Convicted felon looking for a job

Question

I am a software developer who was convicted of a drug distribution felony (Schedule 3, non-recreational pharmaceutical) in the federal system (meaning no possibility of expungement) a few years back. I took a plea deal and was sentenced to probation with no jail time. I'm currently employed as an enterprise Java developer, but I'm underpaid and not really growing as an engineer. This has prompted me to start looking for another position. My current employment was obtained before I had the criminal conviction on my record. Therefore, I didn't have to indicate my felony conviction on the job application and my background check came back clean.

At this point, I don't really have a firm grasp of how bad my chances of obtaining a new job might be with this felony, so I'm considering a variety of strategies to better my chances of finding new employment:

• Start targeting smaller companies who may have more flexible, or completely undefined policies concerning criminal backgrounds. After speaking with people who have worked for smaller companies, I get the impression that background checks sometimes aren't conducted at all in these organizations (who might not even have an HR department). If I target companies such as these, I may need to invest time into learning technologies which are more commonly used in startups, unlike Java. I may focus on Ruby on Rails or possible Android development (since I could leverage my Java background).

• Keep interviewing for enterprise Java positions until I eventually find a company that doesn't hold my felony conviction against me. Attitudes are slowly starting to change because of the general public's awareness of the overcriminalization problem we have in this country. Many companies are starting to consider the nature, seriousness, and length of time since the felony conviction before denying the candidates who have them. It probably helps that the EEOC has filed lawsuits recently against some companies that have a "no felons" policy. If I keep applying, perhaps I'll eventually run across a company with progressive policies like this.

• Take W2 contract positions with a recruiting company whose background screen I can pass. Due to the fact that my conviction is in the federal system, it typically doesn't come back on the lower quality background checks that don't screen federal databases. I explained my situation to a recruiter who told me that his company has no policy preventing felons from working as contractors for them, and that they typically do the background checks on behalf of their client companies. He explained that the background check they use is a low-level instant-check type screen. Background checks like these typically come back clean for me. The recruiter actually encouraged me to go this route so that he could get me placed. I'd hate to find out later when my contract is finished that this doesn't hold true for other recruiting companies, and sacrifice the stability of the permanent gig I currently have.

I'd love to be completely open about my situation. Unfortunately though, I don't feel like this will be a successful approach. After interviewing me and hearing my story, I'm confident that many hiring managers would leave with a favorable opinion of me. Unfortunately, I feel that more likely than not I will lose out due to "company policy." Would anyone out there be able to provide me with direction on how I should handle this situation?

Answer 1

One thought is perhaps doing some voluntary work for a drug charity: helping those recovering, warning children of the dangers etc. (I say this because I know someone who got convicted of a similar offense who does just this.) I think on a resume and at interview that would be a good thing to see. It shows contrition/regret and wanting to pay society back for any damage it did. It could also lead smoothly into mentioning the subject. For example, perhaps:

I see from your resume that you volunteer at [Charity]. Can you tell me about that?

Yes, happily. In fact I am glad you asked because it brings me on to a subject that I need to mention. I began volunteering there because there was a period in my life that I deeply regret and left me with a felony conviction and I want to help others from making the same mistakes I did...

And that's not to mention the fact that your experience would be very valuable to the charity and a lot of children and drug users would respect you because you know what you are talking about and not just an academic/authority figure lecturing them.

It could be very good for your self-esteem too.

Answer 2

According to the NELP, there are about 100 counties and cities (as well as 17 states that are at least in support) across the US that have "banned the box," meaning that there is no box on a job application that asks if you have been convicted for a felony.

The obvious advantage that you get from an application like that is that you don't have to immediately reveal your conviction history. That's not to say that your conviction history won't eventually come up in the eventual background check, but it does allow the employer to get a feel for how badly they want to hire you for your merits and qualifications before they find out about your felony. After all, first impressions are huge when applying for jobs.

Your other option is to (eventually) be self-employed. You wrote that you're an experienced enterprise Java dev, which likely means that you know many programming and OOP fundamentals, and you could pick up on many other languages rather quickly. Using this, you could start to write your own applications and/or web sites in your time off from your day job, and eventually transition to full-time self-employment as you begin to get your feet under you. If you're successful and driven enough, you might be able to form your own company out of it one day.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

My opinion is that focusing on companies that don't deal with a lot of PII may be your best bet. Specifically ones that don't collect SSN's, bank account info, etc.

What I've seen is that companies which deal with info that can easily be used to impersonate others tend to be far less lenient when red marks show up from a background check. However ones that don't deal with that information are less constricted on the backgrounds of the people performing the work. Mainly due to contracts they have with their clients and/or state/federal laws they need to comply with.

For example, I wouldn't bother applying to work in a hospital or bank's IT department. However, applying to a company like nVidia might just work out.

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note: I'm not affiliated with nVidia - it was just the first company name I could think of that likely doesn't deal with PII.

Answer 4

I think contracting could be a way forward for you.

I've had contracts where they never bothered to check anything.

In the UK a contractor owns his own company which then enters contracts with the "employer" company, and this allows a certain amount of freedom, for example your personal details never have to be entered in the big company's system. The US may be similar.

Furthermore, if you go through a recruitment agency, they usually make exorbitant amounts of money off of you, either from placement bonuses or by just taking a cut from your daily rate (25% is not uncommon!) Therefore they treat things like background checks and reference checks as a formality and it is in their best interest to get through them as quickly as possible.

Answer 5

Conspiracy to distribute a schedule 3 is breaking the law but it is not up there with dealing heroin. Plead out with no jail time would have a minimal impact on many people. But it went down as a felony.

A felony is going to hit harder in some professions. For example law, medicine, and IT. Reason for IT sensitivity is that you have assess to data. And you could wreak havoc.

If they ask you need to tell them. Even if they don't ask maybe you should tell them. A friend of mine had a DUI and the new employer did not ask but when they tried to put her on the insurance policy the DUI came up and she was dismissed.

Look for stuff that stays away from enterprise data as that is going to be very protected.

Not really Java but games. But working in games is brutal. Look for stand alone apps.

Not something to put on the resume but during the interview process you might ask about hiring polices and background checks under the guise of how long does it take. Requiters talk to each other and you don't want to get flagged as a felon. Give yourself a chance to get out without showing your hand. I don't really know what the right answer is here. Just trying to give you some ideas.

Answer 6

I'm currently employed as an enterprise Java developer, but I'm underpaid and not really growing as an engineer.

Can you do self-learning on your free time? From there, you can show more of your knowledge, your employer can give more responsibilities, and eventually a raise.

Maybe you can strategize eventually starting your own small business, i.e see Small Business Administration. I don't believe they do background checks.

And it doesn't have to be in IT. See what else you are good at.

This was a shot in the dark. Best wishes!