10 ms·

Hi Richard, great idea. I'm a UX designer and want to throw out some suggestions on how to improve the experience of the site. First, use more cheerful/positiv

by ictoan 9y ago

Hi Richard, great idea. I'm a UX designer and want to throw out some suggestions on how to improve the experience of the site. First, use more cheerful/positive messages/visuals. It was a joykill when I checked out your website and there's a sad guy placing his hand on the forehead. Show what's possible. How successful people can be once they get a job.. rather than their current state (unemployment). Don't focus on the current stat, focus on the future desirable state. Also, you need to put more focus on the jobs. List featured jobs to draw people in. Just list some jobs below the search. This will engage the user to explore the site.

RBBronson123 9y ago
You are so right on all your comments. Soon we'll be re-doing the entire site. Perhaps we can talk in several weeks?
- iandanforth 9y ago
  I'd add that framing the hiring decision as charity ("giving someone a second chance") could be improved. I'd go for more of a "diamond in the rough" angle. "Find talent everyone else is missing."
  - wavefunction 9y ago
    Fantastic suggestions for these folks!
    - RBBronson123 9y ago
      agreed!
  - rewrew 9y ago
    This should be the site's tagline!
  - Unbeliever69 9y ago
    Absolutely, I think many people would be surprised about the quantity of highly-educated, high-experienced, highly-talented felons there are in our society that are exactly just that, "Diamonds in the rough."
  - JCharante 9y ago
    That's an incredible tagline
    - coder011991 9y ago
      Agreed! What a line ha.
  - prawn 9y ago
    This tagline is excellent. OP, seriously consider it! Once knew a guy online that had done something stupid when he was a teenager. He was a big, scruffy guy and altogether would've been a hard sell to an employer. But he was exceptionally smart and funny - would make a great colleague - and I bet many employers would've overlooked him.
  - perryprog 9y ago
    Was that tagline from Hamilton, or no?
  - drewmol 9y ago
    From personal experience, this has been the most effective pitch. Selling yourself as a potential high value deal based on "below market rents".
  - RBBronson123 9y ago
    Thank you for this great message. It so simply expresses a very basic, affirmative goal to which we aspire. With your permission, I will incorporate it into our site's narrative.
    - iandanforth 9y ago
      Of course!
  - kexari 9y ago
    Agreed. Brilliant tagline.
- dayve 9y ago
  In line with that, I think you could also put up a blog section for testimonials, in the near future. IMHO, People need to read stories of how 70million Jobs has helped successful candidates, as that will build confidence in the system.
  - xenadu02 9y ago
    I'd also get testimonials from employers too: "70MillionJobs helped us XYZ"
    - lostlogin 9y ago
      In line with advertising success of employers, do any states off employers incentives to hire convicted felons? Tax breaks or similar? If so, advertising this advantage may help. This approach is used by some governments but I'm unfamiliar with what happens in the US, and have really only seen depressing stories previously. Edit: tax breaks are mentioned, found it. It's attractive to employers so it's good it's there.
      - icelancer 9y ago
        >do any states off employers incentives to hire convicted felons Some do, yes. I shared an office who hired ex-cons who got a huge rebate on wages in our municipality (up to 55%). He had 2 or 3 doing office work. Very pleasant people, not that large of an applicant pool however. If we had been hiring at the time (bootstrapping), I would have definitely taken advantage.
  - RBBronson123 9y ago
    Part of our plans. Thanks for the good suggestion
- anon4728 9y ago
  More employers on one side and more candidates on the other... working with outreach programs that can transition people sooner and offer realistic hope. Microsoft, Amazon, other shops that do street mapping/GIS or have field staff might be open to this concept.
