So it’s with deep professional and personal sadness that I must announce my plans to shut down 70 Million Resources, Inc., the parent company of 70 Million Jobs (the 1st national, for-profit employment platform for people with criminal records) and Commissary Club (the first mobile social network for this population).
When I launched 70MR in 2016, I was motivated to build a company that could short circuit the pernicious cycles of recidivism in this country--cycles that destroy lives, tear apart families and decimate communities. I sought to disrupt the sleepy reentry industry by applying technology, focusing on data, employing an aggressive, accountable team, and moving with some urgency. And for the first time, approaching the challenge as a national, for-profit venture.
This approach, which I named “RaaS,” (Reentry as a Service), turned out to be wildly effective, and by the beginning of 2020, we were delivering on our mission of driving “double bottom line returns”: build a big, successful business and do massive social good. With the help of Y Combinator and nearly 1,500 investors, I assembled a team and got to work.
We succeeded in facilitating employment for thousands of deserving men and women and became operationally profitable.
However, the pandemic had other plans for us. When it hit in force in March 2020, companies made wholesale terminations of nearly all our people, and continued their halt in hiring for two years.
Our revenue dropped like a rock to almost nothing. I immediately responded by paring our expenses to the bone and began letting team members go. There was no opportunity to raise additional funding, so I began injecting my own money into the company—money I barely have—just to keep the lights on.
When the economy and job market began storming back, we were inundated with inbound requests for our services. Our perseverance seemed to be paying off. Except now we were hit with a new gut punch: “The Great Resignation.” Now our workers were reticent to come back to work. And if they did accept a job, they’d often leave after only a few days.
It became obvious that we lacked the resources to weather this new storm while hoping and praying the world would normalize soon. (It still hasn’t.)
Our coffers are empty. We’ve incurred a relatively small amount of debt (that I personally guaranteed) that I hope to negotiate down. All employees have been paid what they were owed (except for me). I will explore sale of assets we hold.
On a personal note, I can’t tell you how grateful and humbled I’ve been that many would entrust their investment or business with me. For a person who’s done time in prison (me), it’s almost impossible to ask for someone’s trust. I have not yet forgiven myself for things I did which ultimately got me into trouble. But I will be eternally grateful to those that assisted me in my efforts to settle the score and win back my karma.
From the beginning I was blessed by an unbelievable team of smart, funny, passionate young people who shared my ambition to cause change. They stuck with me/us until the very end.
I’m most saddened by the millions of formerly incarcerated men and women who we won’t be able to help. These are some of the most sincere, honest, and heroic people I’ve ever met. It was my life’s honor to work with them.
I’m pretty sure I’ll continue my reentry work. Several prominent organizations have indicated their interests in me assuming a leadership role. I need to work, and I need to continue my work.
I’m so sorry for this outcome, despite the good we’ve done. I’m not sure we could have done anything differently or better, but ultimately, I take full responsibility. Needless to say, if you have any thoughts or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out, here or at Richard@70MillionJobs.com.
This has been the greatest experience of my life; it couldn’t have happened without my getting a second chance.
Richard
Were you able to apply for PPP (and other covid related) loans / grants? I feel like of all businesses, yours should have been easy to get something like that.
Thanks for trying, it's more than most do. My genuine condolences you were unable to maintain traction due to the macro.
(agree with 0des' sibling comment, hibernate the effort vs this being the death of it)
Take the job so you dont starve, and so you can begin to rebuild. It's not time to shut the doors, it's just time to take a knee and get your game plan together. It ain't over yet, it's just halftime.
This will help: https://marker.medium.com/reflecting-on-my-failure-to-build-...
As in the workers you placed, employees of 70MR? Why would they leave after a few days? Can you expand on this?
It became obvious that we lacked the resources to weather this new storm while hoping and praying the world would normalize soon. (It still hasn’t.)
What does normalize mean to you (or 70MR)?
This is truly sad. I think the business model is still high in demand but maybe not right now as companies all over are paring down expenses and tightening coffers.
Bravo! I sincerely hope you try again.
There are very strange earthquakes and disconnects happening in the labor market right now and I appreciate seeing this honest perspective on the reality you were trying to change.
What’s the scale of this? For example, how many people accepted a job and then quit within a few days?
How did it impact these people’s lives? For example, did this result in increased recidivism? If so, at what scale?
i'm sure your company will be missed by those who you helped get new opportunities in life
it's better to try and fail changing the world, than never try, live a meaningless, unfulfilling, but comfortable life
you gave a shot, but i'm sure you didn't run out of ammo!
try again next time!
It's sad that the amount of money floating around doesn't pour into a company like yours.
Can you clarify: Were the employees of your 70MR organization hesitant to return to work and quitting after a few days? Or were the people who requested your services quitting jobs several days after placement?
On a recidivism-related tangent, a close friend of mine runs a nonprofit called "Guitars Behind Bars" -- https://guitarsbehindbars.com -- which does like it says on the tin, providing instruments and a musical outlet to convicts. It's had profound positive effects on the inmates who've participated (and their jailers/wardens, too). Bringing it up here bc stories about helping ex-convicts don't often feature on the HN front page.
Power to you, Richard. Keep fighting the good fight, and thank you for being a light for others.
Is this because the people you were representing were mostly in sectors affected by the pandemic (travel, restaurant, etc), or were they were mostly "contingent workforce" jobs that are first to be cut?
I was a convicted felon at 18 years old, poor, living on the street.
It wasn't any government re-integration program that helped me, it was a random person I met in highschool.
I worked my way through everything -> college -> jobs -> startups -> lucky windfalls -> owning my own company. I've immigrated to Europe (3 times in the last 10 years technically), beating the legal issues each time.
And finally, after 17 years, I'm no longer a felon thanks to a pardon and expungement.
I really wish something like 70MR would stay up. Not everyone can be as lucky as me. Is there some place I can donate?
It’s hard to find discussions about the real downsides of using VC money. For instance, what happens when growth fails? Do you lose ownership of the business? From reading this, the answer seems to be: Kind of, yeah. You have to buy your way back.
Another one: What happens if you want to do something extremely risky? My project is a game; what if an asteroid impact seems best for the design, but runs the risk of literally destroying the player base? I can’t imagine that would receive creative encouragement.
So as the author said, it depends on how value is to be measured.
The past doesnt matter, only the present moment does and it's wonderful.
money is put where profits are
this seems like a low-margin low-profit business
it’s not the investors who are the problem, it’s the capitalist system which encourages this behavior
I don't know enough about your business. Why does employee mobility hurt you?
