Jobs for Humanity

Problem

We envision a just world where everyone has the opportunity to live a dignified life.

But the world is not just. Today, millions of people across the world are led to believe (if not outright told) that they have less worth than others—for reasons that are irrelevant and beyond their control.

For example, inheriting a gene that causes blindness, growing up in an economically depressed neighborhood, having a developmental or learning “disorder,” or becoming a refugee due to extraordinary circumstances.

Solution

At Jobs for Humanity, we’ve started a global movement of job creation for overlooked communities: the blind, the neurodivergent, Black leaders, single moms, refugees, and returning citizens.

We make it easy for companies to access diverse talent through community specific job boards, identify the most qualified candidates using cutting edge recruiting technology, and offer expert training to candidates and hiring managers to ensure successful onboarding and retention.

The reality of communities we support:

Blind & Low vision: 285 million people worldwide are visually impaired. Try googling jobs for the blind—there are barely any. For this community, unemployment is at 38%, which is six times the national and global average.*

Neurodivergent: Almost one billion people are neurodivergent, a term that refers to a variation in brain composition that affects things like learning, sociability, mood, etc. For this community, the underemployment rate is a whopping 80%.*

Black leaders: Despite having reached the apex in almost every field — there are 44 million Black Americans* whose unemployment is at 12%, double the national average.*

Single moms: One in seven adult women on earth are raising children alone.* In the U.S., 12 million mothers are raising 16 million children with a median income of $35,000/year. The national household average income is $80,0000/year.*

Returning Citizens: This term refers to the formerly incarcerated. 1/3 black men in the US have a felony record* and unemployment rate stands at 38%.*

Refugees: 80 million people have been forcibly displaced for no fault of their own, with unclear unemployment stats.* Here's a jarring example: The Story of Ali Barakat.

The biggest gaps recruiters face are (1) the knowledge it takes to hire and create a safe environment for these individuals and (2) know where to find them.

Knowledge gap 

To answer questions like:
- What jobs can blind people do?
- How do I communicate effectively with someone who has autism?
- How do I offer flexibility for a single mom?
- How do I keep my unconscious bias in check? 

We've partnered with leading experts like Lighthouse for the Blind and Hustle 2.0 to create training sessions for each of these causes and offer them to anyone who's hiring. Training program for the Blind, Refugees, Neurodivergent, and Returning Citizens.

Sourcing

We offer community specific job boards to match overlooked talent with meaningful employment e.g. Blind.jobs, refugee.jobs. It's free for employer to post jobs and for candidates to apply.

Once candidates apply, our machine learning algorithm removes all personal information and ranks candidates by best fit to a job. We then coach the best matched candidates and hiring managers through the hiring process into long term happiness to those who get hired.

Here's a more detailed FAQ that answers detailed questions.

We serve anyone who identifies with the communities we support (detailed in the "What specific problem are you solving?" section). That's almost 2 billion people individuals worldwide.

They currently don't have access to employment opportunities. Most job sites are not accessible for the blind or visually impaired. There is little proactive outreach from employers to hire diverse candidates beyond race, gender, and veterans which leaves entire communities behind.

To understand their needs, we recruit teammates from these communities: Our team includes four autistic individuals, two blind colleagues, two single mothers, two black leaders, three refugees, and one returning citizen from 19 years of incarceration.

Roy Baladi has personally been volunteering for the past three years at Pelican Bay State Prison to help incarcerated men through their journey of self-love, forgiveness, and personal transformation.

In addition, our team includes recruiting executives and corporate accessibility experts who help us understand the needs and gain access to corporations who need the training and access to these communities.

Last, many of us are recruiting technology experts with decades of experience in building solutions that can scale globally.

Our solution provides access to jobs, coaching through the hiring process to both candidates and hiring managers, and access to diverse talent that is often hard to reach.

Our solution allows anyone in the communities we serve who is living in any neighborhood, regardless of their access to internet, their age, or any other factor to access quality jobs and get coached through the process.

All they need is basic access to the internet to log into www.jobsforhumanity.com, find a job they're interested in, and apply to it. The job sites are accessible for anyone with a visible and invisible disability.

Our team of recruiters will then coach them through the hiring process and facilitate the introduction to hiring managers, taking reasonable accommodations and assistive technologies into account.

We are currently piloting our program with 12 companies where they share their jobs on our job sites. We'll then invite the communities we partner with (Be My Eyes, Lighthouse of the Blind, Frist Center for Autism and Innovation, Hustle 2.0, Defy Ventures, and others) to apply. Finally, we'll coach both sides through to ensure we can place candidates at these companies.

