Alibaba

As part of an interviewing workshop, Peter Stern, from online retail giant Alibaba, told about two dozen incarcerated computer coders that learning Mandarin is a big plus, if they want to get a job with the E-commerce company.

Although the Chinese firm does not have a policy on hiring formerly incarcerated people, Stern said that his inspiration to be involved with San Quentin’s incarcerated population came after visiting the entrepreneurial program, The Last Mile (TLM).

TLM, established in 2012 by venture capitalists Chris Redlitz and Beverly Parenti, prepares prisoners for today’s business world by teaching them how to engage in social media and other new technologies. The nine-month program helps students develop business plans that are presented to corporate leaders during a Demo Day.

Redlitz and Parenti expanded TLM in 2014 by creating Code.7370, which is a computer-coding course. Since then, Stern has dropped into the Code.7370 class to inspire the students.

Prior to the Aug. 21 workshop, Stern prepared a PowerPoint presentation to show the incarcerated coders Alibaba’s rapid growth. It currently has surpassed Wal-Mart with over $1 trillion in sales.

The workshop began with Alibaba representatives using employer/potential employee role players to demonstrate the STAR system.

The STAR system role players show that when a potential employee understands an employer’s Situation (S) the job requirements are revealed. The role players then illustrate that potential employees must be able to identify the specific Tasks (T) that are needed to perform the job. Understanding the

Situation and Tasks allows a potential employee to understand what Action (A) he or she needs to take in order to secure the job. Successfully demonstrating these aspects would Result (R) in employers recognizing that the potential employees know the job and would be a successful hire.

At the end of the workshop, there was a question and answer session. Many of the coders’ questions centered on when to bring up former incarcerations to employers.

“When to bring up being incarcerated is important. Tell the employer what you’ve learned from your incarceration experience. Tell them about the programs that you’ve taken. Show them the change in your life. Look at it as an opportunity to demonstrate who you are at the time of your interview,” Stern told the incarcerated men.

Alibaba representative Tobie Louw told the incarcerated coders, “Thank you for letting us know about your world.”

1930 Wall City News

More than 30 prisoners at Qiao Si Prison, the largest prison in China’s Zhejiang Province, received a training course in e-commerce last December, according to an article by Jenny W. Hsu for an Alibaba publication.

Taobao University, which offers the e-commerce course, was established in 2009 as the educational arm of Alibaba, the Hangzhou-based tech giant. A team of e-commerce specialists and industrial players are involved with the university.

The program’s primary aim is to teach online business methods and worldwide practical insight. Topics covered in the course include how to launch and manage a successful cyber-store and inventory, dealing with customers, creating invoices, and keeping track of what equipment to buy.

Su Su, an instructor at Taobao University as well as a vendor on an online retail platform, came to the prison to teach the e-commerce course.

Qiao Si Prison is one of the few prisons in China that teach marketable job skills to inmates prior to their release. Other pre-release programs include courses in reintegration, tea cultivation, tailoring, auto repair, and massage therapy.

“There are definitely many talented individuals inside here,” said Su Su, who admitted being nervous on the first day of her prison assignment. She recalled a “bespectacled prisoner who was able to quickly resolve some technical issues with the audio-visual system in the classroom that day.”

When Su Su arrived to teach the lesson, “the last thing she expected to see,” according to Hsu, was a well-lit room with well-mannered prisoners “eagerly waiting” to take in the lesson she had prepared. During the session, Su Su shared the struggles and successes she encountered while opening an online shop from scratch, along with stories from her exchanges with customers.

Prison officials told reporter Hsu that all the prisoners who attended the class are well-educated and held white-collar jobs prior to incarceration. But despite having marketable skills prior to coming to prison and learning additional skills while in prison, a great many of these formerly incarcerated people find it hard to secure a job after release.

The e-commerce course was added to the curriculum to provide former inmates an option to bypass a job search and start their own businesses online.

Deportation Crimes Explained

Retail giant Alibaba gives workshop on working in E-commerce

China teaches prison inmates e-commerce before reléase