Another option is to go live in a Compact of Free Association nations such as Micronesia or Marshall Islands. US citizens are authorized to live and work there without a visa, so once you live overseas there for a few years you can immigrate to most other nations using the background check from your country of prior residence, which is now a country where you have a clear background.
https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_offen...
Only a little over 1/3rd are actually in prison for violent crime.
But curious about this...
> When the economy and job market began storming back, we were inundated with inbound requests for our services. Our perseverance seemed to be paying off. Except now we were hit with a new gut punch: “The Great Resignation.” Now our workers were reticent to come back to work. And if they did accept a job, they’d often leave after only a few days.
Why were they leaving after only a few days when before they weren't?
Are they job hopping, in which case wouldn't that also be a revenue stream for 70MR? Did they find that it was such a sellers' market that they didn't need 70MR's services to get good jobs anymore?
I never really understood this "shortage of workers / great resignation" phenomenon to begin with, so perhaps this specific situation would be a good one to use as a concrete example.
Thanks for the idea.
Richard, I'll shoot you an email.
> For instance, what happens when growth fails?
C level purge, or outright shuttering the business. This is more of a question of, when will my benefactors tire of gambling on this concept I am building.
> Do you lose ownership of the business?
Usually, in most cases, you give up part of the business to attain the funding, sometimes a board seat. When this happens, if you no longer hold the majority of the voting shares and seats, you can lose the business. If you have cofounders or partners, they may be pressured or persuaded to sell their share, so one VC not being the majority doesnt entirely mean you are safe. The only true safety is being a solo founder, which is why solo founders are encouraged to find a cofounder. Not only can most people not do everything themselves, but a solo founder is not easily broken once theyve made up their mind. There is no "mom" to play against "dad" when a CEO doesn't want to "play ball" with a VC's inane growth plan.
Your assessment is correct, in most cases, unless you are gumroad, you will have to buy back any stake you have sold/bequeathed.
> What happens if you want to do something extremely risky?
If you think it makes sense, do it. If you have a board you have to run it through first, this may not be as straightforward, because youll have to repitch a LOT and revalidate "feelings" and other nonsense.
> My project is a game;
That's awesome, you probably wont have to worry about any of this because most VC, unless theyre in this arena already, will not fund or even entertain a game. Theyll say "go to a publisher" or just outright ignore you. Im not trying to be mean, I love games, I love money.
> what if an asteroid impact seems best for the design, but runs the risk of literally destroying the player base? I can’t imagine that would receive creative encouragement.
Be careful of any VC that would take issue with creative direction decisions. It is important that you and they know that they are the money, you are the talent. If they had the talent and the idea, they'd be bootstrapping your business themselves. There are only so many hours in the day, and irons in the fire. You have all the hours of the day to spend on one iron in your fire. A VC has the hours outside of their things to focus on the myriad of irons in their fire.
One last thing: I know you didnt ask, but if you start to circle the drain and nobody is wanting to invest, dont get desperate and take money from family, people you care about, or especially people who arent a professional VC. Youre going to be afraid to take the chances and leaps necessary to deliver a possible return on their money and success to your concept. Similarly, small VCs can be a hinderance in the way that you're their one horse, and bigger startups havent delivered the returns that would relax them into trusting their instinct and letting their investment be a catalyst rather than a shackle.
VC money is not like kickstarter where it means they have input. That is what board seats are for, and the more money people you put there, and the less industry people you put there, the harder it will be to explain industry concepts which frankly shouldnt be your job.
Dont take VC money for a game. Be broke for a while, work a job, grind it out in your free time. Youll thank yourself. Research Bay12games.
People have the opportunity to become a new person, and it's not just those with a criminal past either. Perhaps those who have experienced persecution can also start a new chapter in a safer environment.
I don't know what's possible for you financially and how much runway you might have left, but if you can stick around a bit longer, the coming economic turbulence is a prime time to reinvigorate the business.
Respect & Gl on your next chapter in life
maybe because this is a forum, that belongs to the most prominent VC in the world?
> For instance, what happens when growth fails? Do you lose ownership of the business?
nothing, besides losing trust in your business’s ability to succeed, therefor not putting any more money in it
consider this: VCs are typically in hundred-million ranges, $500k for them is a rounding error, they only care about those companies that can show the promised growth
> What happens if you want to do something extremely risky?
that’d be actually great
more risk = more reward
> My project is a game
a thing about which no VC in the world cares
unless you promise it will become a “Metaverse”
> I can’t imagine that would receive creative encouragement
that’s not what you need a VC for, you need a VC for two things only: their money, their connections/status
I've spent the last 9 years around felons and it is sad as most of them never had a chance in life, being born either into an environment that practically guaranteed incarceration, or being born with mental health issues that this nation fails to treat and instead incarcerates.
That'll be the day. I wonder what poor Dan G. and company would do with their lives then?
"It’s not a labor shortage — it’s a wage and workers rights shortage" https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/570441-its-not-a-labor-s...
"Our employment system has failed low-wage workers. How can we rebuild?" https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/04/28/our-emplo...
Yeah, I think we’re too hard as a nation on ex-cons. But they’re not heroes because they went through self-imposed hardships (and almost always at the expense of someone innocent). And they’re certainly among the lower rungs of honesty by categorization. Nowhere near the top.
If this sounds harsh, just act their victims.
I would think the state would have protections against this type of thing, but maybe not.
I dunno if it’s even about money. The pandemic and the way it was handled REALLY messed with a lot of people’s heads. I’d say a not insignificant number of people had what amounts to a religious awakening of sorts. I’ve seen it myself, several people just deciding to make drastic life changes out of the blue.
Turns out, for instance, Halcyon Molecular was similar, it went bust losing tons of money but it let me get a decent wage after all the employment discrimination I suffered for standing up to torture (false imprisonment, so very similar, had a gap in my resume I couldn't explain because I didn't realize there was an April in 2009, it just hurt to think about that moment in my life). That $20-an-hour job allowed me to create abnormal speedups for many algorithms, leading to https://fgemm.com, which I'm working on now.
It was my second chance. And it created the tech it was meant to, just not the way the investors expected.
EDIT: can't reply to selimthegrim except here, at the limit of posts. I will get it working. I know it's not up yet, it's coming soon. Currently ironing out the algorithms instead.
Aha, that's a mystery solved. Luckily no one would be crazy enough to cofound. And I've heard the same thing about games not receiving VC money. There's the metaverse pitch, but that's just a stampede.
