At Honest Jobs, we specialize in felony friendly employment. We know that building your life back after incarceration is not easy. Beyond dealing with the social stigma after incarceration, a lack in basic resources can take a toll on people’s physical and mental health - and make it hard to find and keep a job. That's why we have a huge, nationwide Resource Center that you can access from your Honest Jobs account. There are 100s of resources in every zip code, so you're sure

Janie’s Life-Changing Baked Goods was founded in 2015 by Janie Deegan, who had been homeless and recovering from addiction. At 25 years old, she found personal solace in baking - as a structured activity, creative outlet, and way to connect with people. Baking changed her life, and becoming an entrepreneur enabled her to change others lives, too. A felony friendly bakery? That's right! Janie's has an open door hiring policy, which includes providing work for past felons and m

70 million Americans have criminal record and they face “collateral consequences” that make it difficult to obtain employment and housing, among other necessities. This is especially true for the 19 million with felonies. Finding apartments that accept people with felonies is incredibly hard. Formerly incarcerated people sleep on friends’ couches or in their cars or in apartments under someone else's name, as landlords can deny their application solely based on their convicti

Have a criminal record? Honest Jobs is here to help you connect with second-chance employers! We see more and more employers changing their policies to be more open to hiring ex-felons. However, it is important to make a good impression and set yourself apart. Having a professional resume can be an essential part of getting hired at your desired job. Here are some tips on how to write a resume that will be appealing to employers with felony-friendly job offers. 1. Must-have i

Dorothy Maraglino is an incarcerated writer in California and author at Prison Journalism Project . In her recent article , she raises details the excruciating level of homesickness in prison. Being incarcerated is very isolating and missing loved ones and life on the outside is excruciating. Maraglino talks about her and other inmates' experience, and how being incarcerated away from everything they know and everyone they love affects their mental health. “I almost lost both

John's last interaction with the criminal justice system was in 2001. Despite changing his life in various ways, he was still being rejected for jobs due to past convictions. Using Honest Jobs, he found employment within a month. Hear his story in the video below: Interview Transcript: What experience do you have with the criminal justice system? John: “I have four felonies and they all are theft related. I was in prison three times. I’ve been out since 2001 and I'm still try

Honest Jobs has teamed up with Securus Technologies and other tablet providers to roll out a simplified version of Honest Jobs' job board to people who are still incarcerated. It enables people to search for jobs in the area they'll be going home to - helping them prepare for employment post-release. The Honest Jobs pre-release app is currently on Securus tablets in 8 correctional facilities, with an expected expansion to 600,000 Securus tablets nationwide this spring. “Findi

George Halfkenny talks about his experience with the criminal justice system in the Boston Globe. His entire life was shaped by mass incarceration, not just because of his troubled childhood, but also because he was born in the era of mass incarceration. Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous people were and continue to be disproportionally affected by mass incarceration. In the article , he talks about the lack of support, the social stigma, and the difficulty of finding employment

Check it out! Stand Together recently published a story about us: "Honest Jobs provides pathways to opportunity for job seekers with criminal records " The story features quotes from job seekers who had success on Honest Jobs, and from our Founder & CEO, who experienced homelessness, drug addiction, and incarceration as a teenager. Stand Together Ventures Lab invested in Honest Jobs to challenge the status quo that prevents successful reentry by formerly incarcerated people

Honest Jobs was featured in the Denver Business Journal following the company’s success in landing a contract that helps formerly incarcerated people in Colorado find employment, reentering into society and beyond. Honest Jobs' work advances Attorney General Phil Weiser’s Fair Chance Hiring Initiative (COFCH) , a $1.1 million program to "to mobilize employers who are dedicated to fair chance hiring so that justice impacted individuals can connect to career pathways that provi

For people who haven't been impacted by the justice system, it's hard to imagine pleading guilty to a crime you didn't commit. Courtroom dramas make it seem like you'd get a chance to defend yourself in court. However, the reality is that our criminal-legal system often incentivizes self-incrimination, including for crimes the person didn't commit. How can that be? The Innocence Project works to "free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions, and create fair, compassionate,

Honest Jobs is the nation leading fair-chance employment network, and it's free for job seekers to sign up. Reaching people who are incarcerated enables them to have a head start on their job search, and to feel more hopeful for their future post-release. “We match people with opportunities,” said Harley Blakeman, Founder & CEO of Honest Jobs, adding that both an applicant’s job skills and their criminal records are taken into consideration. “When they come home, they have a

Darren believes that giving a chance for job seekers to explain their criminal history is the key for employers to find qualified people, who are eager to work and add value to the organization. Using Honest Jobs, Darren found a fair-chance employer that pays a living wage, with full benefits, and treats him as an equal member of society. Hear his experience in the video below: What experience do you have with the criminal justice system? Darren: "It was a few years ago, in 2

Based on feedback from employers with urgent hiring needs, we’ve launched a Candidate Search tool. We’re excited to accelerate the hiring of justice-impacted job seekers! This new tool empowers employers to: Search for qualified job seekers based on location and keywords Contact candidates via phone or email to set up an interview Hire faster than by passively receiving applications If you have urgent roles to fill and would like to unlock this powerful tool, create an emplo

Ailsa Chang from NPR hosted Lawrence Bartley, a formerly incarcerated journalist and the Host and Executive Producer of a new series called "Inside Story. The project is in partnership with Vice News and The Marshall Project . Bartley was incarcerated at just 17 years old and served 27 years in prison for multiple convictions, including murder. This experience motivated him to report on the criminal justice system and gave him the idea to create a weekly show, airing inside p

The Justice Innovation Prize will award $1 million to bold, innovative solutions to disrupt the criminal justice system and end mass incarceration. The allocation of the funds will be decided by an evaluation panel, that consists of thought leaders in reforming the criminal justice system. We are proud that Harley Blakeman, Founder & CEO of Honest Jobs, is among the esteemed panelists. Let's end the cycle of mass incarceration in the U.S. Read more about the the problem, and

Rayfield says that he wouldn't have found a fair-chance employer if it weren't for Honest Jobs. In fact, the job he found is one of the best he's ever had, even before having a criminal record. Hear his story in the video below: Interview Transcript: What experience do you have with the criminal justice system? Rayfield: “It was battery. It’s a misdemeanor. Nobody wants to work with anybody that has that, even though I'm nowhere near a violent person and never have been. It's

Return to Hope in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a non-profit thrift store that helps formerly incarcerated women find resources upon reentering society. These include health, wellness, and employment resources. In addition, they help women learn new skills and provide financial assistance to help them land on their feet. "We will be providing workshops that span from physical exercise to mental health panels and events, or even healing circles and also nutritional classes.” - Bianca Ca

Aaron Walling, the Southern California Regional Director for the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), is passionate about providing digital skills training to those returning from incarceration. This opportunity creates the potential for people to gain access to higher-paying jobs and career paths in technology. Walling has had more than 3,000 participants enroll in the digital skills training program nationally (363 of in the San Diego area) since launching in April 20

There are a lot of job boards out there, including one with fair-chance filters. Honest Jobs is exclusively for fair-chance employers and justice-impacted job seekers. What also sets us apart is that we display the number of verified fair-chance hires in our search results, as Fair-Chance Verified badges. For Job Seekers When you're searching for jobs on the Honest Jobs website, you'll notice a badge that shows the number of candidates with records that Honest Jobs has verifi