LinkedIn Teams Up with Center for Employment Opportunities to create Groundbreaking ‘Job Seeking with a Criminal Record’ Learning Course
MEDIA CONTACT
CEO: Bari Samad | [email protected] | 619-343-6509
Free online resource will give formerly incarcerated job seekers the training, tools, and confidence they need to secure high-quality employment
New York, NY -- February 1, 2022 – LinkedIn® partnered with Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) - a national nonprofit that provides comprehensive employment services to people returning from jail or prison in 31 cities - to create a first-of-its-kind online video course dedicated to supporting justice-impacted job seekers in their search for quality jobs.
The LinkedIn Learning course, “Job Seeking with a Criminal Record with Genevieve Rimer” will support people with past convictions to recognize their unique skills and experiences and identify their goals and interests to find their perfect-fit job. Justice-impacted job seekers will learn hard skills such as crafting a resume and mastering “employment talk” to succeed in an interview. After only 50 minutes, viewers will walk away from this course with the practical tools they need to land a quality job.
“Twenty years ago, I could have never imagined companies like LinkedIn investing in helping people with past convictions find employment,” said Dr. Genevieve Rimer, Director of Inclusive Hiring at CEO. “Creating this learning module was important to me because it allowed me to utilize my personal experience in job searching with a criminal record to inspire and instruct others. While creating this course, I envisioned incarcerated people taking it and dreaming of the day when they can use what they’ve learned after their return.”
Dr. Rimer will guide course participants through 16 learning modules, each only one to four minutes long. Complete with hands-on exercises, downloadable worksheets, and real-life examples from her own journey to success, Dr. Rimer inspires confidence just as much as tangible to-do’s.
“We know how important it is to provide tailored learning content to our members so they can build the skills they need to get a job,” said Hari Srinivasan, VP of Product Management at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, “By co-creating this course with the Center for Employment Opportunities, we’re able to provide actionable tools, advice and resources– rooted in the instructor’s lived experience– to help formerly incarcerated job seekers gain confidence as they transition into the workforce.”
Justice-impacted job seekers will also learn to utilize online tools and community-based resources to find opportunities and support, such as LinkedIn. LinkedIn is uniquely positioned to help formerly incarcerated individuals find work with its "Fair Chance" job filter. This feature allows job seekers to easily identify employers who have committed to consider applicants with a criminal record, thus removing a major barrier from their job search process.
As the largest provider of reentry employment services in the nation, CEO's strategic plan focuses on helping job seekers with past convictions to access thriving wage jobs with benefits.
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About Center for Employment Opportunities
The Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) provides immediate, effective, and comprehensive employment services exclusively for those recently released from incarceration. CEO currently operates in 31 cities and is dedicated to ensuring that justice-impacted job seekers have opportunities to achieve social and economic mobility. For more information, please visit https://ceoworks.org.
