Getting a job as a felon
 

So, a friend of mine (no, it isn't me lol) has a felony on her record. Long story short, she got addicted to adderall, started to hallucinate and get paranoid (caused by adderall), and she destroyed some property (nobody was physically injured) during one of her adderall fueled episodes. She served about 6 months in jail and a mental institution, and is now out, clean and trying to get back on her feet.

She's a good person and realizes she fucked up. What is crazy is she's college educated, and had a great job (in sales). But she lost everything because of her stupidity.

She is having a difficult time finding a job obviously (been unemployed for over a year). So does anyone have any similar experiences with friends or family, and have any recommendations on how she should approach the job search (or know any companies that have criminal hiring programs)? No, she ain't doing porn lol, so don't suggest it (though she's hot lol).

Thanks in advance.

I don't know what it's like in the USA - Canada is a bit more flexible in hiring - is there a government labor agency that can help? Outside of that - phone sales - insides sales - if she is good with hands then construction - office jobs such as secretary, mail room or assistant. She could even check out some church's who may have sympathetic members who could hire even a live in nanny for a desperate house hold could bring her $300 a week.

from what I see on the movies she'll have to get a shitty job with low pay and then kick back a percentage to the manager so he doesn't call her parole officer.


Jobs are hard to come by for everyone, has she tried a temp agency? I have 2 cousins who are felons(non violent) but they're both iron workers now and were able to find a company that looked past their felony cause they were non violent or non theft related. some companies see Felony and chuck the application while others take a look at the kind of felony. Just have to be persistent

pics?....

She has a few options, but her life choices will make her future hard. I have 2 friends this happened to, its possible to change things around.

1) hire an attorney to get the felony expunged. its costly, but will pay off HUGE if done. I've seen these happen, even to a friend that had a drug conviction. Depending on the charges and how long ago, as long as shes been a "model citizen" and not gotten into any trouble its worth it. Especially if she can claim she can not get a job because of her area of expertise (i.e. college degree)

2) while in college I had a buddy who used to sell pot. thought he was invincible until he got pulled over one day coming back from a bar. not only was he over the legal limit and got a DUI, but also charged with "intent to sell" and the cops found an unregistered gun in the car... big no-no! The gun wasnt his, but hung out with the wrong crowd and someone left it, but its his car and his problem.

So... now his option is to work construction for the rest of his life or find companies that do not do background checks. he was going to school for graphic design and moved to NYC to work for an agency. they never asked and he never told them. Sure, its not the best company but he has to fly under the radar.

Good luck to your friend, but there are options out there. Her best bet would be to move to a city like Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Chicago, etc and work for a start up.

Good luck in this economy. My guess is felons are way at the bottom of the list even for fast food jobs.

This link seems like it has some good options:

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/jobs-...ed-felons.html

ADG

She should consider working for herself. That way she doesn't have to answer to anyone.

She most likely will be able to get the charge lowered to a misdemeanor or something, which is at the discretion of the court. Imagine for a second however, if she had a federal felony on her record, there would be no way to get that expunged unless she received a pardon from the president.

Felons are stigmatized for the rest of their life, even after they've paid their dues and done their time. If the crime is victimless (and a first or second offense) the system should lower felony charges to misdemeanors automatically. Sadly, this doesn't happen.

Thanks for the great advice. I've told her to "start small" (like a barrista at a coffee shop) and see if she can work herself into management. She's also got into eBay selling, and has made some money on it. She's pretty smart and resourceful.

I also told her about trying to get the felony off her record, which I suspect she'll do once she gets on her feet and has money to pay the lawyers.

I've seen a few posts on GFY about adderall. That is a dangerous drug. The side effects just creep up on you. She initially took it to get "focused," but then she was taking more and more because 1 pill just wasn't enough. Eventually, she became incredibly paranoid ("the black helicopters are coming to get me....."), and she burned a fucking empty house down (WTF??!). It is kinda amazing seeing a perfectly normal person just go down the toilet off of a drug that isn't hard to get (just going into the doctor's office and say, "I need to concentrate better...").

I keep all the pics to myself lol.

Have you seen all the companies advertising background checks, take 5 min top. Business is going to hire ones without felonies first. It really sucks for the ones that have them.

she needs to work in porn. here nobody cares about your past

Aside from trying to get her conviction expunged, she should think small and try to target jobs at small companies where they may not have a human resources dept or hiring guidelines set in stone.

At small operations there's a good chance she will probably end up interviewing with someone whose primary job is not all about hiring people and she may be able to use her sales skills to build a personal connection/bond with the interviewer(s) and end up with a job because they believe in her as an individual.

Let her know that pretty much no matter where she ends up getting hired, if the employer is aware of her conviction, she will be watched every step of way for months and/or possibly years to come. She better come to terms with this now and be ready to deal with this additional stress everyday she is on the job.

um its cool and great.....

you make it sound like she keyed some car or something... :1orglaugh
and then few posts later...

I wish her the best, but realistically she is fucked...
having felony arson charge is probably just as bad or even worse than having a murder charge on the record...

Depends on the state... but lots of them have departments such as "Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services". They classify addiction as a disease and can assist with job placement even with felony arrests. Also, I would assume she's either on parole or probation so where's the officer in this?

In Texas, felonies cannot be expunged until 5 years have past from the time after release from either TDJC or community supervision. So if you have 5 years felony probation.. you can expect at least 10 years before it can be expunged.. and this goes for deferred adjudication as well.. at least in Texas.


Any company doing an NCIC background check will get a hit for the felony arrest. They are more expensive than state-runs but of course depends on the company doing the checking.

Ho stroll & stripper pole :) Its not a bad life better than an office and better drugs :)

Any drug can be a dangerous drug in the hands of the wrong person, Lester. Someone I know personally is addicted to everything. Food, alcohol, weed, salvia, adderall (he liked to rail it), cocaine, oxycontin (he liked to rail that too), and then on to heroine and methadone. He had been locked up, he associated with people who robbed him of expensive possessions, he totaled his BMW 330ci while high, he ruined his family's successful business. Everything he consumed, he did to an extreme degree. Every decision he made, he fucked up. He was forced into Narcotics Anonymous and after each session he goes home and shoots methadone and rails oxycontin with the guys he met in the program. He's always in a major fog, so much you can't even have a conversation with him... kinda similar to trying to talk to your wife or girlfriend while she's talking in her sleep. But... when you ask him if he's high, says he's been clean for a long time.

With the exception of maybe black tar heroine, none of these things will hurt you in moderation. Of course, it all comes down to the individual...

I have had an adderall prescription for several years now and it enhances my ability to work efficiently. I've never experienced any negative or addictive effects.

I agree with ya.

Some good advice in this thread. Thanks!

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Aint that the truth :thumbsup