Company Name; # of Employees; Industry; Country 

Auburn-WashburnUSD437: 500, Education, US 

Booking.com: 15,000, Tech, Netherlands

Checkr: 400, TA Tech, US

JazzPharma: 2,500, Pharmaceuticals, Ireland 

ResourceSolutions: 870, HR, UK 

Spectrum: 70,000, Telecom, US 

TriNet: 3,500, HR, US 

AtWork: 430, HR, US

Contentful: 400, Tech, Germany 

Nielsen: 35,000, Tech, US 

Tigo: 18,000, Telecom, Luxembourg 

TurnItIn: 500, Education Tech, US

Our solution takes the online job board and pairs it with an algorithm that removes personal data and ranks candidates based off skills.  It then gives candidates and employers a percentage match within each job that is best suited for them.

We use this to create matches for the overlooked communities previously mentioned in the hope of creating more diverse work environments.  It creates an environment that welcomes, encourages, and educates job seekers/candidates and employers through educational training.  

These trainings, run by experts in their respective communities, are available to candidates, employers and current employees.  We have training for candidates prior to interviewing so they feel prepared and confident.  We have training for the employers prior to the interview so they feel educated on how to interview and what questions they specifically may want to ask to find the best fit.  Once a candidate is hired we have training for them, the employer and current employees so that the on-boarding process runs smoothly.  We want a high retention rate of those we assist in getting hired, so we provide these services for however long a company or candidate may want.

We hope to create a world where overlooked talent feels valued as well as understood.  So that within the workplace one will not feel that they have to hide anything and that candidates, employers, employees learn that what makes a person stand apart can give the work environment new perspectives and opportunities as a whole.   

*I would like to address the question above as I was unable to fully answer it with the given restraints.  Our goal is to go global.  We are certainly in several countries currently but we have a goal of reaching any and every company all over the world, so it is certainly hard to say where we are aiming to reach by next year.  The main concern with stating countries is that the current state of work right now is becoming remote and by doing this candidates are being reached in all areas of the world.

 Currently: 65

1 year:  6500

5 years:  2 million

The reason why these numbers scale the way they do is because we are dealing with a global problem and are solving it through a scalable solution that takes advantage of globalization and remote work.

Take for example our partners Talent Beyond Boundaries and Oyster. They help 20,000+ refugees with soft skills, facilitate cross border relocation (e.g. VISAs), and cross border employment (establishing legal structures in 100+ countries to hire anyone anywhere on earth). Like them, there are hundreds of thousands of centers of excellence around the world that help candidates but lack access to employers.

We have strong connections with heads of recruitment and HR at thousands of large corporations. The solution to their problems are common: finding talent, matching them, knowing their own knowledge gaps, getting coached, and hiring them. This is all doable through a scalable product and process.

Our main goal with Jobs for Humanity is to assist with the UN's Sustainable Development goal #8- decent work and economic growth.  This has been at the forefront of our team since we started last year and continues to be so.  

Most companies don't quite know how to find or interview those who are blind or low-vision, or a returning citizen, or refugee may feel a certain uncomfortability once they are hired.  With that in mind we wanted to make sure that we could help them through those processes so that companies don't JUST post jobs, and candidates don't JUST apply.  Rather though, companies post jobs, candidates apply, AND the rate at which they are hired and the job works out long-term is high.  

By recruiting teammates from the communities we mentioned in the "What specific problem are you solving" section we are able to further make sure that our retention and progress rate is positive.

Those are the ways in which we measure our progress- by how many jobs are created, how many candidates apply to those jobs, and how many ultimately are offered a job and hired.  We strive to make that number high by working with people from those communities so we get honest feedback causing positive results. 

Currently our team is completely part-time, volunteer-based as we work around our other jobs.  We have 40 people currently working together from around the world to get our solution fully up and running.

Roy Baladi, CEO and founder of Jobs for Humanity has started non-profits and start-ups successfully in the past.  He also started Jobs for Lebanon- which is where he got the idea to expand and scale that site to turn it into Jobs for Humanity.  Our team also includes four autistic individuals, two blind colleagues, two single mothers, two black leaders, three refugees, one individual with epilepsy, and one returning citizen from 19 years of incarceration.  We have recruiting executives and corporate accessibility experts who assist in understanding the needs of corporations, as well as help us gain access to corporations who want access to these communities and the training to properly work with them.  Lastly, we have recruiting technology experts with decades of experience in building solutions to scale globally. 

We built our team on the foundation of diversity, from the ground up, and will continue to do so.   

Applying to Solve would help our solution with our mission to become a global initiative.  We have the right people who are passionate about our project but we do feel we need assistance in certain areas. 

As far as getting our project started- we have done that and have a complete voluntary staff that is excited as well as dedicated but being able to have salaried staff would make it so that we could have people working full-time rather than around their current work schedule.  By applying to Solve we are getting word out about our solution- and the more companies and individuals may want to join in.  With more companies jumping on board and buying-in to our training services we'll have more financial durability for the future.  With more individuals taking notice and applying on our site, and getting hired successfully- the more that companies will continue to trust that we are truly impassioned and committed to our solution.  

We also felt inspired to apply to Solve to find informed and knowledgeable individuals who feel just as passionate as we do about helping overlooked individuals in the global workforce.  

We have a few people working on social and global media management, community management, and lead generation/employer acquisition but again, some guidance within that sector is something we are definitely looking for.  

