WOTC and justice-impacted hiring: Addressing barriers to employment

Why employment matters after incarceration

Nearly one in three adults in the United States has a criminal record. Despite representing millions of working-age Americans, justice-impacted individuals continue to experience significant barriers to employment after incarceration, making successful reentry into the workforce a challenge for many.

Employment is often the catalyst for rebuilding other aspects of a person's life, including housing, financial stability, and family reunification. Research also shows that finding employment reduces recidivism (the likelihood of reoffending) by up to 40%, especially when the work is stable, meaningful, and pays a living wage.

Because employment influences so many aspects of successful reentry, workforce development organizations and policymakers have developed a variety of initiatives to help reduce barriers to employment. Efforts such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's guidance on the use of criminal records in employment decisions, Ban the Box policies, and Fair Chance Hiring policies are all intended to encourage more equitable hiring practices and expand access to meaningful work.

Among those initiatives, the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) takes a different approach. By helping offset costs associated with hiring and onboarding, WOTC provides employers with a financial incentive to consider qualified candidates from targeted populations who may otherwise be overlooked.

A conversation with Ricky Hamilton

While research and policy help explain the importance of employment in successful reentry, they don't fully capture what the experience looks like for the individuals rebuilding their careers. To better understand the barriers justice-impacted individuals face, and the role employers can play in expanding opportunity, we spoke with Ricky Hamilton, co-founder of Got Jobs America, a workforce development and reentry solutions company focused on expanding economic opportunity for justice-impacted individuals and underserved communities.

In addition to his role at Got Jobs America, Ricky serves as the employee navigation director for the Imani Works Green Grace Initiative, connecting returning citizens with careers in the clean energy industry, and as a strategic consultant for APHSA's Community Impact Council. Having experienced incarceration himself before dedicating his career to workforce development, he now works directly with employers to build hiring pathways that emphasize skills, opportunity, and long-term workforce success rather than a person's past involvement with the justice system.

Tell us about your background and your connection to supporting justice-impacted individuals
My career came out of the same system I now help people navigate. I entered at 17 and came home at 40. Reentry into the workforce, into free society overall, was the hardest thing I've done, but thankfully I came home more prepared than most. Three months out, I was hired as Reentry Coordinator at Phalanx Family Services, helping implement The Road Home Program. That put me on both sides of the table at once: someone who had just lived it, and someone now responsible for walking others through it. Most of the people I served had far fewer supports than I did. Seeing the same barriers from both angles is what turned a personal experience into a professional focus.

What are some of the biggest employment challenges people face when reentering the workforce?
The criminal record itself. The record disqualifies the person before the person is ever evaluated. I've watched people who were fully committed, to themselves, to their families, lose offers the moment a background check came back. I watched men who held skilled jobs inside prison get denied those exact same jobs on the outside. The work was good enough while they were incarcerated; the same work was off-limits once they were free.

Underneath that sits transportation, licensing barriers, gaps in verifiable work history, and automated screening that filters people out before a human reads anything. That initial barrier, which is the criminal record itself, is the biggest challenge when reentering the workforce. We as a society need to take a serious look at the permanent punishments attached to criminal records and ask whether those punishments should continue long after a citizen has paid their debt to society. Common-sense public safety requires us to look for ways to end cycles of incarceration that too often mirror cycles of poverty. Access to employment is one of the best hands up a person returning to the workforce can ask for, whether they are a returning citizen, a veteran, a single mother returning to the workforce, or anyone else facing barriers to economic stability.

What do employers often misunderstand about hiring people with a criminal record?
Most employers accept second-chance hiring in principle. Yet it often breaks down at sentence length and offense severity. They hear "twenty years" or "violent offense" and assume risk to the workplace. Yet many don't know that the data runs the other direction: people released after long sentences for serious offenses have among the lowest rearrest rates of any group, and justice-impacted hires tend to stay longer and turn over less than comparable hires. The thing employers overlook is that the person in front of them is not the person who committed the offense. I entered the system at 17. I am not that same 17-year-old person.

Can you share a success story from your own experience or someone you've worked with that illustrates the impact meaningful employment can have after reentry?
Nicholas Crayton. A close friend I helped into a program at my former job. He came in as a participant and was eventually hired on by the organization. Today he's a program manager at a foundation serving Chicago's North Lawndale community, with a new wife, a first child, and a big, beautiful home of his own. Before I brought him in, he couldn't get hired on working for public works at a local graveyard. The very same job he had several months prior when he was still incarcerated. One employer willing to look past the record and the 24 years he spent in prison changed the trajectory of his entire life and now the generations that are to follow.

How can WOTC help employers create more opportunities for people rebuilding their careers after incarceration?
WOTC lowers the perceived risk of a hire an employer is already curious about. Most companies I talk to aren't opposed to hiring justice-impacted candidates. They're uncertain, and uncertainty defaults to no. The credit gives a hiring manager something concrete to bring to a CFO. What I'd add is that it works best as a reason to start, not a reason to hire. The employers who see real return use the credit to fund what makes the hire stick: onboarding, mentorship, transportation support through the first ninety days. Used that way, it doesn't just subsidize a job; it builds a pipeline the company keeps returning to.

What is one thing you wish every employer understood about hiring justice-impacted individuals?
That hiring someone who is justice-impacted should be unremarkable. Roughly one in three American adults has a criminal record. An employer screening all of them out isn't managing risk; they're shrinking their own talent pool in the tightest labor market in decades. Hiring a justice-impacted person shouldn't feel like charity or a program. It should feel like hiring an American who needs work and is ready to do it. Most of the people at my first job never had a clue I served time before because my persona and exterior do not show it. And thankfully I was blessed with a first-time employer in Phalanx Family Services who chose to look past my record and hired me on my knowledge and skill.

Creating pathways through collaboration

For justice-impacted individuals, stable employment creates the foundation for successful reentry after incarceration. As Ricky's experience shows, meaningful work can change the trajectory of someone's life while strengthening workforces and communities. But this opportunity starts with an employer willing to look beyond a person's past.

WOTC helps employers take that first step by helping offset the costs associated with recruiting, hiring, and onboarding individuals from targeted populations. When paired with thoughtful hiring practices and strong onboarding, WOTC becomes a practical workforce strategy that benefits employers while creating opportunities for individuals rebuilding their careers.

Creating lasting employment opportunities, however, requires coordination across the systems that support successful reentry. Correctional education and training can help individuals prepare for the workforce, while community and workforce organizations can connect them with resources and employment pathways. Employers then play a critical role in turning that preparation and support into meaningful employment. When these efforts work together, employers are better positioned to access an often-overlooked talent pool while individuals have greater opportunity to build long-term stability through meaningful work.

For employers, that starts with being willing to challenge assumptions about justice-impacted talent and understanding the resources available to support their hiring strategy. If your organization is looking to expand its talent pool while identifying opportunities to capture WOTC credits for eligible hires, connect with Maximus to learn how WOTC can support your workforce strategy.

About Ricky Hamilton

Ricky Hamilton is co-founder of Got Jobs America, a workforce development and reentry solutions company focused on expanding economic opportunity for justice-impacted individuals and underserved communities. He also serves as the employee navigation director for the Imani Works Green Grace Initiative, which connects returning citizens with career opportunities in the clean energy industry, and as a strategic consultant for APHSA's Community Impact Council. Drawing from both lived experience and his work in workforce development, Hamilton works with employers to create pathways to meaningful, long-term employment.