Thank you for taking the time to detail your advice here! That was tremendously helpful. Great point about creative decisions, family/friends, and small firms. This may all help people reading it more than you'll know.
I'm 10 years in and could learn a lot from Dwarf Fortress. Including how to use composable components (most Roguelikes seem to).
I know that this is just another beginning for you, full of new opportunities, and that you will continue to help and inspire people. Godspeed!
My understanding is that while the rate of prisoners with drug charges is high, the rate of prisoners with only drug charges is a lot lower.
For some context, besides having a criminal record, I was/am a solo founder who somehow talked his way into Y Comb. Perhaps most surprising is my age: I'm 68. To my friends I grew up with, I'm f'-ing Steve Jobs. To you guys, you'd no doubt see me as the bumbling great uncle at Thanksgiving that isn't allowed to touch the TV remote control.
So it's all been pretty weird. (wanna see it get weirder? google me and check out my past)
As you all know, doing a 2-sided marketplace is always tough. But imagine if neither side of your marketplace was convinced they wanted your product. Chances are you keep your distance from such an undertaking ("Build something people want," my YC t-shirt says). I build something arguably no one wanted, but I knew they needed. Does that make me a schmuck? Probably.
But to those who've never gotten close to someone with as record--particularly someone with a different color than you, who was brought into an unfair world from Day One, someone who wanted the same things as you, but never quite figured out how to get there, I'm here to say that some of these folks are the most honorable, humble, appreciate, hard-working people you could imagine. They just want a peaceful life, to take care of their family and get a good night sleep.
So that's where the mission comes in, and that's when zealots are born. The truth is, I have nothing in my life other than my work. No wife, no kids, no home, nothing. But the satisfaction I got from helping these heroic folks, and the smiles I'd see on their kids' faces when they were reunited, meant/means the world to me. If you don't have something like this in your life, I urge you to find it. Your karma will thank you for it.
I invite you all to ask your questions and continue to opine. If you have something to share that isn't merely an attempt to win an argument, I'd appreciate your taking the time to email me. More importantly, if you're ever in a position to hire someone with a record, take the chance. Life is too short not to take chances. Richard
Was this enough to make a large number of people stop working, even now into mid-2022? I really feel like the impact of several thousand dollars would be gone after a year, at most. yet many businesses near me are still under staffed and having trouble hiring.
On that chart, I was a little bit surprised to see the percentages for:
- category (g) (Homicide, Aggravated Assault, and Kidnapping Offenses) and
- category (l) (Sex Offenses)
The same way companies offer a bonus to current employees if they recommend some for hire and they maintained their employment for 90 days or so.
Depends who gave the money.
When I think of the great people I met from our batch, you’re at the top of the list. Your passion and gratitude were contagious. I was always rooting for you and I will continue to do so. That letter you wrote to the entire batch at the culmination of our YC experience remains one of the great missives I’ve received. You’re top shelf, sir!
Onward! Steven
I think they are so overwhelmed at EDD that her request was just pushed along through the process. There are so many stories of fraud at EDD that you have to wonder how much time the claims processors are spending on each application.
If I'm reading this right, there's an immense amount of unemployment fraud suppressing ex-convict workforce re-entry.
You're forgetting the child tax credit as well, which was effectively a monthly stimulus check for many, and student loan forbearance, which nets out to something like $10B/month in increased consumer spending power
The hardships aren't self-imposed, our justice system is specifically and intentionally retributive, imposing punishment for its own sake rather than imposing consequences with the goal of rehabilitation. And we're talking here of additional ad-hoc social punishments beyond the terms of the sentence that make finding a job harder.
The level of personal discipline it takes to get released and stay "good" on probation is far beyond what we expect from workers in general and almost certainly stricter than either of us requires for ourselves. The level of humility and, frankly, debasement it takes to find a willing employer with a felony conviction is if not heroic at least saintly.
It's nothing like that. The justice system is a machine that chews people up, and spits out convicts, and it operates with impunity precisely because of ignorant views like yours. Getting arrested or convicted is like winning a shit lottery, and all you need to win is to be around a cop having a bad day. Since very few people are "winners", so the knowledge of the real system is minimized, and the knowledgeable ones are marginalized and ignored because they are, after all, convicts.
People break the law and do so with impunity all day long. In fact, they get paid well to do it. Your typical family law attorney should be arrested, tried and convicted, and they've destroyed countless families, harmed countless children. But they are pillars of the community. So just because someone got punished by these corrupt people doesn't make them evil, it makes them unlucky.
(In fairness I'd estimate that 90% of arrests/convictions/plea deals are straightforward, valid and basically fair, and those convicts often are repeat offenders, low intelligence, struggling with addiction and mental health. They deserve a chance too, but it's the 10% who get swept up for breaking no law, or breaking needlessly punitive laws, that I particularly feel for. You know, the Aaron Swartz's of the world.)
1. Older people taking retirement early when the pandemic hit.
2. People in service/public-facing industries leaving for jobs that could be done remotely, or going back to school.
3. Several hundred thousand working age people dying from COVID.
But if the applicant pool is bad with the majority quitting then I could see employers leaving the platform.
A lot of people for various reasons have never seen more than a thousand or two in their checking account at once (typically, from tax refunds). So, 8000 is a once-in-a-lifetime amount of wealth. It's sad to think of what's happening at a higher level of course. The government was borrowing money on behalf of everyone and telling everyone to go spend it. Thanks, uncle, I wasn't stupid enough already.
I found 70 million jobs inspirational and I'm proud of the work you did.
Someday someone else will move this idea a little further down the field.
My grand idea is creating an intentional community with some glamping areas for cashflow, a community garden, shared tools and worker space with 3d printers, recreational vehicles, brooms, rakes, etc...things you really don't need to 'own', and cut back on too much consumerism. The idea being if you had 2 city blocks and everyone was related or at least friendly and built a huge garage to share items they maybe use infrequently, how much space would that free up for more people to live, or to work on a hobby or something?
My idea is build a homestead, in an area where zoning and building codes allow, maybe use some earth-friendly building methods like earth bag homes, there's an awesome youtube channel called My Little Homestead where they basically built free standing buildings as 'rooms' for each of their kids and it's basically like their own studio apartment. Each one cost < 10k, and is something you can live in any time of year.