When it comes to financial and legal/regulatory matters we would benefit from help with tax applications, maintenance of our non-profit status, commercial agreements, and employment agreements- as well as accounting.

We eagerly partner with all organizations that have a vested interest in creating a fairer world through employment and who are credible. 

This makes MIT faculty, initiative, and Solve members perfect candidates to partner with.  Specifically we would benefit from assistance in financial, legal, and public relation matters.  

As a newly established non-profit we would appreciate any honest feedback and guidance as we truly want to take this global and to do that we need raw feedback from those who have established track records such as the aforementioned.  

Our coaches offer employment readiness to candidates and employers through:

A core curriculum that helps employers understand their knowledge gap within hiring under-represented communities. The courses cover understanding individuals in that community, challenges candidates and employers face, how to address those challenges, how to interview and look for skill and potential, how to onboard successfully, and how to further assist if they don’t hire them.

The courses are tailored to members in each community:

e.g. blind/low vision: what are the assistive technologies used for blind/low vision?  Capabilities they have once these technologies are there?  What existing software are accessible and which are not.

Neurodivergent:  Reasonable accommodations that would allow Neurodivergent candidates to operate well and not burn out. What to be aware of in the hiring process? (e.g. eye contact, ambiguous questions, video interviews) and what to use (e.g. skills assessment to get an objective measure, precise questions).

Returning citizens from incarceration: properly reading background checks, what questions can and can’t be asked according to what the law stipulates. 

The ASA Prize for Equitable Education would help us to streamline our training process.  By working with individual coaching now we are aiming to work out any kinks in our training programs.  From those one-on-one training programs we hope to create the scalable solution of pre-recorded videos and classes for companies and candidates to have at their fingertips. 

Jobs for Lebanon (JFL) leverages job opportunities made available by the global Diaspora to help Lebanon work.  Initially created (by Roy Baladi, who was in Beirut with his family when the 2020 explosion happened) to help the people of Beirut who were forced elsewhere when their homes were destroyed.  The people of Lebanon still wanted their country to move forward despite destruction, and many companies were still running- though relying on remote-work.  JFL became a cog in the machine to keep the Beirut workforce moving and spread through Lebanon as a whole.  

After seeing this Baladi began thinking about how to scale this to a globally adaptable program.  Jobs for Humanity is what he came up with.  It is geared directly towards the self-reliance and integration of under-represented communities, specifically including refugees- all around the world.  We have partnered with GlowUp Careers, a Social Enterprise that has enabled us with offering Career transition and outplacement services as well as pro-bono refugee coaching. We offer a training program that reflects the problems many refugees have when searching, and interviewing, for a job.  We also train employers on how to interview refugees and how they may help even if they don't hire the candidate.  

Take a look at the course thus far.

A goal of ours is to become global and readily available to anyone who may access the internet.  At home, in a library, or shelter- we want to make our organization accessible to even those who don't have personal internet access.  We believe that we match with the ideals of the HP Prize for Advancing Digital Equity and that it would be beneficial in assisting us in our goal of going global within the next year.  

Jobs for Humanity is currently run by volunteers from all over the world, and all walks of life.  Our volunteers either know someone from a group in our six initiatives (single mothers, refugees, Black leaders, blind/low-vision, Neurodivergent, returning citizens-formerly incarcerated), or are a part of one.  With this in mind we are constantly working on making sure our training programs delve into treating job-seekers with unbiased views.

We have done this in several ways- like partnering with Checkr, a background checking app that assists candidates in areas like- what is legal for an employer to look at, ask, and how far back into records they may go, and SmartRecruiters, which matches candidates based off skills/resume and gives employers and candidates a percentage match for jobs on our job board.

We also have been lucky enough to find multiple companies who want to hire from different walks of life as it is becoming more apparent that different opinions, and mindsets, are important to diversify, and raise up the morality and merit of, the global workforce.

Our organization is based on finding jobs for those who are often overlooked or under-represented in the workforce.  This includes refugees, Black leaders, the blind and low-vision, Neurodivergent, returning citizens-formerly incarcerated, and our women-specific group, which is single-mothers.  

From lead expert for the Single Moms training program, Stacey Romero, we understand that single mothers often must put their children first while raising them, often putting their education and/or career goals on hold.  Stacey was able to attend University at the same time as her children and found a company that understood the gaps in her resume.  While volunteering with Jobs for Humanity Stacey works at Spectrum as the Lead Accessibility Manager L&D.  Part of Stacey's position with us is to train employers about hiring a single mother, but a big part of it is to help a mother in being confident about the gap(s) in their resume and seeing why that can be an advantage rather than a weakness.

The Innovation for Women Prize would be beneficial in expanding our Single Moms Initiative as we hope to continue to find women like Stacey, to continue our global movement of career fulfillment and job creation.  We also aspire to work with more companies like Spectrum, who are wholly understanding of the different situations a single mother may face when entering, or re-entering the workforce.