- escapetech 9y ago
  Also, please reconsider your decision to feature Google and Facebook as prominently as "featured employers". If it's for security, maintenance, and janitorial work, it's more practical to list the agencies that they hire temps from. Otherwise, look no further than nearby East Palo Alto and one will find that neither company particularly cares about rehabilitating ex-offenders or people from at-risk communities for any type of technical employment. The general rule with Silicon Valley and San Francisco companies is to take everything they say in public or through their carefully worded P.R. with a grain of salt, and actually find out first hand if they practice what they preach hiring outliers with respect to diversity, records/credit/etc, non-Ivy League degrees, etc.
  - RBBronson123 9y ago
    Thanks for the good advice. I'm learning fast. But I have found some truly righteous people here, so I remain hopeful.
Mz 9y ago
In addition to the above great ideas, here are some stats for you: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/04/30/does-the-united-states-really-have-five-percent-of-worlds-population-and-one-quarter-of-the-worlds-prisoners/?utm_term=.1335c5e4202b https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/04/... The US has about 4.4 percent of the global population and about 22 percent of the global prison population. The numbers are more startling using a different measure in the report: the prison population rate. Criminologists say this is a reliable way to compare incarceration practices between countries. The United States had the highest prison population rate in the world, at 716 per 100,000 people. More than half of the countries and territories had rates below 150 per 100,000. The United States had a much higher rate compared to other developed countries: about six times Canada’s rate, between six to nine times Western European countries, and between two to 10 times Northern European countries. So, I will suggest you work hard to frame it as "Many American citizens have a criminal record for the crime of being an American citizen. The system is broken and many people with criminal records really don't deserve to have them at all." In other words, don't tell them "give a criminal a second chance." Tell them that many people with criminal records simply shouldn't have them and you are making a terrible mistake to hold that against them, both in practical terms by cutting out talent from the hiring pool for specious reasons, and in moral terms because you are denying someone an opportunity to recover from having been shafted by a broken system to begin with. FYI: I'm a copywriter by trade.
- will_brown 9y ago
  >In other words, don't tell them "give a criminal a second chance." Tell them that many people with criminal records simply shouldn't have them... That's a very interesting approach, but I believe a hard sell to potential employer. As true as it may be, an employer is more likely to appreciate the individual who says this is my background, this is what I learned and this is my vision of my own future...rather than, it's not my fault, I'm a societal statistic. In fact, despite the ideas of US prison overcrowding and for profit drive conviction rates...I'd argue the opposite, that it's very likely the employer has already hired individuals who have committed various "crimes" and could but simply don't have records. I know it's stance but all you need to do it look at the number of reported crimes (serious, not victimless like many would argue about drug possession) and the total prison population. Example: prison population = ~ 2.2M inmates Every year in the US 60,000 children are sexually abused; ~220,000 adults sexually abused or raped; ~19,000 military members experience unwanted sexual contact. [1] US prisons only seem over crowded until you see the number of violent crimes in the country, it basically works out to a sexual assault/rape every 90 seconds, it's pretty disturbing. [1] https://www.rainn.org/statistics/scope-problem https://www.rainn.org/statistics/scope-problem

