Tell me about yourself: Colorado prisoners prep for the business world with mock interviews

share
PUEBLO, Colo. — In a typical job interview, you’ll see anything from business casual to formal attire. It’s not often you see a whole group of applicants dressed in green jumpsuits. 

Inside the gymnasium at La Vista Correctional Facility in Pueblo, prisoners fill the folding chairs that form a large circle around the room. A group of about 30 volunteers sit in a slightly smaller circle, facing them. From venture capitalists to entrepreneurs, the volunteers are here to interview the inmates. 

The catch? It’s not a real interview.  

“Today, we're doing a mock interview day,” said Vanessa, a mock interviewee and Breakthrough participant. “We are going over all of our interview questions, resumes, cover letters and breakthrough statements.”
You can listen to an audio version of this story in the player below.
Vanessa is a participant in Breakthrough, a nonprofit organization created in 2017 that operates an educational program for incarcerated individuals, equipping them with reintegration skills through a 32-week program called “The Challenge.”

At the end of January, the organization launched its fourth cohort at La Vista Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison. The Mock Interview — the organization’s official name for this event —served as the second of four “milestone” events that this cohort of participants will eventually attend.
Vanessa poses for a portrait. She interviewed as a massage therapist.
Photo: Peter Vo, Rocky Mountain PBS
Vanessa was one of 38 inmates accepted into the program after attending the first event, Kickoff, which was held in January.

The cohort has attended classes for the last 16 weeks and spent the last 8 weeks working on job readiness.

“We’ve been tailoring previous experiences into a resume that we can hopefully, bring with us moving forward,” she said. “Each week has built upon the previous week and has just kind of led us to this culmination of today's event.”

Sixty percent of formerly incarcerated people are likely to remain unemployed after they’ve been released from prison. Breakthrough has been combatting this with their program. According to their 2023 annual report, 92% of their released participants were employed four weeks after being released.
Between each big milestone event that Breakthrough holds with participants and volunteers, the participants take weekly classes held in-facility to build skills to prepare for each upcoming event.

For The Mock Interview, participants have been crafting resumes, writing cover letters and working on their “Breakthrough Statements.” These statements serve as a way for participants to talk about their incarceration to an employer and how they’ve improved themselves through such an experience.

“I think a big part of the value of this program is that we as volunteers can come out and if there are questions about, ‘We have somebody who's been previously incarcerated applying for this job, I’d like to give them a break, but I don't know if that's really a great idea for the company and it seems a little higher risk than I want to take,’ we can speak up,” Tom Wyman said.

Wyman served as president of the board at Breakthrough up until last year. He’s been regularly volunteering at Breakthrough events. 

“I've met so many people that I would be excited to hire,” Wyman said.
Steve, a Breakthrough volunteer, interviews with a Breakthrough participant.
Photo: Peter Vo, Rocky Mountain PBS
Breakthrough wanted volunteers like Wyman, who have backgrounds in business interviews.

“I get really geeky about the volunteers coming into the class because I just feel like, my God, someone cares about me. And it's just really crazy that they would take that kind of time out of their day to come see about us,” said Jael, another Breakthrough participant.

At the start of the day, volunteers stood in front of the entire room and introduced themselves with a “business brag,” so that everyone could feel confident about the people they were going to interview with.
Jael poses for a portrait. She interviewed as a job recruiter.
Photo: Peter Vo, Rocky Mountain PBS
Although volunteers aren’t allowed to promise any jobs to the participants, they can advise where participants can improve in their interviews.

“I love the feedback that I've been getting. I was told that I can incorporate more skills in my interview speaking,” said Jael.

The workshop also included resume and cover letter advice.

Jael interviewed to be a job recruiter while Vanessa interviewed to be a massage therapist.

At the end of the interview, volunteers can give participants feedback on the process and what they can do to improve for the next interview. Participants then get up and move one spot over in the circle —much like a speed dating activity— and start the process all over again with another volunteer.
This happens three times. 

“[Interviews] have been exciting and terrifying. Exciting in a sense that, you know, every job interview is a little nerve-wracking,” said Vanessa. “Terrifying in the sense that, you’re meeting new people, networking, talking about yourself, your experience, your goals. It's been fantastic.”

Wyman believes that this event is important for the participants because, for a lot of them, this is one of the first interviews they’ll ever do. 

“Most of us assume when we're doing something for the first time, second time, we're not going to be that good at it,” Wyman said. “Usually they're much better at it than they give themselves credit for, you just have to remind them of that.”
Stacey Putka, Co-Founder of Breakthrough, briefs the volunteers on interviewing the participants before the event.
Photo: Peter Vo, Rocky Mountain PBS
Mock Interview marks the halfway point of Breakthrough’s programming at La Vista Correctional Facility. Vanessa is looking forward to the rest of “The Challenge” and what she hopes to accomplish.

“It's been a wonderful journey. And we're only halfway there,” Vanessa said. “We've learned amazing skills. We've learned a lot about ourselves and each other. And honestly, I could not be more grateful.” 

Rocky Mountain PBS will be following this cohort of participants throughout their experience with the program.