Stanford GSB Impact Fund Backs Honest Jobs
The Stanford GSB Impact Fund is excited to announce that we have invested in Honest Jobs, joining a strong syndicate of investors including lead investor Matchstick Ventures. Honest Jobs is a leading national job marketplace for people affected by the criminal justice system.
Over 77.7 million individuals possess a criminal record in the U.S. Finding employment is one of the biggest challenges for the formerly incarcerated. Research shows that 75% of formerly incarcerated individuals still lack a job one year after parole. Job seekers are often unable to find the employers that are willing to hire individuals with a criminal record, while employers are unable to specify the types of criminal records that they are willing or unwilling to see on a job application. This creates a dynamic where eligible job seekers are not matched to eligible employers and a huge workforce gap.
Filling the Employment Gap: Honest Jobs
Honest Jobs provides a powerful and novel solution to closing the gap to fair-chance employment for formerly incarcerated individuals. The company, launched in 2019, has built a digital, two-sided national job marketplace to match employers with the formerly convicted at scale. Their proprietary technology brings mutual visibility by bringing eligible job seekers together with prospective employers. With this platform, job seekers can search for openings based on their specific criminal record to find eligible opportunities. In return, employers can specify who they are willing to hire (based on types of criminal records) for various opportunities.
What drew Stanford to Honest Jobs is its unique vision and compelling scale. While other online recruiting platforms exist, Honest Jobs is differentiated in how it uses proprietary technology to simplify a complex process for both job seekers and employers, looking for the best possible roles for a candidate versus those that are easiest to fill. Honest Jobs is also on a pathway to scale across state lines, as they onboard employers and simultaneously bring on new job seekers through state contracts.
The Honest Jobs team is deeply familiar with the challenges of employment post-incarceration. Harley Blakeman, the co-founder and CEO of Honest Jobs, was affected by the criminal justice system firsthand, which ignited his passion for helping the formerly incarcerated find fair-chance jobs. Over 70% of the employees at Honest Jobs have felony convictions. We believe that their deep understanding of just how complex and nuanced the job matching process can be–and passion to meet that challenge–make the Honest Jobs team uniquely positioned to make a difference in this space.
Partnering on the Path Forward
At the Stanford GSB Impact Fund, we evaluate companies for their strong business fundamentals and compelling social and environmental impact. As part of our evaluation process, our justice team sought to identify companies that serve historically marginalized and disadvantaged communities which have a fundamental aim of changing and reinventing systems and closing gaps in opportunity or outcome for these groups. We believe Honest Jobs is doing just that in closing the employment gap for the formerly incarcerated.
We are inspired by their mission and excited to see what we will achieve together.
