How Does a Felon Get a Job?
One of the biggest challenges facing people who do time in prison is how to rebuild their lives when they get out. It’s also a serious problem for society as a whole, since ex-cons are often strongly lured back into criminal activities when “going straight” isn’t as easy as it sounds.
According to a 2010 study, between 12 and 14 million Americans had a felony conviction in 2008. Half those people spent time behind bars. Also, The National Employment Law Project estimates that 70 million people have an arrest record that can show up on a background check by potential employers, even if they were not convicted.
Ex-offenders are already more likely to be poor and less educated, which makes any good intentions of bettering themselves after prison all the more difficult.
The problem is being addressed on different levels. At the federal level, there’s been an effort to stop indiscriminate screening of candidates with a criminal history.
In 2012, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued guidance saying that, since a disproportionate percentage of convicts are African American, any policy that excludes applicants based on criminal convictions can be, under some circumstances, be construed as discriminatory . In other words, employers can’t refuse to hire someone with a criminal history if their crimes are not relevant to the job they are applying for. Similar requirements have been issued by The Department of Labor for federal contractors.
A felony conviction shouldn’t be a life sentence to unemployment, especially since there is data that shows if ex-cons stay out of trouble, they are just as likely as anyone else to stay that way. Carnegie Mellon criminologist Alfred Blumstein found that after about seven to 10 years, ex-convicts aren’t anymore likely to commit a crime than the general population.
For those who are staunchly unforgiving, ex-con employment helps society as a whole.
“Employment helps everyone,” said Esperanza Tervalon-Daumont, executive director of the Oakland community organization Oakland Risings. “When these folks are given the opportunity to come back into the workforce in jobs… their relationship with the community shifts, so where they once were people who would be sort of a blight on the community they now have the opportunity to be a very specific kind of beacon.”
Last year, Delaware and Nebraska passed legislation to ban the box to check if you’ve been convicted of a felony on application forms for most state, city and county jobs.
If you’ve been convicted of a crime, and have the earnest intent to start a new life, here are a few tips for how to become gainfully employed:
- Know your rights. Just because you have been convicted of a felony, doesn’t mean you forfeit all of your rights after you serve your time. Laws are changing all the time, and reform is taking place to make re-assimilation a realistic expectation.
- Check for companies that are open about hiring ex-cons. This relieves any stress you may feel going into an interview wondering if it will be held against you, and you can concentrate on just putting your best foot forward.
- You aren’t in this alone. There are thousands of people in your shoes, which means there are likely organizations in your area that help ex-felons find employment. Take advantage of whatever help you can get.
