that ambition. They made a mistake. Alright. This all makes sense, but, like, work with me a little bit here. Give me a sense of some of the guardrails that you've learned to put up so that when you do a second chances hire, the most positive outcomes are the most likely outcomes. What what would you say to a decision maker who's curious but also still a little nervous about how do we make sure we have some guardrails here?

Well, I think some of the things that we did originally, and I would encourage anybody to do, is just have a quick call with your attorney or your HR consultant just to make sure different organizations run differently and and to make sure that there's not anything that you haven't thought of. And and they'll probably point out different things that you would worry about. But we made sure that the crime did not affect the job or that it wouldn't have the possibility to. So just in case something there you know, the worst case scenario happened, if you have somebody who had a drug charge, okay, if they happen to relapse and they are on drugs again, worst case scenario, because as business owners, we gotta, you know, mitigate the risk, they're not gonna be in a driving position. You know? They're maybe they won't be in the warehouse even though it seemed like that's a good fit, not if they're driving a forklift. So just kind of thinking of if if this person's background returns or something happens, how would that affect the position? And another thing I would say is if if somebody's looking at it, the best place to start, if you don't have a second chance staffing company or you don't wanna call us, is go to the probation departments. I mean, there's dozens. We've partnered with dozens of organizations, all kinds of them.

But probation was the first one to start because those they they know they know the candidates already. Their probation officers know them, and they will say, this person is really hungry. They are really trying their best, and then it becomes a partnership with them.

They're almost an extension of the recruitment. Right? So you by building those relationships for you, you have some folks. And if I'm in a probation officer's seat, boy, would I love to not see this person again. Right? They're hungry. They're in a good place. They've worked really hard. Get them a job that pays a living wage. And like the story you told earlier, they're likely to just, you know, sorry we sorry to meet you, but go have a good life kind of thing.

Right? As opposed to, like, I'm gonna see you again 6 months on the merry-go-round that is sometimes our justice system. So engaging probation officers in that way and helping them help you vet who's a good candidate for certain positions. Is is something along those lines?

It is. Absolutely. And so, you know, a lot of them are still on probation while they're working, and we have found that the probation officers are so excited that there's an outlet to help these candidates. It is teamwork. So some of them have different conditions, like if you're not working, you will go back to jail.

Yeah.

So you you get a very responsible employee that is there at work every day because there's a consequence besides getting written up by HR. You know, they're they're gonna show up, but those probation officers will say, you know, we want them to get on the right track. This person seems to be doing well. If you have any issues, call me. And so

I can't

think of another way to describe it other than, like, you have an employee, and you can call their mom to say, hey. He came in late, and the problem is solved.

So so it's a bit of a carrot and a bit of a stick approach at the same time. Right?

Right.

Right. You you get a job, and you get to have that esteem, and you get to, like, have a outlet for your ambition. And, also, one phone call to the bro hey. So and so, you know, didn't show up today. What? This is a condition of their probation. So there's a pretty unique carrot and stick that wouldn't typically be there. Right? Yep.

That's right. Yep.

So I'm thinking I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but one of the just incredible like, one of the highlights for me in this podcast was I got to interview somebody who you've probably heard of before, at least the organization. One of the best known biggest organizations in this space is Homeboy Industries. And I got to interview Tom Bozzo, who is the I think he's still the CEO. He was at the time. Anyway, they've they've just done incredible work, and I'll put a link in the show notes to Homeboy Industries. And they also have Homegirl Industries now. They also have Homeboy Network, which is this global network of people who or organizations who are doing these type of hires. Homeboy has their own social enterprises, restaurants, printing shops, wood shops, where they're explicitly creating companies baked into the DNA of why they're creating it is to create more jobs and building an international network of folks.

So so, please, if you're looking for resources, go check out that this interview. The reason I bring that up, Rose, is I'm thinking of when I was talking to Tom Bozzo and had that opportunity to interview him, he was talking about how they're a nonprofit, and they very much use a for profit, like, business mindset. This isn't just, like, a giveaway, but that there's some you as a enterprise that's thinking about hiring people coming out of prison, they're they're you need a little bit of wiggle room. Right? That's why they're a nonprofit and not a for profit. He said, we we work with our donors and say, look. We we can't run it as a profitable industry from the moment somebody walks out of jail. We need a little extra support. Maybe they get called in on a probation meeting and, like, somebody has to cover.

There are a little bit of extra complexities, or somebody's, like, in the ups and downs of an early recovery from drugs journey that today is just like a rough day. Yesterday rocked it, but today is not the best day. Or, you know, they heard somebody they love had a hard incident happen, and that's more likely when you've been living on the street. You know? That they use those extra resources from their donors and their grantees, their granters, to make a little bit of wiggle room that that first 3 to 6 months is you know, there's an onboarding process that's not necessarily exactly equivalent if somebody didn't have a justice involved background. Does that Sure. Resonate with what you're seeing? And if so, what would you say to somebody who's a leader, like, who doesn't have the benefit of, like, big huge grants from the city of l they're in Southern California. Big huge grant from the city of, you know, LA or some, like, massive, like, startup rock star who just sold a company for a $100,000,000 and loves what Homeboy is doing and writes them a really, really big check every year. Not every company is gonna have that kind of support.

