Jobs for Felons: Educated Felon is Looking for Good Job

Jobs for Felons: Educated Felon is Looking for Good Job

Hello,

I came across your blog on jailtojob.com and read an entry from 2015 that pretty much reflects what's currently going on in my long time boyfriend's life. He recently got his second felony for a drug conviction in 2016. He previously was out of trouble for 10 years, and was actually on his way to obtain his certificate of rehabilitation. Unfortunately, that's no longer on the table now that he has his recent conviction on his record. He's currently serving his probation, but is due for a review in court next week to see if he can get off early (keeping our fingers crossed).

I'm sure as you well know, it is extremely difficult for an ex felon to find gainful employment. It's incredibly discouraging, even for me. I try to be positive and be some sort of resource for him, but he has a very self-defeating attitude right now and I just want to help him. Yes, I recognize that he has made it much more difficult for himself to find a job with a good salary and benefits, but I'm more of an optimist and I try my best to believe that something will come along, if he puts in the work.

He is educated (he has his BA from Cal State Northridge in Psychology) and has work experience in the respite health field. He now believes that is no longer an option for him, once they do a background check he'll be denied. He is very well spoken, and is like a chameleon- he is able to integrate himself pretty effortlessly into anything he puts his mind to...he just needs that opportunity to prove it.  He needs someone who is willing to give him a chance to provide for himself, his family and start preparing for his future. 

Do you have any advice? A direction we can go into that will help him find a job that he will find rewarding, and gainful? I am aware of the Federal Bonding program and have that to bring to the table, but he is very discouraged, depressed and going through some type of learned helplessness. I just want to find something for him to be successful at. Anything I suggest, he seems to retort with a reason why it won't work out. His probation officer is no help, and is hardly familiar with his case.  He hasn't offered any assistance or resources and when I ask my boyfriend to inquire about it with his PO, he shrugs it off and says things like, "i'm just a speck in his caseload". He also doesn't want to bring any unwanted attention to himself, so as to not cause any problems.

I'm at a loss. I myself am working a salary job, but it certainly isn't enough and I know he will only be happy once he's offered a position that will grant him the ability to provide a comfortable life for himself and his family. I don't want him believing that he is only destined for a minimum wage job for the rest of his life....

Anything helps,

Jessica 

Jobs for Felons: Educated Felon is Looking for Good Job

Hello Jessica,

It seems that your boyfriend has dug himself a bit of a hole.  All is not lost.  One thing I might try is the local community college.  Community colleges are always looking for adjunct instructors to teach freshman classes.  Adjunct instructors are used on an as-needed basis but it is a great way t0 get a start in the professional world.

Another thing to try is contact your local councilperson.  Council members in touch with a lot of things and people in the community.  They may know of open positions in the area,  Remember council members are politicians and every person is a potential vote.

Another option is to apply for temporary employment.  Working for a temporary agency is a great way to quickly get a job.  Often temporary assignments turn into permanent jobs.  Some agencies have clients that require professional employees.  The key to felons applying to temporary agencies is to apply to smaller, privately owned agencies rather that large national companies.  Sometimes larger companies have guidelines that prohibit the hiring of felons.  Smaller agencies are free to hire anyone they choose so your boyfriend may have better luck with them.

Frequent readers of my blog know that everyone I speak to who is looking for a job I direct to the local One-stop Career Center.  Each state has a network of centers that offer a variety of free services that can assist you in finding employment. In addition, these centers offer a wide array of services that can help a felon get jobs.

 Some services available are:

Counselors for One-on-one Assistance

Workshops (Resume Writing, Interviewing Skills, and related topics.)

Computers with internet access and word processing

Lists of thousands of job listings

Printers, fax machines, phones, and copiers for job search use

Each center has counselors there that help clients in their job searches. 

You can find the nearest location of the One Stop Career Center in your local phone book or on the web at:

www.servicelocator.org

I hope this helps.