If you could build like 50 of these things, you could maybe house 50-100+ people and maybe just charge like 300/person 100 per child, and build bigger buildings as needed for larger families, etc. Rinse and repeat across the USA and bring rent and home prices down because you'd flood the market with cheap homes anyone can afford. The glamping section might have 5-10 spots each bringing in 50-200 per night throughout the year.
The community would be gated, and protected well, and work best probably for those who could work online or from home, or willing to commute as it'll probably be in a rural area.
They might not even be places you'd want to stay in forever, but great starter homes to live in while you save up money for something bigger or build up some investments or passive income sources.
Alternate to earth bags, we also could use tiny-homes which are roughly 50k per pop, possibly less if we manufacture them from kits.
I just have no idea how or where to begin to launch something like this, or if the brilliance is just in my own head, or if people/communities would actually find it valuable.
it sucks, no two ways about it. hope you can find the next thing quickly.
EDIT: And only speak e̶n̶g̶l̶i̶s̶h̶ a single language.
Yeah, it's part of the corrections system. You go on probation or parole and they keep you on a leash. It's intentional. If you don't like it, you can serve out the whole term.
"Saintly". For god's sake people. Listen to yourselves. How many cars I gotta jack before people start calling me a saint, anyway?
My point is that I don’t agree with labeling someone convicted of a crime as being among society’s most heroic or honest. That’s just a laughably ridiculous statement.
It all boils down to survival of the fittest and history repeatedly shows and the the US Govt & US Mil demonstrates, violence always wins the day.
I was with you up until this. While I understand the view that what many attorneys do is immoral or wrong - generally speaking to my knowledge there isn't widespread illegal behavior?
I understand but don't fully agree with the view that laywers are "evil" - but the way I see it is they are skilled at playing by the rules of the law. This makes them incredibly powerful (for both sides of people that can afford it), but if they are generally playing by the law - thus not arrestable. Tearing a family apart because the mother is an A hole and lies about things the father does might be immoral - but it's not illegal for an attorney to represent them.
1) Marshall islands or Micronesia. Buy flight on credit, do farm or whatever labor you can to eat while you get booted. No visa needed to live or work.
2) Some nations such as Argentina have effectively no immigration enforcement. Once you're in the country you're good and you can file a court case to become a citizen immediately (you'll have to wait 2+ year for it to be granted). In the meantime the legal system in Argentina has to treat you as a citizen while you're waiting on your case.
If you truly have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING and no access to credit you may be able to hitchhike and/or work on boats/yachts to get to any nation in the Americas.
3) Or, not recommending it, but you can be like the illegal immigrants. Enter somewhere on a tourist visa and take informal jobs like illegal immigrants do. Seems to work for some of them in a variety of European and South American countries.
4) Join a foreign militia/military. French foreign legion, Ukraine. Also YPG and some Kurdish militias I think still accepts recruits and they don't require anything past your flight which you could buy on credit. French foreign legion will grant you citizenship after two contracts and will feed you in the meanwhile, even while you're trying out.
5) Work with an English teaching organization that does not perform FBI background check. Some exist but they may not be plentiful. They may help you get a job in a new nation.
6) Marry a Brazilian (or few other nations). Many jurisdictions in Brazil will issue a permanent residence visa without much scrutiny if you are married or have a Brazilian child. Believe Cape Verde also gives instant citizenship for marriage.
7) IF you can enter Philippines on 'Balakbayan' visa (married to Filipino) then you'll be issued a 1 year visa without scrutiny. After 6 months in the country they don't require background checks from anywhere but Philippines. Wait 7 months after entering, use your spouse to apply for work and permanent visa.
Alternatively, gofundme for this would be very successful I would assume. You could also think of a some sort of corporate sponsorship. Corporates can write off for supporting program like this. Again, non-profit here would help a lot.
My company operates/ed a job board and a staffing business. Both ran like traditional job boards (Indeed, Zip Recruiter, etc) and staffing companies (Kelly, Adecco, etc.), except being focused entirely on the formerly incarcerated. This is how large employers source many, many employees.
The staffing business was much larger. In this model, we serve as the hirer-of-record, and essentially lease out the workers to our client employers, who cover all our costs (wages, unemployment insurance, taxes, etc.) plus our mark-up (profit). It's a high volume, low margin business.
During the Great Resignation, we found it took 10x the time and effort to get someone placed, eroding our already thin margins. Plus, if a worker left (which they began doing at a great rate), we're obligated to replace them. All of this made it pretty much impossible for us to make money. (Again, we're a for-profit business). I hope this clarifies things.
To them - rot in hell fucking vultures.
To you - thanks and praise for what you've done and best luck for whatever you do in the future.
I saw more than a few people that when from 2 income house holds to 1 because of Student Loan payment defers and the increase cost of Child care made is possible for one of the parents to just stay home..
We also sadly lost a lot of people to covid, and many older people have chosen to retire rather than return to the office.
I think these 3 things are more impactful on the employment market than the direct payments
Technically, yes, but the system is so overwhelmed in many locations that unemployment requests are almost automatically approved. You have to work hard to appeal it after the fact and a lot of employers just give up.
Here's a breakdown by most serious offense for my state's prison system:
https://www.doc.sc.gov/research/InmatePopulationStats/ASOF-M...
Which has 16% drugs, but also:
26% homicide, 12% Robbery, 11% Burglary, 9.5% Rape/Sexual assault, 6.6% Kidnapping, 6.4% Assault.
I wrote an blog post a while back about how prison populations skew so much towards the most violent crimes.
If you want to know why this is, I would recommend Discipline and Punish by Foucault. Our present systems of justice go back hundreds of years, when a crime was considered an attack on the sovereign, aka the King, or the Prince. Back then crimes were punished by Hanging, or Torture, and it was done as an exercise of terror. The primary purpose of this wasn't the prevention of crime (Do you really think royalty cared if peasants killed each-other?), but rather punishment for disobeying the King.
All modern systems of Law are essentially still medieval systems, and it's why crimes that happen exclusively between two people are prosecuted as Person v. State of Whatever. The process of justice isn't for the criminal, it's to remind the rest of us of the total power of the State.
The "employment at will" doctrine at work. Terrible.
I would attribute that to the weak US labor, and its failure to do away with this via country-wide/industry-wide labor agreements make this impossible, or appropriate legislation. Many (most?) countries don't have this doctrine.
We are talking island states, perhaps Thailand, Eastern Europe.
East Asia would not be my choice for legal residency as a felon. Although I would note if you're not applying for a visa, they rarely actually have mechanisms to check your criminal record unless someone influential takes a specific liking to you.
