The hiring chair

You're allowed to be nervous too.
Here is what to do with it.

Interviewing someone from an opportunity population is a skill, and almost nobody trains it. The candidates on the other side of this site are practicing hard. This side is yours: the evidence, the legal rails, your own fears answered with mechanisms instead of lectures, and practice from your chair.

Who are you preparing to interview?

The rules are not the same for every candidate, and a generic legal briefing is where employers get into trouble. Tell us who you are preparing to interview and we will give you the rails that actually apply, the mistake most employers make with that group, and the same moment practiced from their chair.

Someone with a criminal record Get the brief → Someone in recovery from substance use Get the brief → A veteran or military spouse Get the brief → Someone with a disability Get the brief → A mixed pool, or I'm not sure yet Get the brief →

Why this works The case has already been made. Here it is with dates on it.

  • 81 percent of HR professionals: workers with records perform the same or better than peers (SHRM and Charles Koch Institute, 2021).
  • 82 percent of managers: quality of hire as high or higher. 85 percent: cost per hire same or lower (SHRM, 2021).
  • Johns Hopkins: 500-plus hires with records, retention 3.5 points better than other employees over 40 months (2017).
  • Nehemiah Manufacturing: turnover near 15 percent in an industry running 35 to 70 (company reporting, HBS case).
  • Northwestern military study: enlistees with felony records showed no higher involuntary turnover and were promoted faster (Minor, Persico and Weiss, 2018).
  • Your labor market: Hamilton County unemployment 2.7 percent (BLS LAUS, May 2026). The unfilled seat is the risk.

Before you move on: one if-then

When someone on my hiring team calls a candidate "risky" without saying why,

I will… pick one or write your own

Stays on your device. Never sent to us. See all your commitments →

Your fears, answered Liability. Customers. Safety. And the one nobody writes down.

  • Liability (38 percent of employers): the individualized assessment is your defense, and blanket exclusions are the actual exposure (EEOC, 2012).
  • Customer reaction (33 percent): tested publicly by JPMorgan Chase, Walmart, Microsoft and fifty-plus coalition employers. The boycott never came.
  • Safety (27 percent): managed by job-related screening and consistent policy, not by blanket fear. Weigh the actual offense against the actual job.
  • Being the one who vouched: replace the lone voucher with a process. Documented assessment, standard expectations, free federal bond. Nobody carries it alone.
Before the interview Your side of the fear You are allowed to be nervous too. Here is what to do with it.

Before you move on: one if-then

When I notice I am uneasy about a candidate but cannot name a job-related reason,

I will… pick one or write your own

Stays on your device. Never sent to us. See all your commitments →

Practice the moments The disclosure moment, the accommodation request, your own opening. From your chair.

In-person interview The disclosure moment A candidate just told you the hardest thing they will say all week. Your next sentence sets everything. After the offer The accommodation request A new hire just asked for something. This is a process with a name, and it is easier than you fear. Before the interview Your side of the fear You are allowed to be nervous too. Here is what to do with it.

Before you move on: one if-then

When a candidate discloses a record, a recovery, a disability, or a gap,

I will… pick one or write your own

Stays on your device. Never sent to us. See all your commitments →

The hire The incentive stack, as it actually stands in August 2026.

  • Federal Bonding: ACTIVE. Free fidelity bond, first six months, up to 25,000 dollars in some states. Five minutes to arrange (bonds4jobs.com).
  • WOTC: IN HIATUS. Lapsed December 31, 2025. Keep screening and keep Form 8850 documentation, retroactive reinstatement is pending in Congress, but do not build the business case on it.
  • Indiana OJT reimbursement through WorkOne: active, typically 50 percent of wages during training.
  • Indiana HIRE: active placement and support for justice-involved candidates.
  • Wellness Council of Indiana: the state's Recovery Friendly Workplace designation, a public signal that costs you a process, not a check.
Decision time Making the call The interview is done. Here is the decision framework, the incentives as they actually stand, and the first-90-days plan.

Before you move on: one if-then

When I am about to pass on a candidate whose record or gap gave me pause,

I will… pick one or write your own

Stays on your device. Never sent to us. See all your commitments →

Build your interview Four steps to an interview that actually predicts.

  • Structured interviews top the corrected validity rankings, about .42 (Sackett, Zhang, Berry and Lievens, 2022).
  • Structure is concrete: same job-related questions for everyone, anchored rating scales, scoring as you go (Levashina et al., 2014).
  • Adding the scores mechanically beats combining them by gut (Kuncel et al., 2013). The scoresheet is the upgrade, and it is free.
  • The builder walks you through it and prints a one-page guide. What you build stays on your device, like everything here.

Open the interview builder

Before you move on: one if-then

Before my next interview, at the moment I would normally start reading resumes,

I will… pick one or write your own

Stays on your device. Never sent to us. See all your commitments →

Make it stick Retention is a design problem, and the design is short.

  • Normal expectations, one named point person, a real 30-day check-in.
  • Supervision and treatment appointments are appointments. Handle them like anyone's standing physical therapy.
  • The MOUD-versus-drug-testing policy conflict is the most common quiet failure in second-chance employment nationally. Audit yours this quarter.
  • Their story is never yours to tell. The practice is nothing to hide. Hold both at once.

Before you move on: one if-then

When a new hire asks for a schedule change for supervision, treatment, or an accommodation,

I will… pick one or write your own

Stays on your device. Never sent to us. See all your commitments →

Why the sentences Why we ask you to write one sentence

Deciding to do better does not change behavior very reliably. Deciding in advance exactly when and what you will do is a different thing, and it works: across 94 independent tests, naming a specific if-then plan produced a medium-to-large improvement in follow-through (d = .65) compared with holding the same goal without one. A 2024 update aggregating 642 tests found the effect holds. So each module ends the same way: one situation you will actually face, and the sentence you will say when it happens.

Gollwitzer and Sheeran, Implementation Intentions and Goal Achievement: A Meta-Analysis of Effects and Processes, 2006; update Sheeran, Listrom and Gollwitzer, 2024

Specific beats sincere. "I'll be fairer" is a wish. "When a candidate discloses, I will thank them and go back to the work" is a plan.

See and print your commitments

The other chair

Every scenario your candidates practice is open to you. Reading their side is the fastest empathy training available, and it is free: the full practice room.