The HR tool helps applicants with criminal records find a job

Despite a degree from Stanford University and an impressive resume, Jodi Anderson Jr. couldn’t get a job.

“They did a background check and said, ‘Hey, you didn’t tell me you were incarcerated as a teenager and only got out three years ago.’ “We won’t take that risk,” he said.

Finally, in the latest round of interviews with Reddit, he laid it all out: Yes, he was in prison. But he had done a lot of scientific work in prison and afterwards: Cornell Prison Education ProgramCornell courses, certifications and a Stanford degree.

“That got me the job,” Anderson said. “They said, ‘We want to be part of the next chapter and not deprive you of what we actually think is pretty compelling.'”

That experience inspired Restorative Records, an online tool that allows applicants with criminal records to provide context about their past and details about education, rehabilitation and good behavior. Anderson, now director of technology innovation at Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative (CJEI) in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations developed the tool with Timothy McNutt, director of CJEI, and Matt Saleh, co-director of CJEI.

Cornell Human Resources plans to pilot the Restorative Records tool at its Ithaca and Cornell Tech campuses before the end of the year.

“We’re trying to eliminate the biases that exist in the hiring streams,” Anderson said. The bias against formerly incarcerated people is not intentional, he added. “I just think it’s built into the system.”

A keynote podcast from eCornell will describe the effort on November 4th at 12:30 p.m.Fair Opportunity Hiring: How HR Innovations Create Job Opportunities for People Affected by Equity” will feature Anderson; Christine Lovely, vice president and chief human resources officer; and team members from the Yang-Tan WorkABILITY Incubator at the ILR School’s Center for Applied Work Research discuss fair hiring opportunities and restorative records.

And the initiative is expanding beyond Cornell. CJEI has received an Innovative Instructional Technology grant from the State University of New York (SUNY) to integrate the tool into the SUNY system.

“There is a labor shortage,” Anderson said. “Well, there’s a whole group of people who are suited to this. We miss them because our system is simply not designed for it.”

Advantages for employers

According to a 2022 White House report, more than 70 million Americans have criminal records, and nearly 75% of those previously incarcerated were still unemployed a year after their release.

But workers with criminal records often perform better on the job, are promoted more quickly and have fewer workplace incidents than workers without criminal records, McNutt said.

“We want to provide tools to help people overcome this hurdle, but also so that employers can benefit from hiring this talented workforce,” he said.

Job openings that drew 30 to 40 applicants a few years ago now sometimes get as few as 10, so recruiting non-traditional talent is critical to Cornell, said Donna Lynch-Cunningham, associate dean for human resources in the College of Arts and Sciences Sciences that will participate in the pilot.

“This pilot program aligns with our vision to be known for the way we value people and highlights the skills and unique experiences of non-traditional talent while helping us meet our hiring needs,” Lynch-Cunningham said.

“Cornell has always been a leader in hiring justice-impacted individuals,” she said. “What we’re doing now is formalizing that process and making it more transparent with this system.”

Cornell HR has been hiring Thomas JonesMILR ’24, a justice-impacted individual herself, as a fair employment practices specialist to help implement the tool at Cornell, train human resources managers, and assist graduates of the Cornell Prison Education Program in using the tool.

“I think this new initiative will make it easy for many applicants to share this information,” Lynch-Cunningham said, “as we will once again demonstrate our sincere commitment to inclusion.”