Hard2Hire.com - A Unique Niche Website for Non-Traditional Employees

I just found out about a new website called Hard2Hire.com which is just what the name sounds like: its for people who have a hard time getting hired and for the employers who are willing to give them a chance. Right now there are more than 100,000 potential employees with profiles on Hard2Hire and more than 2.8 million job listings at tens of thousands of employers on the site. Pretty impressive numbers I think for a new website.

I talked to Kevin McMahon at H2H and he told me that the majority of jobs on the site are at smaller employers (less than 200 employees) and that they are reaching out to approximately 2,000 employers per month to find new job openings for their members. Kevin also mentioned that when they speak to employers one of their goals is to find out what kind of candidates they are really willing to consider for jobs. It's one thing to say that you don't discriminate but its another thing entirely to be truly open to hiring non-traditional workers. H2H tries to find employers who welcome applications from non-traditional employees and/or ex-offenders rather than just giving lip service to the idea of inclusiveness.

Originally, Brian Poe, Founder and CEO of Hard2Hire.com and author of A Guide to Expungements and Pardons, set up the website to help ex-offenders find jobs once they had served their time. He has expanded the site to offer jobs for other non traditional folks like the elderly, disabled workers, and laid off workers.

“Hard2Hire.com is a marketplace that benefits everyone,” said Brian Poe, founder. “What employers don’t necessarily realize is that these candidates bring more than a positive attitude and relevant skill set. In some cases, employers who hire a candidate are eligible to receive federal and state subsidies. Ex-offenders in particular are supported by federal bonding programs to provide a measure of protection to the employer. The vision behind Hard2Hire.com was to create a win-win situation for everyone involved.”

For ex-offenders, employers provide specific feedback about criminal backgrounds they will consider including the nature of the crime and how long ago it took place. Hard2Hire.com has developed similar intelligent matching processes for the other categories as well. For example, employers will provide information about the physical requirements of the job in order to help match disabled workers. This transparency results in a faster, more efficient hiring process.

I was perusing the jobs that are available in a couple of zip codes (78726 and 95954 if you are wondering) and I found a total of 6,714 jobs available within 25 miles of both of those zip codes. What I noticed is that most of the jobs on the site are what I would call "less skilled". Having said that I also saw some non-profit jobs that sounded like they could be very interesting to people with a wide range of skills. For example, ACTIVE Life (formerly Youth InterACTIVE), an Austin-based nonprofit organization, posted a job for VP of Business Development. There are also quite a few volunteer positions posted so if you are looking for a way to give back this site may be a great way to find some volunteer opportunities.

H2H is free to both employees and employers. The site is supported by advertisements and the company actively solicits companies for positions that could be filled by non-traditional employees. H2H says its committed to helping 1 million people find jobs in 2009. That sounds like a pretty big and impressive goal to me - I hope they do it!

Job Openings Are Available if You Look in the Right Places

Have you ever heard the one about the woman who was walking down the street at night when she came across a man searching frantically on the ground for something in the light of a streetlamp?

She asked him, “Sir, what are you looking for?” He said, “I have lost my keys."

She said, “I will help you look. Did you lose them right here?”

The man said, “No I lost them across the street in the alley”

The woman asked, “Then why are you looking over here?”

And the man responded, “There’s no light over there.”

That joke makes me think of some job seekers I have met….they look for jobs in places they are comfortable looking but that aren’t necessarily where the jobs are. The key to finding employment in a tough economy (and make no mistake, many people, including about 70% of my clients, are finding jobs now) is to go where the jobs are. You may have to leave your comfort zone whether that means your current geographic location or your industry. Use the internet to conduct research on which companies are hiring and what industries are growing.

Here is a list of a few of the companies that are recruiting for job openings right now:

Edward Jones is hiring financial advisors and branch office administrators in St. Louis, MO and Phoenix/Mesa/Scottsdale, AZ

Google is hiring engineers, marketing professionals, product managers, and sales professionals in Mountain View, CA, New York City, and San Francisco, CA

Cisco is hiring engineers and customer advocates in San Jose, CA, Research Triangle Park, NC, and Boxborough, MA

Genentech is hiring product development professionals, manufacturing employees, and legal professionals in San Francisco and Oceanside, CA

Methodist Hospital System is hiring management, nurses, clinical professionals, IT and HR professionals, entry level support services and administrative jobs in Baytown and Houston, TX locations.

Whole Foods Market needs to hire a wide range of people in Austin, TX, Chicago, IL, and New York City. Supposedly they have around 800 job openings.

Microsoft is hiring despite their recently announced layoffs. They are recruiting software design engineers, financial analysts, HR professionals, marketing and sales professionals in Redmond and Issaquah, WA and Mountain View, CA

Ernst & Young, Accenture, KPMG, and Price Waterhouse Coopers plan to hire thousands of employees in 2009. E&Y alone plans to hire approximately 2,400 experienced professionals and nearly 5,000 students from campus into Assurance, Tax, and Advisory practices. Openings are in New York, Chicago, IL, and Dallas, TX.

Booz Allen Hamilton, one of the most prestigious consulting firms in the world is hiring software and systems engineers, information assurance and security engineers and intelligence analysts in McLean, Herndon, and Arlington, VA

If you are concerned about your job security or have been laid off you should put your resume together and find a company that is hiring people like you - jobs are out there but you may have to do a little research to find the jobs.