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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

#31

Post by austenallred »

burkaman wrote: post #27
austenallred wrote: post #24

I would imagine the difficult aspect of this two-sided market would be employers. Not to be obtuse, but what incentive would an employer have to hire someone with criminal records?

They have an incentive to hire someone, and often can't find qualified candidates through traditional channels. In purely economic terms, I'm willing to bet some people with criminal records are willing to work for less than someone with the same qualifications and a clean record.

Hmm, so moneyball/arbitrage based on criminal history?

That's interesting; would be curious to hear if there's another side of the story as well.

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

#32

Post by nulagrithom »

I went through an IT technical degree at a community college. Three of my classmates were timing their graduation to the year their felony fell off background checks.

These guys spent 5 years grinding it out at whatever shit job would hire them just to spend 2 more in school + working with the hope of getting a simple rack & stack job, all because of some mistake they made in their late teens/early twenties. It was the exact same story 3 times, and all involving drug offenses.

It really gave me a different perspective on the situation. I don't think these 3 people should've been sidelined for 7 years. They could've been productive members of society well before that. Keeping them out of the skilled/professional workforce is painful.

This could be a huge untapped pool of candidates, as long as companies are willing to take the risk. I hope it takes off.

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

#33

Post by angersock »

Invictus0 wrote: post #22

Do you employ people with criminal records? As an employer, I want to hire the best people so my company can be successful. Why would I hire anyone from your site when there are plenty of other candidates elsewhere? Do you think people will try to use your site to disqualify potential hires (i.e. use it as a do-not-hire list so those registered with the site can specifically be avoided)? How will you prevent this fro…

Why would having a criminal record automatically preclude you from hiring these folks?

Hell, Hans Reiser wrote a great filesystem and he murdered his wife. John Draper and Kevin Mitnick would probably both be good hires for certain roles. Steve Jobs could've been easily arrested for drug use.

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

#35

Post by RBBronson123 »

nulagrithom wrote: post #32

I went through an IT technical degree at a community college. Three of my classmates were timing their graduation to the year their felony fell off background checks. These guys spent 5 years grinding it out at whatever shit job would hire them just to spend 2 more in school + working with the hope of getting a simple rack & stack job, all because of some mistake they made in their late teens/early twenties. It was t…

Thank you for sharing that. It's a common story. Attitudes are changing quickly, so I hold out hope. I very much appreciate your support.

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

#36

Post by inetknght »

> So we created a "save haven" where all parties knew the score

Does that mean that employers know what offenses were committed, and how long ago? Or does it just mean that they know that the candidate has been convicted of something, but figuring out whether that's a liability to the business or not needs to be discussed?

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

#37

Post by RBBronson123 »

lbhnact wrote: post #26

Just want to add support. One of my childhood friends has a felony from when he was an overly-rambunctious teenager that he still gets punished for - including being kicked off AirBnB - for something he stole more than 20 years ago. Despite this, he's a very successful leader in mental health services management. So many people deserve a chance to redeem themselves from being 'branded', yet are denied the exact oppor…

I will surely look into this. Thanks for sharing.

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

#38

Post by someguy101010 »

Invictus0 wrote: post #22

Do you employ people with criminal records? As an employer, I want to hire the best people so my company can be successful. Why would I hire anyone from your site when there are plenty of other candidates elsewhere? Do you think people will try to use your site to disqualify potential hires (i.e. use it as a do-not-hire list so those registered with the site can specifically be avoided)? How will you prevent this fro…

"As an employer, I want to hire the best people so my company can be successful. Why would I hire anyone from your site when there are plenty of other candidates elsewhere?"

Not associated with that company but one reason to hire a convict is that you get a pretty decent tax break[0] out of it

[0]https://www.doleta.gov/business/incentives/opptax/

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