Add the jobs you hire for and every tool in this
journey computes on them: your wages, your competition, your talent shed.
Find and recruit
The Table: interview coaching for the hiring chair
Prepare to interview people returning from incarceration, in recovery, leaving the military or living with a disability: what you may and may not ask, the mistake most employers make, practice from both chairs, and a structured interview you can print.
Built from The legal rails for each group as of October 2026 (ADA, EEOC arrest and conviction guidance, Indiana Code 35-38-9-10 on expunged records), structured-interview evidence (Sackett et al., 2022; Kuncel et al., 2013) and if-then commitments (Gollwitzer and Sheeran, 2006)
Five population briefs, seven hiring-chair modules, every scenario the candidates practice, and a four-step interview builder that prints a scored guide. Everything you build stays on your device; nothing is sent to Invest Hamilton County.
A candidate just told you the hardest thing they will say all week. Your next sentence sets everything.
Mid-interview, a strong candidate says: 'Before we go further, I want you to know I have a felony conviction from 2021. I have been steadily employed since release, and I am happy to talk about it.' They practiced that sentence. Possibly with this tool. What happens next is yours.
Your move: “The candidate has just disclosed and is watching your face.”
Strong move
You honored the trust, made no promise, and put the interview back on the ground where the law wants it anyway: job-relatedness. The EEOC framework asks you to weigh the nature of the offense, the time passed, and the relevance to this specific job, not to react to the fact of a record (EEOC Enforcement Guidance, 2012). You just did the human version of exactly that.
Depends on the room
Kind, and it may write a check your process cannot cash. If a background check later surfaces something that changes the picture, or your insurer or a licensing rule constrains this specific role, your reassurance becomes a broken promise, and broken promises to this candidate cut deeper than a no. Warmth now, decisions after the full process, always.
Costs you something
Some follow-up can be lawful, but an on-the-spot cross-examination transforms an interview into a hearing, and the details rarely change a sound decision made on job-relatedness. If specifics matter for the role, gather them through your structured background process, consistently for every candidate, not through improvised questioning of the one who was honest.
After the interview: “The candidate was strong. The record gives you pause anyway. What does a defensible, decent decision process look like?”
Strong move
This is both the legally protective path and the honest one. Blanket exclusions carry disparate-impact exposure under Title VII; a documented, job-related, individualized decision is your defense and their fair shot, simultaneously (EEOC, 2012). And the base rates favor you: 81 percent of HR professionals report second-chance hires perform the same or better than peers (SHRM and Charles Koch Institute, 2021).
Costs you something
Notice the word feeling. Johns Hopkins measured retention across 500-plus hires with records and found it slightly better than their other employees over 40 months. Nehemiah Manufacturing runs turnover near 15 percent in an industry that lives at 35 to 70. The safer-feeling choice is frequently the higher-turnover choice. If specific job-related risk exists, name it and weigh it. If it is unnamed unease, that has a different name.
Depends on the room
Sometimes a genuine fit exists a rung down, and sometimes this is a no wearing a yes's clothes. Ask yourself one question: would you make this same downgrade for an identical candidate without the record? If not, you have your answer about what is actually driving it.
Now you, out loud
Say your acknowledgment sentence out loud until it is automatic, because in the real moment you will have two seconds and a watching face.
One way it can sound
“I appreciate you telling me that directly. It says something good about you. Now let me ask about the work, because that is what this conversation is really about.”
Keep these
Acknowledge, thank, return to the job. No promises, no hearings.
Individualized assessment is the protective path AND the decent one. Same path.
Feelings of risk are not evidence of risk. The retention data runs the other way.
The Table, part of Alex for Workforce and Alex for Business · alexhamiltoncounty.com · Free practice, both chairs · In crisis, call or text 988
The Table gives general information and coaching
support. It is not legal advice and creates no attorney-client relationship.
It never screens, assesses or treats anything. For your own situation,
including expungement, licensing or what you must disclose in a regulated
field, talk to a licensed attorney. Free and low-cost help:
Indiana Legal Services,
the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic,
and your local public defender's reentry program. In danger now: 988, 911,
or the Indiana Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-800-5556. Facts current as of
October 2026.
Programs that fit this work
Add roles to your set and these rank to your own hiring.
Eligibility is set by each program, not by us.
Free job matching, career services, and labor market resources for job seekers through WorkOne centers. Helps employers find workers and job seekers find jobs.
Who qualifies:
Universal access, ALL job seekers and employers, no requirements. Free.
WorkOne reimburses employers up to 50% of a new employee's wage during a contracted training period. Minimum wage: $13.50/hr for adults, $11/hr for youth. WorkOne pre-screens and refers qualified candidates.
Who qualifies:
Participant must be WIOA Adult/Dislocated Worker eligible. Employer: public, nonprofit, or private sector. Must not show pattern of failing to retain OJT worker…
Places youth ages 16-24 in employer worksites at ZERO cost to the employer. WorkOne pays all wages and workers' compensation. Youth attend weekly career workshops. Hamilton County contact: Dorothee Cooke.
Who qualifies:
Youth meeting WIOA Youth eligibility. In-School: 14-21. Out-of-School: 16-24. Must be low-income (ISY) or face barriers (OSY).
Federal tax credit for hiring people from certain groups, such as veterans, SNAP recipients and people with a conviction. It applies only to people who began work on or before December 31, 2025. Congress has not renewed it for later hires as of September 2026.
Who qualifies:
Employer hires from targeted groups. Ten target groups under 26 USC 51(d) (veterans are split into five sub-groups with different wage caps), including: TANF re…
Free fidelity bonds ($5,000-$25,000) for employers hiring individuals with barriers: ex-offenders, individuals in recovery, poor credit history, or dishonorable discharge. Covers first 6 months of employment.
Who qualifies:
At-risk individuals: ex-offenders, poor credit/bankruptcy, recovering substance abusers, dishonorable discharge, lacking work history, TANF recipients.
Ask about the local labor market in plain language, on top of
your dashboards. Answers carry their sources and point to the tools for the
math. It is an AI coach, your chats are private, and they are never used to
train anything.
The Analyst Coach is a $50/mo add-on · monthly only for
Member or Industry or Premium or Coalition accounts.
Sign in or
see plans.
In crisis? Call or text 988, free, 24/7.
Built by Alex, the Hamilton County Data Hub, from BLS wage records, Census commuting and business patterns, O*NET skill profiles, and licensed Lightcast postings. Wages are set by employers. Ranges, never promises.
