A Sad Goodbye to Honest Jobs
A Sadder Hello to Job1Stop
We received notification a number of days ago that we are receiving a new tool for job searches called Job1Stop.
As part of its installation, the Honest Jobs app will be going away for us by 01 October 2024.
Apps like these are intended for we incarcerated many to figure out what job prospects look like for us when we depart. They carry a lot of importance, especially for someone who served ten, fifteen, even twenty years in, while the job market has evolved without them. Unfortunately, the switch to Job1Stop feels quarter baked, and a bit disingenuous to foist upon people in its current state.
I've spent some time using the new tool, and I am strongly lamenting the change that's due.
What's missing?
Job1Stop allows me to search by postal code and a general search term (like "retail" or "paratransit"). It then returns jobs with a description of duties, and an AI model implements scoring as to whether the job may hire justice-impacted individuals like myself.
There are a lot of jobs with very low, even 0% scoring jobs; jobs that require postsecondary degrees (Associates, Bachelor's, etc); jobs that require 15 years of experience; jobs that require Top Secret Clearances (as evidenced by a search near an Air Force Base).
This tool turns up very few jobs that most of us in here would qualify for, given the state of education behind these fences.
Honest Jobs allows me to make a similar search, but also indicate what kind of conviction I have (e.g.: "cyber/computer", "arson", "voyeurism", or "distribution"), then returns a list of jobs with an AI generated score for the likelihood that a person with my conviction might be considered for the job.
Even better, Honest Jobs only shows companies with a provable policy of hiring justice-impacted individuals (hat tips to Starbucks, MOD Pizza, AutoZone, Chipotle, Lowe's, and Whole Foods -- thanks for looking past our convictions: if we're applying, we've already served our time💙) so that someone looking for work knows who is more likely to shake their hand and welcome them to a new, honest career!
Not the hamstring, NOT the hamstring!!
While this decision to move us to the Job1Stop PWA does not immediately affect me at a personal level (due to my current sentence length), it affects others around me.
A friend here is out in a year. He doesn't have a high school diploma or equivalent (not for a lack of trying). He is worried about finding a job with his conviction and lack of credentialing. His struggle is maths (and I begin to wonder if he has an underlying diagnosis of dyscalculia* that has been missed), and that has been what's stymying his attempt to get his diploma.
Job1Stop just pours bucketfuls of You Need A Degree grade jobs onto your lap.
I did a search for warehouse jobs in a ZIP code with which I am familiar, and zero jobs within 50 miles turned up in Job1Stop.
I repeated this search in Honest Jobs, and many jobs turned up with high scores for likelihood that he would be hired with his conviction (thank you, Aerotek, CINTAS, and UPS).
A need
Ultimately, when we leave here, many of us have a need to be hired and working quickly.
We have fines levied against us to pay off now that we are out.
We have bills to pay for whatever place is allowing us to stay.
We need to eat, and there is no prison chow hall feeding us the FDC standard tray, Week 2, Tuesday, Dinner (that is, no winner, winner, chicken dinner).
We have transportation costs to fund after years of just using our Chevrolegs to commute across the yard.
Some of us have even have probation, and probation officers to meet, which (take note, potential employers) are like free truancy officers for you -- that employee on probation is GOING to be there, on time, all the time unless they are so sick that they're in the hospital.
We want your job offers. We need the positive career.
Job1Stop just increased the difficulty in our finding each other.
Not a good thing for us all.
I guess we'll just have to meet the hard way. Have you received my application?
Until the next time, take care of yourselves and each other. :)
*What is dyscalculia?
It is a learning disability identified as the impaired ability to learn grade-appropriate mathematics.