At Hired, we believe every person deserves the opportunity to build a stable and promising future. Our mission is to nurture purpose and advance economic opportunity for all through individualized employment and career services.

For 57+ years, we have specialized in supporting individuals in the Twin Cities, whose job opportunities, financial security, and stability have been shaped by historic and systemic inequities and situational barriers.

Formerly incarcerated people helped create Hired in 1968 to level the playing field for people who, like themselves, faced barriers to securing employment. Today, we maintain a solid focus on preparing people for full participation in the economy with family-sustaining jobs that offer benefits and the potential for building a career and equitable wealth.

Hired provides individualized coaching and skill-building at every step of an individual's journey, while helping them stabilize their situations, meet basic needs, and navigate systems of support.

Our four workforce program areas serve: (a) opportunity youth (ages 16-24) disconnected from school/work; (b) parents receiving public assistance; (c) low-income, un/underemployed people and laid off people; and (d) people seeking training to enter new career pathways in high demand sectors.

In addition to career readiness, digital literacy, and financial wellness services, we offer trainings in high-demand sectors and partner with educational institutions and employers to provide other training, certificates, and credentials.

Strategic Plans: Our 2023-2026 Strategic Plan is grounded in participant/community input and has five goals: (a) skills for meaningful work; (b) expanded holistic services; (c) community voice; (d) deepen employer partnerships; (e) and organizational strength and capacity. We have detailed implementation plans and metrics to monitor progress and ensure goals are met.

Advancing Racial Equity: Advancing Equity is one of our four core values, and our target population (nearly 70% BIPOC), program design, organizational culture, and staff development are structured to improve access and outcomes for people who have experienced historic and current exclusion.

We work to advance equity through: (a) collaborations to drive systems change; (b) work with employers to create workplaces where all can thrive, (c) investing in our team so we reflect our community and uphold DEI in our work and our organizational culture; and (d) centering community voices in decisions and services. We know the importance of having staff our jobseekers can identify with; among our staff are immigrants, veterans, people across the physical ability, faith, and gender identity spectrums, and who represent the communities we serve. Amongst our 100+ staff, 6 languages are spoken, in addition to English; and we are increasing BIPOC representation among our staff, board, and leadership.

Hired seeks to increase economic opportunity for all by assisting jobseekers facing barriers to employment with quality services to prepare for, secure, and retain jobs and careers. The 3,700+ individuals Hired serves each year are at varying points on their career path. Our progress indicators cover the extent to which participants will:

Achieve stability and meet their basic needs
Identify careers that align with their skills and interests with an employment plan
Build marketable and relevant skills in high-growth sectors
Gain skills, industry-recognized certificates/credentials
Secure and retain employment
Earn a living wage

Hired tracks these and other program data in a real-time database with visual dashboards and reports to fuel deeper analysis, programmatic responsiveness, and continuous improvement. The program directors regularly review and analyze data to ensure performance objectives are on track. We will also partner with evaluators—The Improve Group and i3works—to gather qualitative data, which is reviewed alongside data in WorkforceOne, the state’s mandated database, and our in-house Data for Impact Database to inform continuous program improvements.

In our previous fiscal year (FY 2024), Hired: 

Coached 4,307 youth and adults to find, prepare for, and secure family-sustaining employment.
Provided or connected 1,519 to employment and work readiness training opportunities.
Supported 363 to acquire more than 400 credentials, including High School Diplomas/GEDs, post-secondary degrees, graduate degrees, occupational certificates, technical/occupational licenses, and industry-recognized credentials.
Supported 1,082 individuals to develop marketable skills and/or credentials through training, internships, and work experiences.
Increased family stability, which benefited more than 8,200 children.
Helped 1,271 people to secure employment at an average hourly wage of $26.75 – an increase of $5+ over their wage at enrollment.

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