by ictoan 9y ago

RBBronson123 9y ago

You are so right on all your comments. Soon we'll be re-doing the entire site. Perhaps we can talk in several weeks?

iandanforth 9y ago
I'd add that framing the hiring decision as charity ("giving someone a second chance") could be improved. I'd go for more of a "diamond in the rough" angle. "Find talent everyone else is missing."
- wavefunction 9y ago
  Fantastic suggestions for these folks!
  - RBBronson123 9y ago
    agreed!
- rewrew 9y ago
  This should be the site's tagline!
- Unbeliever69 9y ago
  Absolutely, I think many people would be surprised about the quantity of highly-educated, high-experienced, highly-talented felons there are in our society that are exactly just that, "Diamonds in the rough."
- JCharante 9y ago
  That's an incredible tagline
  - coder011991 9y ago
    Agreed! What a line ha.
- prawn 9y ago
  This tagline is excellent. OP, seriously consider it! Once knew a guy online that had done something stupid when he was a teenager. He was a big, scruffy guy and altogether would've been a hard sell to an employer. But he was exceptionally smart and funny - would make a great colleague - and I bet many employers would've overlooked him.
- perryprog 9y ago
  Was that tagline from Hamilton, or no?
- drewmol 9y ago
  From personal experience, this has been the most effective pitch. Selling yourself as a potential high value deal based on "below market rents".
- RBBronson123 9y ago
  Thank you for this great message. It so simply expresses a very basic, affirmative goal to which we aspire. With your permission, I will incorporate it into our site's narrative.
  - iandanforth 9y ago
    Of course!
- kexari 9y ago
  Agreed. Brilliant tagline.
dayve 9y ago
In line with that, I think you could also put up a blog section for testimonials, in the near future. IMHO, People need to read stories of how 70million Jobs has helped successful candidates, as that will build confidence in the system.
- xenadu02 9y ago
  I'd also get testimonials from employers too: "70MillionJobs helped us XYZ"
  - lostlogin 9y ago
    In line with advertising success of employers, do any states off employers incentives to hire convicted felons? Tax breaks or similar? If so, advertising this advantage may help. This approach is used by some governments but I'm unfamiliar with what happens in the US, and have really only seen depressing stories previously. Edit: tax breaks are mentioned, found it. It's attractive to employers so it's good it's there.
    - icelancer 9y ago
      >do any states off employers incentives to hire convicted felons Some do, yes. I shared an office who hired ex-cons who got a huge rebate on wages in our municipality (up to 55%). He had 2 or 3 doing office work. Very pleasant people, not that large of an applicant pool however. If we had been hiring at the time (bootstrapping), I would have definitely taken advantage.
- RBBronson123 9y ago
  Part of our plans. Thanks for the good suggestion
anon4728 9y ago
More employers on one side and more candidates on the other... working with outreach programs that can transition people sooner and offer realistic hope. Microsoft, Amazon, other shops that do street mapping/GIS or have field staff might be open to this concept.
escapetech 9y ago
Also, please reconsider your decision to feature Google and Facebook as prominently as "featured employers". If it's for security, maintenance, and janitorial work, it's more practical to list the agencies that they hire temps from. Otherwise, look no further than nearby East Palo Alto and one will find that neither company particularly cares about rehabilitating ex-offenders or people from at-risk communities for any type of technical employment. The general rule with Silicon Valley and San Francisco companies is to take everything they say in public or through their carefully worded P.R. with a grain of salt, and actually find out first hand if they practice what they preach hiring outliers with respect to diversity, records/credit/etc, non-Ivy League degrees, etc.
- RBBronson123 9y ago
  Thanks for the good advice. I'm learning fast. But I have found some truly righteous people here, so I remain hopeful.

Mz 9y ago

In addition to the above great ideas, here are some stats for you: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/04/30/does-the-united-states-really-have-five-percent-of-worlds-population-and-one-quarter-of-the-worlds-prisoners/?utm_term=.1335c5e4202b https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/04/... The US has about 4.4 percent of the global population and about 22 percent of the global prison population. The numbers are more startling using a different measure in the report: the prison population rate. Criminologists say this is a reliable way to compare incarceration practices between countries. The United States had the highest prison population rate in the world, at 716 per 100,000 people. More than half of the countries and territories had rates below 150 per 100,000. The United States had a much higher rate compared to other developed countries: about six times Canada’s rate, between six to nine times Western European countries, and between two to 10 times Northern European countries. So, I will suggest you work hard to frame it as "Many American citizens have a criminal record for the crime of being an American citizen. The system is broken and many people with criminal records really don't deserve to have them at all." In other words, don't tell them "give a criminal a second chance." Tell them that many people with criminal records simply shouldn't have them and you are making a terrible mistake to hold that against them, both in practical terms by cutting out talent from the hiring pool for specious reasons, and in moral terms because you are denying someone an opportunity to recover from having been shafted by a broken system to begin with. FYI: I'm a copywriter by trade.

will_brown 9y ago
>In other words, don't tell them "give a criminal a second chance." Tell them that many people with criminal records simply shouldn't have them... That's a very interesting approach, but I believe a hard sell to potential employer. As true as it may be, an employer is more likely to appreciate the individual who says this is my background, this is what I learned and this is my vision of my own future...rather than, it's not my fault, I'm a societal statistic. In fact, despite the ideas of US prison overcrowding and for profit drive conviction rates...I'd argue the opposite, that it's very likely the employer has already hired individuals who have committed various "crimes" and could but simply don't have records. I know it's stance but all you need to do it look at the number of reported crimes (serious, not victimless like many would argue about drug possession) and the total prison population. Example: prison population = ~ 2.2M inmates Every year in the US 60,000 children are sexually abused; ~220,000 adults sexually abused or raped; ~19,000 military members experience unwanted sexual contact. [1] US prisons only seem over crowded until you see the number of violent crimes in the country, it basically works out to a sexual assault/rape every 90 seconds, it's pretty disturbing. [1] https://www.rainn.org/statistics/scope-problem https://www.rainn.org/statistics/scope-problem