Jobs for Felons: The Facts about Companies that Hire Ex offenders and Felons (2018)

Jobs for Felons: Five Places Felons Can Find Jobs - Get a Job Quickly!

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Eric Mayo

Felon can't get Around Background Check

Felon can't get Around Background Check

My name is Dennis and I am getting so frustrated and depressed on what I have been going thru for years. I have 2 felony convictions nearly 20 years ago and every time a background check is done it comes up. What they are seeing on paper is not the person I am today. I have a credit score over 726, I own my own home, and I have been living a law abiding life since getting out of prison where I did 2 years- that was back in 1997 when I got out.

I am 48 years old and it is getting very difficult getting past these background checks- no one wants to take a chance with someone with a record and every time I go on an interview I have the embarrassment of explaining what I did and the kind of person I am today- but it just doesn't matter.

My felonies came when I got involved in crack, the demon itself. My first felony came when I was in a cab and lottery scratch off tickets were taken and I got charged with robbery, I received 5 years probation. The second one came because I was still addicted to this evil drug when I took 47.00 out of a back room in a bar, it was my crack head girlfriends parents bar and her mother prosecuted. I received a sentence of 2 to 4 years. This actually saved my life and the transformation began in getting my reputation and life back in order. That crack tore thru my life like a tornado and it was a blessing that I was incarcerated for those 2 years. But try explaining this to a potential employer and the door closes.

I have so much going for me now but keep on falling on hard times when looking for work because of my past, I am not that person anymore, but no one will listen. Any help or any suggestions would be of great assistance. Thank You

Signed,
So lost

Felon can't get Around Background Check

Hello Dennis,

I'm sorry you have not had much success in your job search. Don't give up hope just yet. The fact is, ex-offenders and felons get jobs everyday. Your challenge is to find out which employers will give you an opportunity. Unfortunately this is easier said than done. My first suggestion is to employ the single greatest method of finding job leads... Networking.

Many people got their job leads from people they know. This is called networking. 
Networking is the most effective method of finding employment leads. Most jobs are never advertised because they are usually filled by personal contacts. In fact, employers would rather hire someone referred to them by people they know rather than to painfully sort through resumes and applications. How many people do you know? Each one of them is a potential lead for a job. 

• Friends
• Relatives
• Neighbors
• Parole/probation officers
• Members of your religious group (especially ministers, priests, imams, etc.)
• Former teachers
• Former co- workers
• Former employers
• Classmates
• Casual acquaintances
• People you do business with (Hairstylists, barbers, doctors) 

Look at the list above. In each group, list five people that you can contact. That is at least 55
people that could help you in your job search. Let each person know that you are looking for a job and that any information they have for you would be helpful. Have copies of your resume handy for your contacts to give to other people. Often when ex-offenders and felons are referred for jobs, the question about criminal records doesn't come up. 

You just never know where your next opportunity will come from. Never ask for a job. Only ask for information about job leads or for advice. The more people you are able to contact, the more leads you will get. Remember, this is a numbers game. 

You can also take a look at this list of companies that may give ex-offenders and felons the opportunity to get jobs: Get this updated list of companies that hire ex-offenders and felons


Frequent readers of this blog are familiar with my next suggestion. I encourage every ex-offender and felon looking for a job to visit their local One-stop Career Center. One-stop Career Centers are very underutilized resources that ex-offenders and felons can use not only to get jobs, but to get career counseling and training. In addition, these centers provide a long list of valuable services. Some services available are:
Career planning and counseling

Workshops (Resume Writing, Interviewing Skills, and related topics.)

Computers with internet access and word processing

Daily access to thousands of job listings

Job-related magazines and local newspapers

Job postings and referrals

Printers, fax machines, phones, and copiers for job search use

Each center has trained counselors that provide one-on-one assistance. Many of them have experience assisting ex-offenders and felons looking for jobs.
As stated in a previous post, you can find your nearest center here:
www.servicelocator.org

Jobs for Ex-offenders and Felons: Where can Ex-offenders Find Jobs

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Jobs for Felons: The Facts about Companies that Hire Ex offenders and Felons 

Felon can't get Around Background Check

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Inmates who learn trades are often blocked from jobs. Now something's being done.

