JFF Ventures invested in Honest Jobs to help scale fair-chance hiring nationally. Founder and CEO Harley Blakeman is on a mission to make Honest Jobs the hub where job seekers with a criminal record come to build careers and employers come to find great talent.
"We are proud of what the Honest Jobs team has accomplished and are eager to help them build an incarcerated-to-employment pipeline." - JFF Ventures article about Honest Jobs
Nearly 70 million people, or 1 in 3 adults, have a criminal record. Disproportionately represented in this population: People of color, LGBTQ+, and individuals with histories of abuse or mental illnesses.
Honest Jobs has an ambitious vision: "A society where every person with a criminal record has ample opportunity to thrive at work, at home, and in their communities." Harley has built a strong team by walking the talk. He not only encourages other employers to embrace fair-chance hiring. He is committed to it himself: The majority of his employees have a criminal record.
Partnering with over 1,000 employers committed to fair-chance hiring, Honest Jobs is quickly building a nationwide ecosystem that connects millions of job seekers with thousands of employers. In 200+ correctional facilities across the country, individuals can use tablets to connect to the Honest Jobs platform through ViaPath and Aventiv/Securus tablets while incarcerated. Job seekers preparing to enter our communities are accessing the platform over 10,000 times per day. Community organizations, including nonprofits and institutions of higher education, are joining forces with Honest Jobs to help expand its capacity to help incarcerated people.
Using Honest Jobs, job seekers can find employment up to 8x faster with a wage 2.5x higher than they find using other means. Most of the jobs are full-time with benefits. Over 40,000 job seekers are on the platform, with more than 1,000 new users joining each week.
Job seekers self-disclose their criminal histories when they create an account. Information provided is not shared with employers. Instead, it runs through a proprietary system called ConflixAI, which color codes job listings based on the likelihood that the particular user will pass a background check. This approach reduces wasted time and rescinded offers.
"From Fortune 50 companies to nonprofits, municipalities, and small, local businesses, employers across the country and in all sectors of the economy say that hiring via Honest Jobs enables them to address talent challenges and diversifies their applicant pools." - JFF Ventures article about Honest Jobs
Employers can post their jobs for free with the option to pay for priority placement in search results. The highest tier of service, working with fair chance certified recruiters who will source and vet candidates on your behalf and support the candidates throughout the hiring process and initial periods of employment.
"People with records should be able to match their talents and aspirations to employment opportunities. Honest Jobs makes this vision a reality for thousands of people impacted by the criminal legal system." - Lucretia Murphy, VP and Leader of the Center for Justice and Economic Advancement at JFF
Honest Jobs was built by and for people with criminal records. JFF is invested in helping connect justice-impacted job seekers with fair-chance employers. Join today at www.honestjobs.com