Creativity and innovation are the wheels that drive the american economy and without these our American way of life would be quickly surpassed by that of other nations…wait a minute isn’t that exactly what is going on now in our society? Our capitalistic society is quickly becoming obsolete in the wake of foreign nations paving the way in areas from engineering and medical biology right down to the way they manufacture cars. In light of this we can take a look at these ex-cons not in a condemning pessimistic way but as a resource that with careful monitoring could prove to be a great boon to our society. These men and women have had the ingenuity to “con” people out of their money or personal items and the personalities and characteristics of a trusting person are enough to get away with it (for a time). Now I’m not saying you should encourage more behavior by putting a few hundred thousand dollars in front of them, but we should take a look at what skills they possess and determine where the best position might be for them. Opening your arms to these people may in fact be the best thing for them and while you help them receive the self confidence they need to succeed they provide you with excellent service in customer service and productivity. Putting these people on the floor of your computer store will probably be the best place you can put them because they are obviously good salesmen and are just looking for an honest way to make a living. Putting them on a commission would probably just increase their output because for everything they sell they get a cut just like in a con scheme, only this time they won’t go to jail.

Trust is the main issue here and 9 times out of ten as long as you are honest and trusting of someone and you SHOW that to them they will return the trust and respect. Especially if you put some personality behind you it would deter any possible motivation they might have from screwing you over because they people cons usually target are people they don’t know. So it is important to get to know your new ex-con, just as it is important to get to know your other employees. Ex-cons are people just like you and me and giving them an opportunity to prove their worth is the best thing that you can do for them. Give them a chance.