Inmates talk while participating in the barber school program at the Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Illinois on Feb. 11, 2014.Lathan Goumas / The Herald-News via AP

Half the states bar ex-cons from getting the occupational licenses they need to re-enter the workforce. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say it doesn't make sense.

by Adam Edelman / NBC News

Mike Grennan, a former convict who's getting by piecing together small construction gigs in Port Huron, Michigan, says he's paid his debt to society — but, when it comes to getting an occupational license to be a home-building contractor, he just can't outrun his criminal past.  That's because Michigan, like two dozen other states, has laws on the books that prevent ex-felons like Grennan from getting the professional licenses they need to work in a variety of blue-collar trades, including cutting hair, welding, doing makeup and cosmetics, construction and more.

"It really frustrates me. I have a really good work ethic, and I've paid my debt to society," said Grennan, 46, who has been in and out of state prison for chunks of his adult life, due to a series of convictions he said stem from an addiction to heroin.

Mike Grennan finds work as a subcontractor for small projects in Port Huron, Mich., but he hasn't been able to get his occupational license to be a homebuilder because of his criminal past.Courtesy Mike Grennan

Now, a growing number of states are trying to bring down the barriers convicts face in re-entering the workforce after their release — and that includes a new raft of laws in recent months that have drawn bipartisan support and are aimed at making it easier for ex-cons to get occupational licenses in fields from which they were formerly barred because of their criminal pasts.

Since his 2013 release from Michigan's Jackson State Prison, where he served a three-year sentence on larceny and stolen property charges, Grennan has been blocked from getting his residential maintenance and alteration contractor's license — which he needs to legally work as a homebuilding/renovation contractor. That's because of "good moral character" clauses in Michigan law that essentially prohibit people with felony convictions from getting approved for more than 70 percent of occupational licenses granted by the state.

More than 70 million Americans with prior criminal records are facing similar barriers to re-entering the workforce, where 25 percent of all jobs require an occupational or professional license, according to the National Employment Law Project, a left-leaning workers rights nonprofit based in New York.
"You're looking at crisis in which a large proportion of the American public are just locked out of all sorts of jobs, which not only hurts them and their families, but creates a challenge for employers, often times in in-demand occupations that are looking for qualified workers," said Maurice Emsellem, NELP’s Fair Chance Program director.

The added irony, Emsellem and other experts said, is that so many others, in similar situations to Grennan, actually learned their trade in prison, where they were preparing to come out ready to find a job and re-enter society — only to find out that they can't.

Inmates training to become commercial underwater divers receive classroom instruction at the California Institution for Men state prison in Chino, California. They are among those who can get the licenses they need to get jobs. Patrick T. Fallon / Bloomberg via Getty Images

"There's a lot training happening in construction and manufacturing inside prisons," Emsellem said. "People go through all this effort to reform themselves. And then they can't work when they get out. It's an extraordinary and powerful irony.”

This year, at least eight states have tried to fix the problem.  In March, Delaware Gov. John Carney, a Democrat, signed into law a measure removing some obstacles for former convicts seeking licenses in cosmetology, barbering, electrology, nail technology and aesthetics. Under the law, state licensing boards can no longer include convictions older than 10 years as part of their consideration process; and the waiting period prospective licensees must observe before applying for a waiver of a prior felony conviction was slashed to three years from five.

Weeks earlier, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican, signed a similar bill that eliminated "good moral character" and "moral turpitude" clauses from licensing board requirements and forced boards to limit disqualifying crimes to those "specifically and directly" related to the profession in which the applicant was seeking a license.

Also that month, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, a Republican, signed bill mandating that occupational licensing boards render their decisions about whether past convictions would be considered disqualifying before applicants spend time and money on training and classes. Previously, applicants had to complete relevant training before even applying for their license.

