Jobs for felons: Old conviction is a problem

Please Help! My boyfriend is a convicted felon. He was charged with his felony when he was 18 years old and served 28 days. He is off probation, he has never messed up since that day but everywhere he looks he sees a background check is needed. Every time I look for ex-offender jobs all I can find are jobs that are for felons just getting out of jail. He is 28 years old and makes $5 less an hour than his coworker and he has certificates for his job and his coworker does not.

He has had the same job for 9 years now and has not gotten a raise. He committed a crime barely after turning 18 and now it is haunting him forever. I don't know what else to do or where to look.

There has to be something he can do. Please help me.

Jobs for felons: Old conviction is a problem

Hello,

ex-offenders and felons I deal with. First of all, I'm not sure what it is he does, but it seems that he has a marketable skill. Secondly, he has had the same job for nine years. That means that he has at least nine years of practical experience.

The problem I believe your boyfriend is having is, he is thinking like a felon that has a job rather than a working person that happens to have a record. He is letting his criminal record define who he is. He will not find a job looking for "Ex-offender Jobs." There is no such thing. No one advertises that they hire ex-offenders and felons. My suggestion is from now on he should stop thinking as if he has a mark of a criminal on his face. He does not! He should apply for every job he feels he is qualified to do.

His record is not going away. He has to deal with it and deal with it in a positive way. Never fear a background check. Every job he applies for, he should be honest about his past. When he gets an interview and the question comes up, he should speak briefly about it focusing on what he has done with his life since then. He should talk about the positive things he has done to improve himself. There are jobs for felons. Felons get hired everyday. The key is finding an employer who will look past his record (which should not be hard to do since it happened over ten years ago.) There are many companies that hire felons.

Like I said, he should apply for every job he feels he is qualified for. Finding a job is a numbers game. The more jobs he applies for, the more interviews he will get. The more interviews he gets, the greater his chances are of getting a job.

I hope this helps