How can a decision maker factor in that, you know, there's gonna be a bit of an onboarding process with somebody who has a justice involved background that might be a little bit different?

Well, there's a couple of ways. I think every what I found out that I didn't know was every city in the country has an information packet that the police drive around. And so depending upon what your situation is, this little trifold card has dozens and dozens of different resources for these people. So they shared it with us. And then as candidates come in, you know, we're not a $100,000,000 company with all these resources either. We know where to send them. If you don't have transportation, here's a program where as long as you're Ubering to work, you know, it'll be covered up to x amount of dollars per month. Here's a place to get free bus passes.

You know? Here's a organization for fathers if you have children, and they will help you take financial classes. So we just have a whole list of resources to try to help the people if they have challenges. And there's always nonprofits in the community, all kinds of them that that partner to help. So you can partner with those people to get candidates from them, and maybe they've already put the people through the programs, and so they know they have somebody who's really ready to start working. Or you, you know, you can help people get into these programs. But I did think when you you said, you know, if you think about hiring people who come out of prison, I wanna remind people that people get felonies and don't even go to prison. Some people have felonies, and they went to jail for 3 days and then but they still have a felony on their record.

Right.

So, again, don't think of everybody in a second chance hiring program as somebody who's done hard time.

Yeah. Thank you for bringing that. I think Homeboy is specifically catering to that audience,

and

I'm so glad that you brought that nuance up because I, yeah, I was thinking of them and not thinking of what you just described. So thanks for that clarification. That's super helpful.

And an organization can decide too. You know? Hey. We'd like to try something like this to help out. You can select people at different levels. Right? I mean, it could be somebody who had 2 DUIs and is unable to get a job now because they have 2 felonies. But, you know, really, they were in jail for 3 days.

Right.

So different different levels of They

have a house in the suburbs and never spent any time in jail. Right? But they have 2 w 2 DWIs. Yeah. Okay. That's super helpful. Thank you. So what what's the scale of Hiringhub? You gave us a sense of 20 to 30 different employers that you're placing with, but you are somewhat unique in that you're not just a placement company or a recruiting company. You also have some folks, whether they're justice involved in their backgrounds or not, that work for you that go in under the hiring hub brand.

Right? Like, you're not just a few recruiter. You're awesome. You have a team of I forget how many recruiters, 6 is it or something on your website. But you also have a lot of people who actually work for Hiring Hub. Right? That's your model?

Yes. So the temp temporaries, we have hundreds of temporaries that I would say probably about 200 to 220 right now are people with felonies that are working for us. So we have a couple of different divisions of the business. So we do temporary staffing in the light industrial arena, and that's where we can use a lot of the second chance hiring practices. And then we also do executive placement. So for other companies, we have a different team that's finding accountants, engineers, or, you know, a true c suite executive placement.

And if you're an impact oriented group and you wanna support or, I'm sorry, impact oriented leader and you wanna support second chances higher, but you're not quite there yet or your, like, board is like, well, I don't know. Well, just do your recruitment through Hiring Hub. It helps fund the whole entity. So if you're like, well, I'm not sure it doesn't fit or I'm not sure if it fits and it's gonna take us some time, just call up Rose and her team and just, like, look for your calendar, your engineer, your next hire through Hiring Hub, and let's help them that way. So just bring some business of any kind of Hiring Hub that benefits the whole entity, including the second chance. Is that fair to say, Rose?

Yes. And, you know, Albuquerque is only, like, 500 and 525 or 550,000 people. So in our community, a lot of other nonprofits do that exact exact thing. Yesterday, we have a nonprofit that works with children with developmental disabilities. So, obviously, they would not be a place where we could do the 2nd chance hiring, but they're looking for their next CEO. So, you know, they're like, we love your mission. You know? We'd like to work with you guys.

Yeah. So you just listen to that alignment of the mission. And and if you're looking at, you know, any hiring, call Rose and her team. Again, the link's in the show notes. So that's what it looks like right now. And it's always fun to play the, like, growth game. Right? Like, in the Thrive program, people right now are working on their 3 year plans. Right? So tell us, like, 3 years from now, Rose.

What do

you what do you want Hiring Hub to look like?

Well, I'd like to expand. That's our our next plan is to start expanding to a couple new states with physical offices. We do the recruiting from here in multiple states, but to actually get involved in different communities. Arizona is one of them because that's where I'm from, And I'd I'd like to see it expand.