Similar laws have gone into effect this year in Tennessee, Wyoming, Kansas, Maryland and Massachusetts. And since 2015 — following a set of best practices for state lawmakers published by the Obama White House regarding occupational licensing reform — at least seven other states have put laws on the books lessening licensing restrictions for applicants with criminal histories, according to the Institute for Justice, a libertarian-leaning public interest law firm.

The restrictions were originally enacted to increase public safety by ensuring that licensed tradespeople met high standards, experts said. But states that have maintained such obstacles to re-entering the workforce for former convicts have actually seen public safety harmed, according to a widely cited 2016 study by Arizona State University economics professor Stephen Slivinski, because the laws result in significantly higher rates of criminal recidivism. The study also found that states with fewer restrictions have lower rates of recidivism.

Even as bipartisan support in state capitals across the U.S. for reform is growing, not everyone's on board.  Bill Cobb, who now works as the deputy director for the ACLU's Campaign for Smart Justice, knows all about it.

In 1993, Cobb, then a 24-year-old college student in Philadelphia and a veteran of Operation Desert Storm, pleaded guilty to robbery, criminal conspiracy and kidnapping charges for driving the getaway car in a crime. After he served a six-year sentence at a Pennsylvania state prison, Cobb enrolled in a Philadelphia program that would set him up to get an occupation license for commercial truck driving.

"I took out thousands of dollar in loans, passed all the written exams," Cobb said, "only to find out that that I would not even be able to get a job driving as a result of not being able to get an occupational license."

Cobb later found work as a telemarketer before embarking on an advocacy career to help people who faced a similar predicament coming out of prison. "I did my time. I was ready to move on and live my life well," he said.

Pennsylvania has to date rejected substantial changes in its licensing laws.

Jobs for Felons: The Facts about Companies that Hire Ex offenders and Felons (2018)

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Eric Mayo

Oregon company makes a point of hiring ex-convicts

About one in three of the more than 300 employees at Oregon-based Dave's Killer Bread has a criminal background.  - Courtesy, Dave's Killer Bread

By Jacob Lewin - Marketplace
A major effort is under way in this country to reform the way we sentence drug criminals. Thousands of felons are getting early release according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission,  and that will continue for years to come.
The question is, will there be jobs for them?
If you visit the bakery at Dave's Killer Bread outside Portland, you'll find pumps sucking two-thousand pounds of ingredients into mixing bowls.  You'll also find that a third of the company's 300 employees have a criminal past, including plant manager Ronnie Elrod. 
“We're just so happy to have a job that typically we've got an attitude of gratitude rather than a sense of entitlement.  And we also know that opportunities are going to be hard to come by for us so we have to take those opportunities that come along and we really have to make good on them,” Elrod said.
And Harvard sociologist Devah Pager believes that's true.  She is studying the job performance of ex-cons in the military. “Those with serious criminal pasts perform just as well if not better than their counterparts with no criminal records.  At least with appropriate kinds of screening, individuals with serious criminal records can perform very well in the workplace,” she said.
Another of Pager's studies  shows that a criminal record seriously reduces the chances of getting a job. “I hired groups of young men to pose as job applicants and sent them all over the city applying for jobs and half the time they reported having a felony conviction and simply by checking that box, their chances of  receiving a call-back or job offer were cut in half,” Pager said.
Dave's Killer Bread has hired so many ex-convicts because, well because of Dave...Dave Dahl, that is. After serving 15 years for drug crimes, Dahl returned to his family's bakery and in 2005 created his namesake bread. “It was based on the epiphany I had in prison which was that I could turn my own life around and eventually the feeling was that we could help others to do the same thing if they were willing to do most of the work themselves,” Dahl said.
The company uses its hiring practices as a selling point, with Dahl's picture on every package, even though a judge put him on conditional release after he rammed into some police cars two years ago.
This year Dave's Killer Bread was sold to Flowers Foods for $275 million. 

Jobs for Felons: The Facts about Companies that Hire Ex offenders and Felons (2018)

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Oregon company makes a point of hiring ex-convicts

Eric Mayo