As I mentioned there are a number of nations that only require background check from countries you've lived in for the past X years. Therefore if you live somewhere else for X years you can then leapfrog to that country.
One could imagine if we didn't scar people with lifelong records how many would integrate back into society.
a. The official number is ~254,000 (in the USA) which is certainly a major over-estimate. True number is certainly far less.
b. Employees who died or retired don't count as resigned.
First I'm hearing of you unfortunately, but thank you so much for your contribution to this terrible issue so many face.
You not only changed many people pull themselves back up, but you put an imprint on the world that yes, people with criminal backgrounds in their past as just as worthy of opportunities as anyone else.
Wish you the best going forward and, if it's the right path for you to walk, wish you luck trying again.
And post your next endeavors on HN more, I'd love to hear about it ;)
First, flying on credit isn't nearly as easy as you make it out to be. Yes, a bunch of companies are buy now, pay later. They fall into two groups. The first does it based on your credit. The second is a layaway plan - by the time you get on the plane you've managed to pay in full. Ex-cons struggling to get a job usually have neither. Nobody wants to give money to a person who looks like they are trying to disappear. (Because you just know your money is going to disappear with them...)
Second, a lot of your plans require going to countries where you need another language. That's going to be a challenge for most ex-cons.
Third, while the French Foreign Legion is romantic and all, they won't take you if they find you have a criminal record. Other foreign legions are similar. They might not find out, but do you want to spend your life savings betting on that?
Fourth, marrying someone from another country is an uphill battle for someone who lacks a job. Particularly when most of the women from those countries looking to marry an American would like to wind up in the USA rather than the reverse.
These are all amazing plans, and I'm sure that some succeed with each. But they're going to work out poorly for most ex-cons who try them.
But I think ultimately you’d be building a trailer park for the more troubled parts of society and that might cause it to be less idyllic than you envisage.
I’ve previously done some marketing work for an apartment building that focuses on mixing previously homeless in with other tenants plus support services on site.
My statement is direct towards goal oriented people who want to succeed and are willing to iteratively test their options until something works. Not failures who are unwilling to take a risk or work for a reward. If you can't get a credit card, then hitchhike and/or volunteer on a yacht or just be homeless and work day labor that doesn't check your record until you've saved up a chunk.
An individual who is capable of success is capable of tirelessly executing options until they find one that works. And that is possible. Staying in the US means you will never fully regain your civil rights if convicted of a federal crime. Leaving means you have the chance of having the full civil rights of a citizen, somewhere.
Where do you think they went? If they mostly went to work elsewhere because as part of the "Great Resignation" because they found better opportunities, then perhaps you accomplished your social mission (which was presumably giving them a foot in the door of gainful work), even if it was at the price of the business.
Maybe structural impediments to employment for felons came down due to a tightening labor market?
For example, in CA, laws are being passed to allow formerly incarcerated wildlands firefighters to work in that job after release:
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtm...
If they resigned instead due to hopelessness and falling back through the proverbial cracks of society, that's a terrible result.
That's to eliminate the inter-generational blood feud's that were previously common when it wasn't the case that violent crimes were crimes against the state.
My claim in CA was approved in 2020; I don't recall if that language was on the page or not at the time. Although I never got paid anything due to ID verification failure later in the process (clogged phone lines meant I never learned the reason, I gave up after a few weeks and a couple snail mails).
I was also fired in 2016 and paid out at that time, having told the UI interviewer that the employer didn't follow their dispute resolution process (breach of contract, in retrospect).
Im a formerly incarcerated software engineer. I now run a non-profit org called Underdog Devs dedicated to getting formerly incarcerated people into software engineering jobs.
We have over 450 members. We experienced engineers from all over the industry that will guide you. We also have a program called Project Underdog where we offer a stipend to pay their bills and have them pair program all week long with various mentors. Its led by the brilliant Jessica McKellar and has proven to be better than any bootcamp or CS program ive experienced.
Reach out if you would like some support.
and on Twitter @UnderdogDevs
and on Twitter @UnderdogDevs
if you had some free time to volunteer and wanted a mission reach out here....
and on Twitter @UnderdogDevs
Your work and achievements are an inspiration, even now.
Sometimes progress really is one person at a time. You & your team changed the lives of millions.
My own social startup failed. It is so hard to watch your dream, all that you are, die.
All I can pass on is that your journey is not done & taking good care of yourself is how you’ll be able to take it.
My sincere wish is that you allow your karma balance to settle.
You deserve to enjoy life, to do work you find meaningful, and to be remembered for your contributions.
You overcame incredible odds time & again. If anyone has proven investment in second chances make a difference, you have.
If you click the ‘wage level’ button you can see that workers everywhere are seeing growth but workers in the lowest quartile are seeing higher growth.
A few explanations other than the one you don’t see evidence for:
- the growth is in nominal dollars, inflation explains the spike and everyone is down in real terms, so even though the lowest-paid are doing better, they still aren’t seeing wage growth (but you are also observing nominal pay with your open eyes…)
- the lowest-paid are quitting, or the number of workers is decreasing in the higher quartile such that the average individual chosen from the first quartile would not have seen wage growth but rather higher-paid people are now counting as part of their quartile and pushing up the averages
Regarding going out of country, I have joined a foreign militia prior that had some ex-cons in it, that did not require anything other than a plane ticket to join. I did not know the language, but learned (some of it) along the way. Travelling extensively you learn to communicate without knowing much of the language. I believe I paid for that ticket with a credit card.
So out of my "Several Options" I can personally say (4) would work and been tested by me. Domestically I can say hitch-hiking to an oil field and sleeping in a ditch until you can afford better would work (met lots of felons that did same). I also married a filipina while I was completely broke, so (7) would work as well although I haven't personally done it, it would be trivial for me to execute it.
I'm not saying your suggestions are 100% impossible, but they're more for people who are on the run (i.e. very desperate) rather than those with a conviction.
Sure, I had to have a skill to begin with, but saying you can't do it is wrong. Just most people won't do it because they think they can't do it.
This is not true unless you are wanted by interpol or a very serious record such as murder.
For an American, might crossing into Canada be an easier option?
From my own experience, and the attorneys I've talked to, and the other fathers/husbands, certain practices are rampant. False allegations of abuse are regularly made by the female, which grant injunctions/TROs, ex parte, which are then used to withhold children. Perjury is never prosecuted. Not ever. Judges don't care about timelines, and regularly ignore the statutory limits on holding hearings, meaning that a TRO can be in effect indefinitely without a single hearing. Judges regularly don't read motions, do not rule on them.
