Explore career resources tailored for justice-involved learners, including job search platforms, re-entry support tools, and employment preparation guides. These resources are designed to help you navigate the hiring process with confidence and connect with employers open to second-chance opportunities.
Prepare for Your Career Transition with Recommended Podcasts:
- How to Find Work After an Arrest (Get Hired with Andrew Seaman – LinkedIn)
Practical, straightforward advice on navigating the job search after an arrest, including how to approach applications and conversations with employers. - Second Chance Hiring Podcast (Second Chance Business Coalition / SHRM Foundation)
Features employers, leaders, and real stories focused on second-chance hiring and creating pathways to employment. - Ear Hustle
Stories from inside and outside prison that offer powerful insight into re-entry, identity, and rebuilding life after incarceration.
Employment
Specialized Job Search Platforms
Idealist – mission driven organizations and opportunities. You can filter by issue area – everything from environmental issues to prison reform. or what problems you feel passionately about solving.
Second Chance Business Coalition – Organizations with stated openness to justice-impacted applicants.
Honest Jobs and 70 Million Jobs – Platforms that connect justice-impacted folks with jobs
Employment Prep
- Employment Information Handbook for Ex-Offenders
- Root & Rebound Roadmap to Re-entry
- Second Chance Re-entry: Resources for Career Support
- Indeed Job Search Guide for People with Convictions
- Prison Fellowship Resume Guide: How to write a resume with a criminal record
- Successful Release: Writing your resume with a felony conviction
- CHRON Article: How to explain prison absence on a resume
- Presenting your Best Self in Interviews
- How to Prepare for my Employer’s Questions about my Criminal Record
Ban The Box States – What You Need to Know
The “box” is the place on many employment applications that asks whether the applicant has been convicted of a crime or been incarcerated.
Networking
Formerly Incarcerated College Graduates Network: http://www.ficgn.org/ – FICGN is a network of college graduates who have been to prison.
National Employment Law Project: NELP fights for policies to create good jobs, expand access to work, and strengthen protections and support for low-wage workers and unemployed workers.