1. Think carefully before attempting recruiting. Successful outcomes will follow only if you are willing to think and act in non-traditional ways.

2. Avoid making a one shot effort and saying – “I tried”. If you do, you will feel a tremendous sense of frustration and perhaps a sense of “I knew this wouldn’t work”. Don’t just recruit – understand. Ask questions about how they came to hear about you, what are their goals, their aspirations, and their fears.

3. Keep in mind that welfare recipients may experience difficulty getting from one place to another. Often they have never left their limited neighborhoods. One minute they are living in a shelter, on public assistance, and here you are giving them a time and place and letting them know that pretty much all they have to do is show up! What a life transition!

4. Remember the chronically unemployed have internalized many of society’s negative stereotypes about themselves. Just hearing encouragement in your voice can often make a tremendous difference.

5. Take the time to explore their expectations and always ask – what is your motivation to work now?

6. Follow up after you set an appointment. Sometimes all it takes is a phone call to say – “Hi, it was really nice to have met you and I am excited about speaking to you further about possibilities in our company”.

7. Go to the population – rent out a space in the neighborhood and hold a job fair. You can probably get free space from local community groups, churches, local businesses and nonprofit organizations.

8. Connect to job training programs in your area that can or may have already completed an initial applicant screening or employee training for you. This way, you are not interviewing random applicants.

9. Check your approach – Are your expectations too high or too low?

10. The bottom line is that you will need to treat the welfare-to-work recruit similar to how you would treat a “Rolls Royce” recruit. Consider all the measures you would take to access, identify, and attract the prime recruit. Then transfer these ideas to the welfare-to-work program recipients.

Based on: Gibbs, Doreen. “Recruiting From Welfare to Work Programs” Electronic Recruiting Daily (July 24, 1998). Doreen D. Gibbs is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) experienced in developing programs to assist individuals with disabilities to return to work.