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With more than 240,000 staff working for JPMorgan, America\u2019s biggest bank wants to ensure it hires people from across the societal spectrum, including those who have formerly been incarcerated.<\/p>\n
Speaking to LinkedIn<\/a>, CEO Jamie Dimon reiterated his long-held view that skills are equally as important<\/a> as education when it comes to finding the right candidate<\/a>.<\/p>\n And while hardships suffered previously in life may not be mentioned on a CV\u2014while a Harvard business degree would be displayed proudly\u2014Dimon said that doesn\u2019t mean these experiences should be discounted in the hiring process. <\/p>\n The 68-year-old<\/a> oversees JPMorgan\u2019s\u00a0Second Chance Agenda<\/a>, which aims to help people with criminal records reenter the workforce, the local economy,<\/span> and their nearby communities.<\/p>\n He explained: \u201cThere are 70 million ex-felons in the U.S. and a lot of those folks, we met with them, \u2026 can\u2019t get a car, can\u2019t get housing. A lot of them are married, they don\u2019t want to go back, they need help, they need skills, so what do you do?<\/p>\n \u201cWe got rid of \u2018check the box\u2019, and these are not hardened, violent criminals\u2014but we\u2019ve hired something like four or five thousand ex-felons, a lot of them are misdemeanors. It just shows you there\u2019s a lot of talent out there.\u201d<\/p>\n Data from JPMorgan suggests that the bank has indeed uncovered a new talent pool. In 2023, 9% of JP hires in the U.S. had a prior record\u2014which had no bearing on their roles. The year prior, the banking behemoth hired\u00a0over 4,600 people<\/a>\u00a0with \u201ccriminal backgrounds\u201d.<\/p>\n Dimon, who was paid a record $36 million for his work in 2023, was skeptical of some of the hallmarks of candidate potential. <\/a><\/p>\n He added: \u201cI don\u2019t think necessarily because you go to an Ivy League school or have great grades it means you\u2019re going to be a great worker, great person or something like that. If you look at skills of people it is amazing how skilled people are in something, but it didn\u2019t show up on their resume. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd of course if someone overcame unbelievable hardships in life, would you incorporate that when you hire them? I would. I look at all those things.\u201d <\/p>\n Dimon, a father of three, has previously advocated for a shift in the way schools are measured<\/a>: away from college enrollment rates and towards job opportunities. <\/p>\n The Harvard Business School alumni told Indianapolis-based\u00a0WISH-TV<\/a>: \u201cIf you look at kids they gotta be educated to get jobs. Too much focus in education has been on graduating college\u2026 It should be on jobs. I think the schools should be measured on, did the kids get out and get a good job?\u201d<\/p>\n According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/a> approximately 61% of high school graduates enroll in college or university\u2014a fairly standard amount compared to previous years. <\/p>\n However, the bureau reported that the employability of graduates is falling: among the 20-to-29-year-olds who earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in 2023, 70% were employed\u2014a fall from 76.4%.<\/p>\n A shift is also occurring in the degrees individuals are selecting. <\/p>\n According to the first edition of\u00a0Jobber\u2019s Blue-Collar Report<\/a>, in which the business management platform surveyed 1,000 people aged 18 to 20 in the U.S., 75% of respondents said they were interested in exploring vocational schools that offer paid, on-the-job training.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dimon says schools should examine their curriculum: \u201cIf you want to help society<\/a> and help yourselves, get these kids in tenth, eleventh, twelfth grade with skills that get them a good job.<\/p>\n \u201cThe schools have to now change their education a little bit: cyber, data, program management, financial management. Stuff you don\u2019t traditionally teach in high school that we should teach them there so these kids graduate making jobs [of] $45,000, $55,000, $65,000. It\u2019s great for society, great for lower income [households], it\u2019s great for the companies.\u201d<\/p>\n Ever-scrutinized by older generations, Gen Z has been the butt of criticism that they simply don\u2019t know how to operate in the office. <\/p>\n Some businesses have begun offering etiquette classes<\/a> to their younger staff members, while other bosses rankle against their \u201cyapping\u201d and say they\u2019re difficult to work with. <\/p>\n Wall Street veteran Dimon\u2014who will step down from the top job at the bank within the next five years<\/a>\u2014is unfazed. <\/p>\n Whether it\u2019s because younger workers have grown up in a more online world than the rest of society, had their social lives impacted by the pandemic, or were never exposed to formal career advice offered in college\u2014the financial giant has a solution. <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not used to walking in a building like this,\u201d Dimon said of recruits who come straight out of high school. \u201cThey don\u2019t necessarily know the social ethic and the social culture of shaking hands and thank you notes and stuff like that. <\/p>\n \u201cThere is this education to get these kids more comfortable just coming to work here. We\u2019ve got to make these kids more comfortable and I think one of the things that works there is apprenticeships, internships and then a little bit of training which again, they can teach in high school too.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nChanging the school system<\/h2>\n
The JPMorgan way<\/h2>\n
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