Where KeHE Goes, Goodness Follows
…And Sometimes It Starts With a Job Interview
If you want a quick test of a company’s culture, don’t read the posters on the wall.
Watch how they treat candidates who are easy to overlook.
That’s why our recent partnership with KeHE Distributors resonated so deeply with us at Ability Specialists.
KeHE is employee-owned, a Certified B Corporation, and unapologetically vocal about building a workplace where people can thrive. Dignity, respect, transparency, worker well-being, and community impact aren’t just values on their website—they show up in how the organization designs systems, creates opportunities, and treats people at every stage of employment.
But what impressed us most wasn’t the language.
It was how that culture translated into a real opportunity for three people we support.
The Bigger Story: Hidden Talent, Built on Real Infrastructure
This opportunity didn’t happen by accident. It happened because of intentional, often unglamorous systems work led by Harris Rollinger, KeHE’s Senior Program Manager of Hidden Talent.
KeHE’s Hidden Talent strategy is grounded in a simple belief:
great talent isn’t limited to candidates already optimized for traditional hiring systems.
Through this program, KeHE actively recruits and supports qualified candidates from groups that are too often excluded—immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, people with disabilities, military veterans and spouses, and survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking.
And this isn’t theoretical.
KeHE has built cross-functional collaboration between Legal, Compliance, and Talent teams, developed a Hidden Talent dashboard, partnered with KeHE Cares to identify strong community organizations near distribution centers, and connected recruiters directly to those partners. They track the metrics many companies claim to care about—but rarely operationalize.
They’ve also backed their commitment publicly by joining the Second Chance Business Coalition, reinforcing their belief that jobs can change lives and that an employee-owned company has both the responsibility and the reach to lead by example.
That context matters.
Because it explains why what happened next worked.
The Moment That Mattered: A Real Hiring Process, With Real Support
KeHE invited Ability Specialists to support an internal employee grocery store pilot at their Aurora location—a mission-driven initiative designed to reduce waste by offering dented goods at cost or less while providing a meaningful service to employees.
The job itself was straightforward and meaningful:
Stocking and organizing shelves
Maintaining a clean, orderly space
Managing back stock
Showing up consistently, working safely, and building confidence through responsibility
From the start, KeHE treated this like employment—not charity.
We interviewed three Ability Specialists participants via video, supported them in preparation, and advanced all three to the next round.
That next step was a panel interview with Patricia Rodriguez, KeHE’s Certified Dream Manager and Life Coach.
If you’re familiar with The Dream Manager, you know the premise: when organizations help people clarify their goals and create a path forward, engagement and retention stop being mysteries. KeHE has embraced this philosophy through a company-wide life coaching approach tied directly to Dream Manager principles.
The result?
Our candidates walked out energized, confident, and genuinely excited—not just about the role, but about what could be possible next.
What Ability Specialists Brings to Partners Like KeHE
At Ability Specialists, we’re clear about our role.
We bridge the gap between “this candidate has potential” and “this candidate is ready to succeed here.”
For KeHE, that meant:
Visual resumes that let strengths surface quickly
Job coaching before, during, and after interviews
Role-playing and practice to reduce anxiety and improve performance
Support around communication, professionalism, and workplace expectations
Ongoing coaching post-hire, so success doesn’t stop on day one
This didn’t happen in isolation. It reflected the daily coaching, preparation, and operational support our team provides behind the scenes—the kind that turns “a good interview day” into real readiness.
As we shared internally after the interviews:
Our candidates did great today because of the coaching, the resume support, and the steady work our team does every day to help people learn, grow, and show up as employees and adults.
KeHE met that readiness with structure, respect, and a genuine opportunity.
Why This Partnership Matters
KeHE’s public stance on inclusive hiring is backed by action. Whether through the Hidden Talent strategy, fair chance hiring, or partnerships that create jobs for people with disabilities, they’ve shown a willingness to build infrastructure—not just celebrate outcomes.
That’s exactly the kind of partner Ability Specialists looks for.
Because inclusive employment works best when it’s built like any high-performing system:
Clear expectations
Real training
Honest feedback
Consistent support
Leadership that believes people can grow beyond their starting point
We’re grateful to Harris, Patricia, David, and the KeHE team for opening doors, designing a process that respects candidates, and treating our participants as what they are—capable people with real value to contribute.
One more interview round lies ahead. Regardless of outcome, we’ll continue supporting these individuals as they build what comes next.
And to KeHE: thank you for being the kind of partner that makes opportunity mean something.
Interested in Partnering With Ability Specialists?
If your organization has roles that could be a fit for supported employment, individualized placement, or a coached pilot model, we’d love to explore it with you.
We bring the coaching, preparation, and follow-through.
You bring the opportunity.
Together, we build outcomes that last.