When Billy Masten fell off a roof, he wasn’t sure what to do next. The 25-foot fall broke eight ribs, collapsed one lung and fractured his pelvis. He didn’t want to renovate homes anymore. 

On paper, Billy wasn’t a perfect job candidate—he’d been in prison.

Go back 10 years. Jason Tatum struggled to start a new life as a recovering addict. Getting a company to take a chance on him after prison was hard. He asked Jenfab Cleaning Solutions to give him a shot. 

After Billy’s accident, he called his friend, Jason, and asked if he knew of any available jobs. Jason was now Jenfab’s senior shift supervisor. He put in a good word for Billy.

Two second chances made all the difference. 

Hired By A Second-Chance Employer

Jenfab Cleaning Solutions is a second-chance employer. We hire people with prior felonies and past experiences with addiction. Starting over is tough. Closed doors make the journey even harder. 

It’s not easy to find second-chance jobs for felons, but everyone deserves the  opportunity to do more than survive. Everyone should have the chance to be financially independent, support their families, reach their goals, and move forward. 

Billy started his role as an industrial electrician two years ago, and the team at Jenfab has never looked at him differently. 

“The first thing I noticed is how well they took care of people,” says Billy. 

He gave an example of how our company shows we care about people. The company held a free gas refueling event in the summer of 2022.

“They brought a gas truck up here and gave us gas during the peak time after the pandemic when gas prices were super high,” says Billy. “I didn’t hear of anybody else doing that. They [another company] could offer me a $50-an-hour job, and I wouldn’t go there because I’d never get the same kind of treatment.” 

New Possibilities to Grow & Make Good Money

Billy started working at the shop, where he wires, paints and welds machines. 

Since his first day, his responsibilities have grown. He now goes on the road for installations. He meets with customers to install machines in the field once they’ve been shipped. 

“It’s a cool experience to see what our equipment is doing in the field. You get a new perspective on what the customer is going to be looking for, and I really just try to represent our company when I’m out there,” he says. 

“I’m sure they probably look at me and go, ‘he’s pretty rough around the edges,’” he continues, “but I just work my butt off and try to make them happy. By the time it’s all said and done, we leave pretty well friends.

We recognized Billy as the Culture Champion of the Month in September 2022. He always goes the extra mile, helping customers and doing what needs to be done. Everyone at Jenfab is a leader. Leading is not about titles; it is about action. Billy is quickly emerging as a leader on our team. 

Learning New Skills

At Jenfab, Billy has had several opportunities to learn new skills, from taking courses to training with his team. He went through PLC training and took hydraulics classes. He’s now taking blueprint reading classes to learn about the mechanical side of building machines.

With help from his team, he’s also practiced something he’s always wanted to master—welding. Knowing how to weld and fabricate are skills that will always be needed in our workforce. 

“I had a plan whenever I was locked up. I really wanted to go into welding, but I just couldn’t afford it,” he says. “Getting started here, even if I started out wiring machines, I’ve had the guys show me how to weld on their time. I’ve picked it up and practiced and got better at it.”

Finding Good Role Models 

Billy’s dad wasn’t around when he was growing up. He didn’t have a good idea of how a role model or leader should act. That changed when he started at Jenfab and saw people in recovery in leadership positions.

Leadership is action. It is also how you care for, teach and encourage others. Billy describes many people at the company as coaches or father figures. 

Everyone at Jenfab takes on the company’s bias for action to become leaders in their roles and tasks. Everyone is a leader, even if you’re only in charge of yourself. As such, you choose how to carry yourself and lift others.

Our company’s One Team mindset means we have your back. We create a comfortable environment for sharing feedback and challenges as we work toward our shared vision. If one team member needs something, others pitch in to keep the ship afloat. We all help steer us in the right direction. You’re never on your own. 

“This is like my second—well, basically, this is my family. It’s not a second family. I couldn’t put one in front of the other at this point,” says Billy. 

Second-Chance Hiring Opens Doors

Today, Billy drives a new car—a Camaro Super Sport. He’s preparing to buy a house. He makes a good living and keeps up with passion projects, like building and painting cars. He’s helping his parents out with extra money, and he can give his daughter the things she needs.

“I grew up dirt poor. I couldn’t afford college. All the money I ever had I just worked for,” he says. “To have an opportunity to be at a job where you can grow and make decent money and be a part of something, it’s huge. It’s kept me from going back and doing the wrong things to survive.”

Starting fresh is like walking down a hallway, CEO and President Jim Chew describes. You’re between two doors: the one in front of you and the one behind you. The hallway represents the shift from one chapter of life to the next.

“He’s [Billy] closed the door on the bad part of his life, and he’s in that hallway transitioning. We open a door to go to hydraulic training or open a door to go learn about PLCs,” says Jim. “We help folks be the best version of themselves tomorrow. Tomorrow can always be better than today. If everyone goes home feeling that way, then we’ve done something.”

Tomorrow can always be better. Your future is yours. 

Your Journey Starts Here: Find Second-Chance Jobs for Felons

As a second-chance employer, Jenfab Cleaning Solutions offers the support you need to start fresh and build your career. You’ll make a great living and contribute to a larger purpose: our One Team. 

Are you interested in working for Jenfab? Are you looking for fabricator jobs, welder jobs or electrical work? Are you open to learning and trying something new? 

Click here to apply online for our manufacturing jobs in Springfield, MO! The application is at the bottom of the page.

We’d love to hear from you. Feel free to send in your resume or drop us a line regardless of your background or past experiences. 

If you’d rather talk to someone, please email HR@jenfab.com or call 800-524-9274 for more information about our company and open jobs. Our HR department can also answer questions about our second-chance hiring policy. We interview candidates at the Greene County Jail and several area prisons.