So if somebody's resonating with the mission, they're like, I'd like to see this in my state. You wouldn't be opposed from a call for a ambitious, impact oriented person. Say, let's bring this to Oklahoma or New York or wherever, that would not be an unwelcome email. Right?

No. Absolutely. I'd love to hear from anybody. Anybody who has questions about they might have tried it and ran into some difficulty or something. I'd be happy to talk to anybody. Cool.

And anybody who is the 2 audiences that we have, Rose, and one is the more, what we would call, growth stage. Our podcast is unique that we have more foe like yourself. Right? 200 employees at any given moment. Right? More, less, whatever. Recruitment's happening all over the country, looking to branch out to other cities. Right? We would call that growth stage. So somebody who's at that stage of their business but really looking to have more impact and also really create a more vibrant business. And they have both a hunger on the impact side, and they're really ambitious entrepreneurs.

As somebody who's been at this a while and has grown a company, national scope, hundreds of employees, what would you say to that person who's kinda like our Thrive cohort? Like, you've been around a little while, but now you're really ready to professionalize and, like, really hit that next gear. What would you say to somebody who's in that position about their where they wanna be 3 years from now and how to get there most effectively and with the least amount of stress?

Wow. That's a loaded question. I don't know if you can get there with that. A little a little bit of stress. But

Less stress. Less stress.

Less stress. Right? You know, I I would say if if you find any way to look at impacting the community, especially if you've been doing this for a while or if you get into the stressful part of a business, because I know countless business owners, including myself, that when people say, you know, how did you get started? Why did you decide to start your own business? I was like, I was just dumb enough to do it is my answer because you don't know what you're getting into. It it is stressful and it consumes you. But finding an outlet that gives back and you really feel like what you're doing is purposeful, it makes it worth it, and it's invigorating. So if you've been an entrepreneur for a long time and you're starting to to lag and feel like I'm getting tired of this, it it will it will give you life and a new mission for sure.

So the mission and the values is is really Right. That helps motivate you and keep you going. Could Right. Can I point out another thing again? I know you a little bit. Can I something sitting from the outside, and I wanna see if this feels right? But I'll give 2 examples. Like, you're really good about seeking out and accepting support. So right and I think right now as we're recording this, or if not, one of the places you work from is called West, right, which is an incredible ecosystem. It's a fabulous incubator and resource.

They're all over the country, but they're just rock stars in the New Mexico ecosystem. And your office is at West. Right? Like, you

Right.

Work in an embedded support system where you go walk down the hall, and and there's just awesome people there every day you go to work. Right? And then the second example of that is even though things are going well, you signed up for a very intensive program called Thrive, which is like an MBA level excel. This is what SBA this isn't Paul's opinion. This is what the SBA says. This is an MBA equivalent 6 month accelerate. You're working your tail off with 17 other or 16 other awesome CEOs and sharing resources and just what an incredible cohort it is. From the outside, that's just two examples, and I know there's more of, like, you're not somebody who's trying to go out of the loan. You're willing to, like, seek help, seek support, bounce ideas off, and and be in those ecosystems.

That, in my experience, people who have that approach tend to do better and tend to at least the stress it's not that it's not there, but it's like there's people that help you hold it. And when you're stuck, there's other folks who said, oh, when I hit a similar place, I did x. Where when you, like, put on your blinders and just try to do it all yourself, not as good outcomes and also a whole lot more stress. Does that feel true at all?

Absolutely. Yeah. That and, you know, I was talking specifically more about second chance hiring, but just as starting a business for anybody. And these numbers are skewed. I'm gonna give you, like, around about, you know, give or take 5 to 8%. But any business incubator says someone who starts a business within the 1st 5 years on their own, a small business, only has like a 22, 20 something percent chance of making it beyond 5 years. If you start a business in an incubator, after 5 years, you're like at a 90 something percent chance of being successful. So, you know, surround yourself by people that know more than you because you don't know what you don't know.

And, yeah, use those resources. There's an incubator, probably several in every state in the country. They're federally funded to help build economic development.

Yeah. Awesome. Thanks for being willing to be a poster child for saying yes to support. Yes.

I yeah.

And then in some ways, you already started to some of the answer we were just discussing probably applies, but we were talking about growth stage. Now about 45% of our listeners are more on the early stage. They're they they've got their idea. Maybe they're up and running, but it's them or maybe them and one employee. They certainly don't have hundreds of employees and, you know, having impact at scale, but they're excited. They have their idea. They both are passionate about the impact thesis of their business, and they also are really excited to be an entrepreneur and and have that, you know, freedom to kinda craft their own destiny that isn't always available when you work for somebody else. What would you say to that person who is earlier and has that kind of triple bottom line people impact and profit that you've so robustly established, but this person is maybe in year 2 of their journey as an entrepreneur, not year 15.