Time is on the side of the most shameless liar. Both attorneys make more money in this kind of case, because it takes time, its very litigious. Both attorneys have every incentive to not just not deescalate, but escalate the situation. If you are representing yourself, they will try to overwhelm you with paperwork - my wife had one attorney who would, instead of filing motions, would keep appending to a single motion and resubmitting the entire omnibus. They filed invalid motions, they filed hearsay. The entire premise of the actions were to delay, keep the kids, increase the pain until I gave into all demands. From what I've heard, this is a common tactic, because it works. To hold out means to give up your kids for years. Everything, and I mean everything here, is in violation of statute, and no-one in power gives two fucks. Plus at the end of it they count on the fact that you're too exhausted to pursue any kind of remedy, and in fact your faith in the system has been so destroyed that you're convinced that it would do no good anyway. Like I said, they do it because it works.
I'm never doing this again
If you need another data point
Can you point me to your source(s) indicating the lower number you’re referring to?
Did this have any impact on recidivism?
Is it possible that these employees found better jobs? If so, could it have theoretically been possible to retain them had you offered better wages, benefits or assignments?
I just don’t fundamentally understand the position of “I had a group of people that truly needed my business, but a phenomenon called The Great Resignation changed the world in such a way that they… didn’t need it anymore (?)”
Is it possible that your business model of (in your parlance) leasing out convicts maybe had some sort of innate flaw unrelated to covid?
And if someone was desperate enough to try to hide a US criminal record, Canada is the last country they should try, because Canada and the US share their criminal history databases.
1: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/se...
The page is pretty plain language reading which makes it appear very trustworthy.
However, they avoid explicitly saying that past crimes - whether convicted and served or not - don't matter. The DO say that catching the eye of Interpol is bad.
I do know that there's a chap from Florida that has done something similar. I can't remember exactly what his HN handle was, but we had a rather prickly exchange, some time back.
If you are interested in providing services like this in the future, he might not be a bad person to team up with.
I wish you (and he) the very best of luck, in your future endeavors. I'm pretty big on that ol' "second chance" thing.
[EDITED TO ADD] This article is interesting. What makes it even more interesting, is the author of the article (It's NYT, so there may be a paywall): https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/04/opinion/clean-slate-incar...
[EDITED TO ADD (2)] The person I mentioned is one of your replies. He runs Underdog Devs: https://www.underdogdevs.org/
I would love to know what jobs were difficult to fill and how much they paid because “The Great Resignation” narrative (kind of conveniently) squarely puts the blame for the failure of this business on a caricature of lazy poors and the government. This narrative also absolutely vindicates the founder and management because the demise is because of an uncontrollable external force.
Of course, there are a lot of things going on. However, I think one important thing is that American workplaces, over the last twenty or more years, gradually accumulated immensely toxic/abusive cultures. At the point of the pandemic, when many people had unemployment/work-at-home/savings, a lot of workers' had their tolerance of that interrupted and then just refused to return.
The thing with the situation is toxic work environments basically are going to double down on their claims, their view of what a sane environment and reasonable pay are. So these organizations are eating through employees and so they'd be the worst customers of a job board. The question how much 70m Record vetted their customers.
Article explaining the toxic angle: https://www.greatplacetowork.com/resources/blog/how-toxic-co...
Employees discuss their views: https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/
I think in the more nuanced view staffing agencies allow people with irregular rhythms to still have a job. And of course helping people actually get a foot in the door! But if you're going to work full time anyways, and there's more open-ness to you being hired, why go through a staffing agency? I think the reasons end up being limited to "could not get hired yourself".
Something i was arguing in another post and all you tech warriors sitting in your desk chairs didn’t think it could be true.
People are lazy
> I'm here to say that some of these folks are the most honorable, humble, appreciate, hard-working people you could imagine. They just want a peaceful life, to take care of their family and get a good night sleep.
Not my experience with many felons. Not trying to be rude here, but how do you tell the food from the bad?
Do you think with the Fed fighting inflation and the jobs market potentially turning in a year or so from now, that going into hibernation and relaunching when the economy has more need for this would make sense?
Asking for a friend who launched a two sided jobs marketplace for a niche market a few months ago and has a heck of a hard time attracting job seekers.
> When the economy and job market began storming back, we were inundated with inbound requests for our services. Our perseverance seemed to be paying off. Except now we were hit with a new gut punch: “The Great Resignation.” Now our workers were reticent to come back to work. And if they did accept a job, they’d often leave after only a few days.
I couldn't understand how "The Great Resignation" made the situation more difficult for 70MJ. I've read the follow up comment[GrRegCm] and it didn't make things any clearer:
> During the Great Resignation, we found it took 10x the time and effort to get someone placed, eroding our already thin margins. Plus, if a worker left (which they began doing at a great rate), we're obligated to replace them. All of this made it pretty much impossible for us to make money. (Again, we're a for-profit business). I hope this clarifies things.
It doesn't.
There's a _sort of_ incoherency and inconsistency here.
On the one hand the "formerly incarcerated" have a hard time (re)-integrating into society. Among other difficulties they struggle harder than others, ceteris paribus, finding a job.
In turn this has, supposedly, certain negative effects like "the pernicious cycles of recidivism in this country--cycles that destroy lives, tear apart families and decimate communities"
That's both the societal issue you set out to improve and what made the for-profit venture viable.
But on the other hand the same "formerly incarcerated" can allow themselves to "often leave after only a few days", "which they began doing at a great rate". I guess the welfare system in the US is quite extensive if people - and not just any people but ex-cons - can allow themselves to quit jobs after a few days with nothing else in the horizon.
I'll qualify all of that and note that, as I wrote above, it's only _sort of_ inconsistent. It's possible that they don't have good alternatives, but they see everyone else quitting, including spoiled and overindulged by 2021 tech sector employees, and think their circumstances apply. Or they don't think but just do what everyone else.
It's also possible that I'm still missing here something and my whole analysis is wrong because of that.
But it's also possible that "The Great Resignation" isn't the reason for the company's failing.
I'm not convinced. If I did miss something I'd be happy to hear.
Not everything, particularly employment, can be self-serve through a website.
This is hard, but it's clear that the world has not heard the last of you.
Indeed, the world might not deserve you.
That's not how the "criminal justice system" works. Not in the US and not in most of the rest of the world, especially the "first world"/"Western world".
