Second chances are often hard to come by, but Oak Park entrepreneur Robert J. O’Connell has based his entire business plan on them.

The American public is generally considered to be an understanding and forgiving lot. If someone genuinely seeks redemption, that person probably will be accommodated.

However, for many who have a resume marred by a record of substance abuse and felonies rather than aglitter with sales figures and managerial experience, it is often difficult to get a foot into any door that could provide gainful employment and everything that comes with it, including dignity.

For 15 years, as president of Radio Group, O’Connell has relied heavily on a staff that he has hired directly from area halfway houses. While this is hardly a typical placement resource for most business executives, it has worked nearly perfectly for O’Connell.

Radio Group is a telemarketing agency that works for Fortune 500 companies across the nation. The business-to-business firm works in sales, appointment setting, database cleansing and customer retention.

Telemarketing is a world of tremendously high turnover, yet O’Connell says that his is extremely low when compared to that of the industry as a whole.

“This is really such a win-win situation,” said O’Connell. “Because these people get a second chance, they are extremely loyal to me. I get results that no other company can obtain. The proof is there. We are considered the best business-to-business telemarketing company in the country.

“Clients line up to work with us because all of our employees are dedicated, hard workers.”

O’Connell estimates that he has probably seen 5,000 people come and go during the past 15 years. The majority of them have had positive experiences, and been positives for O’Connell, as he has watched them move out of halfway homes and into higher paying jobs.

He has had his share of employees who have left in the middle of an ordinary, afternoon workday, never to be heard from again, but it has never been enough to deter him from continuing his hiring practices.

His employees have put up such good numbers that he has acquired enough new business over the years to expand to 100 workers during the busiest periods.

Typically, he works with a crew of around 75 and almost 80 percent of those employees are selected from halfway homes.

The process happened by accident, said O’Connell. He did not set out to become the area’s largest employer of recovering addicts.

In his first year of operation a young woman sat down to interview for a position. She was honest and forthright about her situation, telling O’Connell that she lived in an area halfway house and that she would have to keep irregular hours because of meetings with her parole officer and weekly duties at the halfway home.

O’Connell liked her attitude and honesty and hired her on the spot.

“‘I’m not IBM,’ I told her,” he said. “I’m just a small business guy. I don’t have a problem with irregular hours, just as long as you put in what is required of you. I can work with you.”

The woman was a good worker and after a few months she approached him about job possibilities for some of her friends in the halfway house. O’Connell hired all of them.

Soon after this word spread throughout the recovery community and O’Connell began regularly fielding calls from numerous halfway houses. He now works with six of them.

O’Connell is not able to accommodate all of the possible candidates that come his way, but he is typically the first stop as he is able to refer people he can’t take on to other area businesses.

“I’ve come to know a lot of the businesses in the area and I know which ones are often hiring,” he said. “If I sit down with someone and can’t take them on, I will pass their name on to other employers I have built a relationship with.”

As O’Connell has watched recovering addicts come and go he has also noticed a change in the type of people who become addicted as well as what they are addicted to.

“When I started this process the majority of the people I saw were alcoholics or abused drugs like cocaine,” he said. “Now the common drugs I see are things like heroin and prescription pain pills. Some of these things are so addictive that all it takes is a few times and you are hooked.”

O’Connell has seen former attorneys, accountants and airline pilots show up on his door looking for a job and a place to start over.

Connie has worked with O’Connell for four years and has moved up to a trainer position. She has been sober that entire time and though initially she was not thrilled with the idea of the job, now she doesn’t want to leave.

“We all appreciate him (O’Connell) because he has given us a chance,” she said. “It is hard to get a job if you say that you live in a halfway house. This job has really given me my self esteem and respect back.”

O’Connell doesn’t know how much longer he will remain at Radio Group before he retires, but the management team he has in place has assured him that the same hiring practices and business model will continue once he has gone.

“A lot of people hit rock bottom and need to find a way to get back on that horse,” said O’Connell. “This place gives them a chance to earn a paycheck in that time of need.”