What would you suggest to that impact entrepreneur in their early stage?

Honestly, the same thing. I I would say, if it's not if you can't find something through the SBA or you don't live near an incubator that can assist you, maybe go to somebody else with the exact same business. You they're they're your competitor, but you'll be very surprised to see, you know, if if I'm opening my little mom and pop restaurant, if I go over to another family that's owned a restaurant for 25 years, they would be happy to sit down and have coffee and say, these are the things that are gonna happen and here's what I did. But finding yourself some kind of network of other professionals to help you is that will take some of the stress away for sure.

Last year in Thrive, the cohort in Albuquerque, we had 2 high end hairstyle salons. And you would have thought there might have been some competition, but they were so sweet together. They sat next to each other. They incredible supports for each other. And to the extent they could share they they were in 2 different national brands. So there were some things they couldn't share, the secret sauce. But to anything they could share, they just had this open like, if I can give it to you, I will give you everything I'm allowed to give you. And it was so great.

Now some of that's just New Mexico culture. I love living here for thing. Not every place would that happen. But, mostly, I've seen much more of that, especially in the social entrepreneur space. Like, this the world's on fire. We get so many issues. If if I've been doing this for 17 years. Part of the reason I do a podcast because I get to talk to people like you all the time, Rose, and people.

But how how do you know that? Because I'm talking to awesome people, and I wanted to share it. Right? And this is one little the the, you know, 2 hairstylists sitting next to each other, like, cheering for each other and sharing ideas, and and we have an example of that in our cohort this year as well where you could easily see 2 people, 2 gentlemen who could easily be competitors because in on the surface, they're on the same industry. But just yesterday, they were helping each other out. It's, it's Mhmm. Please, let's help each other out and not, like, hold back scraps in in New Mexico. We've really built the culture that a rising tide lives all lifts all the boats. It it really is so heartening to see people who do business that way. Yeah.

Mhmm.

Rose, I could hang up with you all day, and I know you're busy, and I know our listeners are busy, so I wouldn't do that to you. But if there was something you were hoping we were gonna get to today and we haven't touched on it yet, or there's something you wanna leave our listeners with as we start to say goodbye, what would that be?

Well, I think as much as we talk about it, it it will not make the same impact unless people watch the testimonial video because, honestly, my own staff didn't even realize the difference we were making until we watched that. So I would encourage that, and and the whole story wasn't on there, but I wanna tell one more story. So there was a gentleman who had been in prison and got out, and his he had 2 small children that were in custody of CYFD. And it it turned out it was the most heartwarming thing we had ever heard. He he went from living in a car, and and he was so willing to work that he said, I have a car. I'll park my car right down the street, but I'll never be late. He worked really hard. The city hired him, and he's now a mechanic that probably makes more than 50,000 a year.

So he was given a good job. But during the support that we gave him, he had a child that was living still with a spouse or a partner that was still on drugs. And he went to pick up his child, and his 3 year old little boy was living in a tent in the backyard in the cold. And now he sends us pictures of his family. He has his daughter and his son back, and he's working to buy a house, and he's built a family. And it was just I mean, when you see that you can do that for someone, it it will it'll make your work life much better. Like, we get tired. Right? 15 years of recruiting.

I was starting to get tired, but it has reenergized me this seeing things like that.

What a beautiful story. What a great way to end. Please go check out that testimonial video. The links are in the show note. And if you like it, do us a favor. Share it with another impact oriented friend. Let's get the story out there, folks, please. We'd really appreciate your help.

Rose, thank you so much for being on the show today. If somebody wants to get a hold of you, they wanna talk more about this. They're really inspired. What's the best way to get a hold of you?

Thanks for having me. Anybody can visit our website, which has our phone number, all of our information, but it's the hiring hub nm.com, or anybody can call the office. I'd be happy to speak with anybody because I love to share this information. And our number is 505-4314000.

Rose, thanks for everything you do. It's an honor to know you and an honor to help introduce a little bit more of the world to your work.

Thanks. Thanks for having me.

So listeners, especially you New Mexico listeners, come on. Let's get the word out there. This is an an amazing example of what is possible in New Mexico and around the world. Remember that this is not just a New Mexico story. You can call Rose anywhere in the US, and these kind of conversations and resources are available to you. So I do wanna remind everybody that we love listener suggested topics and guests. Something like 30 about a third of all of our guests come because somebody who listens to the show says, hey, Paul. We need to get an interview with so and so.

So I'd love to see that number go way up from a 3rd, but most podcast hosts tell me it's somewhere under 5%. So you all are awesome. Please send your stories in. If you have an idea, go to the AwarePreneurs website. And on our contact page, you can check out our guidelines. We try to be really transparent and send in your ideas. Lastly, I just wanna say thank you so much for listening. Please take really good care in these intense times, and thank you for all the positive impact that you're working for in our work.