Prisoners are NOT release only once they are deemed no longer dangerous. They are release once their allotted prison time is over. They can still be dangerous and released, and they can be not dangerous at all from they one and still go to prison.
Also: Choosing to like someone and dislike someone else, choosing whom you assist when not obligated by law and whom you don't, choosing who gets your time and who doesn't - all of this is not part of the punishment people are sentenced to by the state court system and thus it is not "over" in any sense or way once they are release from prison. You, I, and Mr. sowwww are free to volunteer our time, money and efforts towards whom and what we'd like and we're under no obligation to assist people we don't like just because "they have served their sentence and their punishment is over".
That’s a fresh start that just simply was impossible in the US.
It's one of the biggest things you can't automate and there's a certain kind of person that fits this role. These people reach out to companies, find out if they need work and would be ok with these kind of employees and then they have to work out an agreement. It's very personal and very human.
In his follow-up comment it really sounds like their jobs were either shit or the compensation wasn't good enough. Lots of companies paid their workers well and didn't have retention issues, but the 'big boys' just treat labor as disposable.
I could help facilitate an introduction if helpful.
I'm sorry the company didn't work out but I am so happy there are people like you in this world doing such a good thing. I hope there is a way to resurrect your project in future.
If not can you give permission to scape and re-release it?
I’m a business owner and my first employee and current operations manager is a felon. I knew this prior as I worked with him before, before starting my own business. He ended up in that position and doing 3 years of prison because America for a lot of people sucks. It sucked for him and he was in a position where it was either do felonious things or be homeless. So he made an obvious choice.
He’s struggled with work since then, because as soon as they see felon they tend to disregard him. It sucks. I know his case isn’t standard, but it also isn’t rare. Society treats these people like lepers and I hope the tides change on this, or we get actual criminal reform. Because what we’ve got right now OP’s business should have went under because it wasn’t needed anymore. But that’s not the case.
Over the next few months to a couple of years:
- Interest rates will keep going up and Quantitative tightening will happen.
- There will be a recession.
- A lot of people who resigned greatly will be broke and in need of work.
- Your services will be needed, and in a big way.
The person who finds what they love to do is rare, but the person who finds their calling is rarer still.
Fuck at this point let’s start throwing debtors in prison. At least we’ll shelter people who might otherwise be homeless.
IF you formerly had a very high wage job it can also be nearly impossible to convince a judge that your 'imputed income' should fall again, even if industry has shifted and you no longer can find those high wage jobs anymore. 20% of your pre-tax imputed income can easily become the majority or worse of your post-tax income if the bottom falls out of your industry, and then you are fucked.
How does this work? Do you just go to the docks and start asking randos if they’re going to X and also looking for labor?
> Also YPG and some Kurdish militias I think still accepts recruits and they don't require anything past your flight which you could buy on credit.
Not sure I’d recommend this in particular unless you’re really truly willing and ready to die. Sure, any military service where your in a combat role is a significant risk increase, but this feels distinct from joining something like the , backed by a secure NATO-aligned government, with new and top of the line equipment. As FFL, I imagine most any combat you see these days is going to be against insurgents that you have the upper hand on. Whereas going to fight with the YPG you may end up vice versa.
FWIW a friend of a friend did this, and indeed was killed rather soon.
I got a 'free' ticket from Seattle to Alaska once by working on a boat :)
>FWIW a friend of a friend did this, and indeed was killed rather soon.
Sorry to hear that. I was in YPG for a few months in 2015. You're right it is dangerous, especially for those who are especially brave or end up in a unit that really embraces 'sehid' (martyr) culture. Rojava also offers some civil volunteer opportunities. Generally if you act like a criminal / psycho / weirdo you get filtered out before you can do much damage. There's no paperwork but I think parts of the middle east operate by the old code of a man being judged by his actions rather than formal paperwork from the state.
I have no personal experience with FFL. I know it's much more selective than YPG. The upside is you get French Citizenship. Therefore there is healthy competition with people from the 3rd world seeking a relatively high wage and EU citizenship.
Seattle->Alaska I got as part of a contract to work on the boat, but it was a flight. The boat was closed circuit route in the sea and a single port (Dutch Harbor).
statement 2 - "And if they did accept a job, they’d often leave after only a few days."
You have a proven model and track record - clients that need support and businesses that are willing to participate. Well defined funding needs and a well defined road map for expanding your network nationally.
This way your idea gets to live on, you get to stay involved with your dream project, you get paid (and made whole as a creditor).
Post to HN if this moves forward and you want volunteers / low paid staff - currently I dn't know how you find thsiad volunteers when you are finally ready.
As other commenters have said, it isn't just people with criminal records who get marginalised. Members of my family experienced social exclusion due to PTSD following military service. Many vets come back with similar issues as ex-prisoners. What happened to those who served in Vietnam and Korea is shameful. But there are also people who are simply atypical, low IQ, old, queer, disabled, or the wrong skin colour. We have a very, very long way to go to become the society we imagine ourselves to be, one where everyone doesn't just "get by" but prospers, and feels wanted and fulfilled in life.
I know it will be unpopular to say here, but amongst all nations the USA seems particularly brutal with regard to its social exclusion, and I think it will only ever be solved from the political level, not bottom-up. At 68 you're still a spring chicken for politics, so I'd go into that if I were you, as a single-issue candidate on "jobs for the marginalised". Judging by the size of the US "excluded population" you'd win a landslide. :)
Can you elaborate? Cause this seems like extremely poor decision making on his part. If you are in sound mind (i.e not an addict), there is a lot you can do to avoid homelessness and be in a much better situation.
Ic.org is a good place to visit to see what exists and you could emulate, it was started from a community called Twin Oaks that has quite a radical approach :-) I learnt about it from a book called "Is it Utopia yet" picked up in of all places Nuremberg... honestly agricultural land is cheap (2k a hectare) in non productive places and vegetable gardening or just plain planting stuff for lols like from "plants from a future" (pfaf.org) interspersed with a couple of weed plants should cover expenses... strawbale housing, adobe or trailer parks are much cheaper options at least initially... Gas made from compost, shit or wood chippings is a great alternative... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compost_heater
That's pretty neat and not common here.
Kinda hard to raise an army to fight the adjacent royal when one town's contingent hates some other town's contingent more than they hate the enemy.
But yeah, they mostly let the peasants do whatever so long as the particular whatever wasn't potentially bad for them.
If you need clients I expect corp to corp agreements with established recruitment agencies would be a good place to start generating revenues.
Then summing the 18-65 buckets (working age).
