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Matt Mooney
Matt Mooney
01:10

Matt Mooney

Cincinnati Works

Cincinnati, OH USA

"Giving people an opportunity when no one else will, you are going to find an employee that is going to be more loyal and reliable to you than just about anyone that you have on your floor right now."

Career Roadmap

Matt's work combines: Business, Non-Profit Organizations, and Helping People

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Day In The Life

Vice President & General Manager of Workforce Connection

I work with employers to provide workforce opportunities for the community in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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Day In The Life As Vice President Of Workforce Connection

My Day to Day

Most of my day to day work is spent meeting and talking with employers to address their needs around their frontline workforce. A common need today is that employers have a lot of open positions. I work through what Cincinnati Works can offer to help. That can mean helping to find job candidates to fill those open roles or providing resources to help keep the employees they already have. I also spend time developing our programs to make sure the employers are getting a high level of service.

Skills & Education

Advice for getting started

Part of my work involves fair chance hiring. There's a stigma around hiring formerly incarcerated people. In order to end recidivism and generational poverty, we need to give people opportunities. We can reframe the question and ask employers, "This will be your most loyal and hard working employee but they have something damaging in their past. Would you hire them? Are you going to look backward or forward?" If we reframe it like that, I believe most employers will choose to look forward.

Here's the path I took:

  • High School

  • Bachelor's Degree

    English, Computer Applications

    University of Notre Dame

Life & Career Milestones

I've taken a lot of twists and turns

  • 1.

    I earned my bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame.

  • 2.

    After graduating, I joined global tech company Accenture as an analyst.

  • 3.

    I spent over 13 years with Accenture working my way up through various roles, eventually landing as global sustainability reporting manager.

  • 4.

    Along the way, I came to the realization that I had grown up with a lot of privilege that many others do not have, so I felt drawn to help create opportunity for others.

  • 5.

    I joined Cincinnati Works as the vice president and general manager of workforce connection, where I help local employers strengthen their frontline workforce by creating opportunity in the community.

Defining Moments

How I responded to discouragement

  • THE NOISE

    Messages from Society in general:

    We don't want to hire someone with a criminal background. They're not the kind of employees we want.

  • How I responded:

    Part of my work involves fair chance hiring. There's a stigma around hiring formerly incarcerated people. In order to end recidivism and generational poverty, we need to give people opportunities. We can reframe the question and ask employers, "This will be your most loyal and hard working employee but they have something damaging in their past. Would you hire them? Are you going to look backward or forward?" If we reframe it like that, I believe most employers will choose to look forward.