Inclusiveness drives staffing and recruiting firm

There are many lessons that Sara Sherry has learned during the first eighteen months of running her business, with "keeping an open mind" being perhaps the most important.

Mixed Staffing is a staffing and recruiting firm that provides a variety of employment services for individuals and companies. A special focus of her firm has always been helping organizations be more inclusive in their hiring and recruiting.

However, it was a personal experience of Sherry's that made her consider an opportunity that was a bit out of her comfort zone but resulted in unexpected success. "I had a friend who received a DUI. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail on work release. He came to me during that time, asking if I could help a nice guy in there find a job when he was released because he needed to get his life back on track. My first response was, 'I don't hire felons.' At that point, I didn't know anything about the guy. Over the week I began to think about my response and thought, who was I to say something like that when I know nothing about the individual or what they are even capable of doing? So I thought, how can I help?"

Sherry's solution was to create an employment program within her firm that educates individuals who are part of the jail's work release program. The workshop focuses on resumes, interviewing, social skills and how to advance a career once workers are released. 

Since its inception, Sherry has run two programs (partnering with Chris Sain and Jahaun McKinley) with almost 60 people attending and resulting in the employment of 12 individuals upon release.

The next goal for this program is have 50 individuals employed. Sherry also is working on a similar program for military veterans, which she hopes to launch soon. To keep up with the increased programming, Mixed Staffing is also hiring, as Sherry says she is planning to add four new positions for sales, marketing and web development.

Besides keeping an open mind, Sherry says that another lesson she has learned is to embrace risk and overcome fears to be successful. "One of my largest fears prior to starting this program was jail. I had never stepped into a jail before in my life, so this  gave me a stomach ache even thinking about it. But we have the ability to give these guys a second chance and assist them in a opportunity once they are released."

To learn more about Mixed Staffing, you can view their site here.

Source:Sara J. Sherry, President, Mixed Staffing
Writer: John Rumery, Innovation and Job News Editor