Kind of hard to think something suddenly changed about the operation of the company that had been running well for the past few years.
Honestly curious: If your company managed to become profitable and has been operating since 2016, how were you not able to generate enough business or personal income to sustain the company further from the point you describe above? I'm sorry if it's an invasive question, but to me the idea of running a profitable business for several years and that still not being enough to have earned a decent life/business cushion is seriously demotivating for entrepreneurship effort.
Edit: sorry to hear about the closure too. Your service seems like a genuinely wonderful thing, and especially in a country like the U.S, with often grotesquely punitive attitudes towards people with criminal records.
By far, the bigger business is the staffing company, and it requires lots of people to land large corporate accts and service them day-to-day and drive job-seeker acquisition. People are expensive, as you know.
I think that workers at this level (blue-collar, light industrial, low-skilled, whatever) have become empowered within the economic turmoil. I think that whereas before, they'd take any job at any wage out of desperation, now they recognize there's much more demand for their services, so they can jump around, seeking for the better option. I suspect that it'll all normalize over time, but that's the one commodity we can't afford, at this point.
If you're not comfortable with a cash donation, perhaps I can volunteer my time, or just be another inbox you hit up when you need to bounce an idea off someone.
Sure, but when I look at things like Nextdoor this is the prevailing attitude regardless of whether it’s true or not.
Could you please add a publicly visible email to your profile so that it is a bit easier to contact you off-site?
Why would a person make $14.50/hour when they could make $15/hour applying directly to places?
The issue may be that so few people are looking for work right now that it's easier for convicted felons to be hired, perhaps not worrying about or taking on whatever vetting process that may or may not happen through an agency for people with a criminal record.
The shared garage idea seems hopelessly naive to me. What is stopping someone from stealing the items? Who maintains the items? What happens if the items break either via negligence or normal wear and tear? It is a classic tragedy of the commons problem.
I live in a low-income neighborhood and we literally can't have anything nice. Neighbor gets a BBQ and puts it in the courtyard literally chained down. Someone gets some bolt cutters and steals it. The courtyard regularly gets trash dumped in it and if you clean it up people will immediately just dump more. I stopped trying to clean it up when people started just tossing entire garbage bags of trash out there. Our shared laundry space got vandalized by bored kids now there is only one functional washer and dryer. These are usually full of clothes (some people leave their laundry in them for days) so you have to drive to a laundromat if you want any chance of getting laundry done on your day off.
wondering what you know about how many cases are decided by plea bargain rather than trial, where the plea bargain is coerced rather than voluntary?
wondering also what your opinion is of felony drug convictions (for possession)? Technically a crime, but can you name the harm?
But more seriously wondering about your unwillingness to believe that people can change, and unwillingness to allow for redemption or forgiveness.
Which ultimately means you don't believe in justice. If society has decided that a certain crime has a penalty of 5 years in prison, then after 5 years the person has paid their debt to society. They are no longer a criminal, that debt is paid.
And the founder realized that his actions cause real harm, that hurting people is bad, and decided to dedicate his life to acts that did not hurt people.
He repented.
How have you changed your life based on the hurts you have caused others? Do you even admit that your actions have hurt others? Because I guarantee that you have caused pain, and harm.
I wonder if you know what true repentance is.
My experience in hitchhiking was the same ha ha, probably half the drivers were smoking while driving.
They have to put up with people with opinions like yours, which do not allow them any hope of redemption.
I wonder what you are like when you need forgiveness? I do hope you get some, and even more that it opens your eyes and heart.
My income quote comes from a gas station in a backwater town in the deep woods of Alabama, and I'm not a great guitarist or something amazing worth throwing money at.
Maybe think of it this way? There are those of us who want to help but for whatever reasons can only feasibly do so though donations, if you were to accept our charity it would allow us to be part of the solution even if only a little.
In any event, may God bless you and may you succeed beyond your wildest dreams.
Yeah, the generally wouldn't, which is why you have to conclude that they don't have the option.
> maybe that negotiated difference leads to the profit slice
Of course.
I would hope that at the very least the job board continues. It would be a big loss to have it all disappear. I wish you all the best!
> Now our workers were reticent to come back to work. And if they did accept a job, they’d often leave after only a few days.
Businesses fail for myriad reasons every day, even ones that functioned perfectly for years. Not every business, however, lays blame on a big and uncontrollable phenomenon to explain why it folded.
The author did not mince words — people no longer wanted to use his service. He has decided that that’s because people didn’t want to work due to a sociopolitical phenomenon that’s entirely decoupled from basics like “How good were the jobs?”, “How much did they pay?”, “How were the working conditions at these workplaces?”
This narrative completely avoids any possibility of his business making poor decisions or simply not offering a service that people want.
This seems like a really silly hill to die on.
Also so many need social media help, getting online for the first time...so small businesses don't even have websites or accurate info on their pages.
I think a simple site where you offer whatever services you can perform: tech, landscaping, painting etc at some some of discount for pre-sale would really surprise you with how well it does. No seems to want to do anything...and if you have such a large workforce that actually wants to work, then you have a goldmine. Things still need to be done desperately.
You can find an idea of services from looking at workify.cos old pages on archive.org. And pivoting isn't just for tech firms...you moving to provide service directly would come with some challenges, but you seem like you could handle them.
I noticed from your zip code that you are in San Francisco, have you consider a sale or merger with Labor Ready or something similar?
There is a law requiring the removal of debts over 7 years old. The only “report” that it would stay on is with an internal report with the specific bank.
From the previous poster.
>wondering also what your opinion is of felony drug convictions (for possession)?
I'd be fine with a project to get people convicted of felony drug or other nonviolent, victimless, crimes hired, and run by someone with such a conviction. This was not that project.
>But more seriously wondering about your unwillingness to believe that people can change,
It's a matter of the odds. People who have committed genuine crimes are greater risks. They can change, but we don't know that they've changed.
>They are no longer a criminal, that debt is paid.
Being rationally distrusted as a risk is a consequence of their crime, not a form of punishment; it's not done because of a desire to inflict suffering on the criminal, but to avoid harm.
>How have you changed your life based on the hurts you have caused others?
I've gone my life without committing a large scale financial fraud or similar act which hurt others to that degree.
Not true. Countries without employment-at-will don't generally have extremely slow hiring processes.
> a lot of difficulty when firing employees that do not perform well
Termination for cause - i.e. failure to perform one's duties well enough - is not difficult. The difficulty would be in firing employees without demonstrable cause.