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Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

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Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#261

Post by wutbrodo »

adventist wrote: post #238
jitix wrote: post #234

Awesome idea! And a noble cause. But one word of advice - since this is a niche market you guys should focus on natural growth and profitability instead of getting too much VC money to fuel explosive growth.

I don't understand how 30% of Americans is a niche market? Can you elaborate some more?

Because this 30% can't hire themselves, and they need companies to participate. This is a two-sided market, and "Companies willing to go out of their way to hire more felons" _is_ something of a niche market (unfortunately, given that the status quo is probably significant underhiring of people with records, to everyone's detriment).

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#262

Post by jitix »

adventist wrote: post #238
jitix wrote: post #234

Awesome idea! And a noble cause. But one word of advice - since this is a niche market you guys should focus on natural growth and profitability instead of getting too much VC money to fuel explosive growth.

I don't understand how 30% of Americans is a niche market? Can you elaborate some more?

Its niche because the idea can be easily replicated by the incumbents in the industry. And it will be hard to scale at a global scale because the perception about ex-cons varies a lot in different countries.

As such the profits wont be able to keep up with VCs expectations if they invest 100s of millions of dollars. OP has a great first mover advantage and knowledge of the market, and they can capitalize that but the idea isn't worth billions.

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#263

Post by LeifCarrotson »

forgotmyoldpw wrote: post #121

Um, why are all of the photos on the site of African Americans? Yes, it's true that African Americans make up 40% of the prison population, but whites make up 39% and hispanics 19%. It seems the images you have chosen are an unfair stereotype.

It's both better and worse than that. The photos of the job seekers are all African Americans, yes. But there is a photo that includes white men and even two white women: It's behind the "Employers" heading most of the way down the main page. Yikes.

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#265

Post by chris_wot »

newsreader wrote: post #233

Former career criminal here. Spent 19 years of my adult life in a combination of jail and prison. Longest stint was for 14 consecutive years. Been working in IT for the last 17 years, mostly as a developer. Had a very hard time getting my foot in the door; was denied employment more than once because of my record. Not sure that my current employer is even aware that I have a record, and to be honest I have no plans t…

I'm sorry to hear of the issues you had getting employment. Must have been awful getting a job, hell when I left my last company with few references it was hard enough... I can only imagine how tough it must have been getting out of jail!

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#266

Post by Joeboy »

RBBronson123 wrote: post #129
Joeboy wrote: post #49

Possibly interesting trivia: There was an '80s British TV series called Inside Out, about people doing what you're doing.

really? I love British TV!

It's http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2674348/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_17 , although sadly it seems to have mostly vanished into the analogue void. I remember it being pretty good, but I probably had dreadful taste at the time.

http://www.rochellestevens.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/01... has a very slightly better summary (at least enough to prove I'm not making it up).

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#267

Post by logfromblammo »

QuotedForTruth wrote: post #247
aeorgnoieang wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the problem specifically with that listing?

Its a listing that excludes candidates with felonies on a job board specifically for candidates with felonies.

The OP specifies only "criminal record", which may include both misdemeanors and felonies, with varying degrees of each.

Some employers care about any criminal record at all, while others care about felony convictions only. The website itself only mentions "criminal record" and "formerly incarcerated".

Perhaps it would be prudent to make filtering easy for "misdemeanors only" jobs and "former felons wanted" jobs?

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#268

Post by LeifCarrotson »

flanbiscuit wrote: post #98

quick FYI, Your og:image is broken because I just tried sharing your site on facebook and all I saw were logos from other companies. When I go directly to the image you set in your og:image meta tag I get an error response https://jobboardhq.blob.core.windows.net/assets/prod/2ttp/lo... here's a direct link to FB's open graph debugger with your site already loaded into it: https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/s…

Another broken page is your "For Formerly Incarcerated->Gain Certification" page:

https://www.70millionjobs.com/page/Certification

I see nothing but some share buttons, the standard header and footer, and a blank white page. There's a Sumo login tab that slides out of the scroll bar if you mouseover near the top right corner.

It's perhaps only caused by the Show HN DDOS/hug of death, but better to learn now than later that the Sumo Listbuilder popup takes at least 30-60 seconds to load. I only waited long enough to notice it because I had to disable UBlock and reloaded watching the Network tab of the dev tools.

Re: Launch HN: 70MillionJobs (YC S17) – Job board for people with criminal records

#269

Post by chris_wot »

will_brown wrote: post #251
Mz wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition to the above great ideas, here are some stats for you: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/04/... The US has about 4.4 percent of the global population and about 22 percent of the global prison population. The numbers are more startling using a different measure in the report: the prison population rate. Criminologists say this is a reliable way to compare incarceration practices betw…

>In other words, don't tell them "give a criminal a second chance." Tell them that many people with criminal records simply shouldn't have them... That's a very interesting approach, but I believe a hard sell to potential employer. As true as it may be, an employer is more likely to appreciate the individual who says this is my background, this is what I learned and this is my vision of my own future...rather than, i…

Not everyone in prison is there because of violent crime.
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