I have been having trouble finding a job because of a felony on my record. The felony is for possession of a controlled substance. Long story short because I have already expressed the specifics of my felony on here before, I do not use nor have I ever used drugs. Helping out a friend in need resulted in me being used by him and getting caught, having my car searched and paraphernalia being found. Unaware of this I was charged because Texas says its in my car so its my possession. Anyway back to my main point. I am in the oil and gas industry as a drafter and had been since 2009. I love what I do. I was laid off in August 2015 and times have been slow. No one is really hiring. Things are starting to barely pick up and now I am seeing some activity. I have only been contacted a hand full of times because I am limited to what I can apply to know because of the felony. It really cuts deep when searching all day I find a job that I am perfect for and at the end of the ad it says felons need not apply, or must pass background check. I have come to live with the fact that this is my life now and can not change the past. That being said I wish someone would just give me a chance. I have alot to offer, on top of that I have a family and feel like a failure everyday that I watch my wife leave to work and Im at home. I try to do everything at home from taking care of the kids, cooking, cleaning, chores, errands, shopping but still feel like its not enough. I love my wife and can not take seeing her work so hard. We are living less than paycheck to paycheck, having to make decisions on what gets paid first. We cant even find a place to stay because finding a place to live that accepts me and doesnt make me fear for my families lives is hard so we have to live with relatives right now. I dont want my kids to grow up like I did in bad neighborhoods. With getting calls on the drafting not working I had decided that what I did for money was no longer my choice. I needed to work and make an honest living for my family so I started applying to what ever I could find. I have been applying to general labor, warehouse, construction, random office jobs, food services, retail, etc. Two weeks ago I interviewed at a veterinary office cleaning up after animals and working the front desk. I went in to the group interview of 5 people including me and felt like only myself and one other person had strong chances of getting the position. I was truthful about my felony on the application and after the interview asked to speak with the lady doing the interview by myself. I told her that I wanted to be straight forward about the felony and told her the specifics and that I would take screening asked of me at a moments notice anytime. She than told not to worry cause she had a past herself and I was safe, that she really liked my personality and answers and that the owner never did background checks there anyway. I left feeling good about my chances. I was sent an email containing homework later that week about researching the site and answering a few questions. I told my wife things were looking good cause they were still talking to me. After sending my answers I received an email saying the following week everyone would be contacted to set a day when individually we would come in for a 1 hour shadowing time. At the conclusion if we were still interested in the job we just had to wait for their decision unless we decided that it really wasnt for us and dropped out ourselves. I really felt good. I mean the pay was going to be going from my usual $60,000/year to probably just $25,000 max but something was better than nothing and I needed money for bills. I was still gonna give this job my 150%. I never got that call about shadowing and after the week started to come closer to an end I sent a message just inquiring if the shadowing was still gonna take place that week. I never got a response. My wife told me to wait cause it was only Wednesday and I still had two days. After Friday at noon came without an answer I sent another asking if the position was still open or if it had been filled but never to day have got an answer. That was Friday last week 2/17/17. I guess even though I was praised by her at after the interview was just a way of making me just leave. I just would like to know if I was passed on so I can move on. Not looking to make a scene or hold a grudge. Just want a purpose again. I just want to feel productive once more. I have encountered this now a few times that I am told my experience is great and my personality will fit perfect and looking forward to work with me and as soon as that background check comes out its we dont know you. Im not a bad person. So as to my question if its a job in drafting where I know a background check will be done I am not going to lie. I will be honest. As to the other jobs that I am applying to so I can just start working again. If most dont do background checks should I even say anything or just be quiet? I mean if they check than I just dont get the job which is not different then them passing on me for being honest. On the other hand if they dont check than its just my secret and I can prove that I can do a great job. Let them get to know me and not the background. Any thoughts from the community. Please any opinions will be greatly accepted. I just need a census of what everyone else thinks. Thank you
I understand your dilemma fully. I am a woman felon however, was I feel causes more difficult then being a male with a felony. I have been honest upfront from the beginning of the hiring process with every employer and I have found that to be the best way do to the fact that they respect the honesty and if you were not to tell them and then find out after asking I think all credibility with your reputation and them would be out the door. There's plenty of jobs available for felons every state has websites that probably will started by felons if not they are great resources to find opportunities for work. Men seem to have better luck at that I feel because they are generally typically stereotyped as laborers and there's many many many jobs I found that are available to them and not myself due to the fact that I am a woman. Good luck with your job search be honest upfront that goes a lot further than lying and getting caught it shows integrity
Hi Grogrey have you thought about Delivery? You can be a contractor with American Statesman News paper, it is hard work and EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. After you get the route down it can cut your time in half. The company doesn't do background checks and you can make pretty decent $$ with a few hours a night. If you really wanna work I would suggest looking into that. Until something comes along better. The company is in Cedar Park Tx in Austin, if you're interested let me know. Good luck and hold your head up!!
Hi Gregory, I'm so sorry to hear you've had these experiences. First off, let me just say that I think it's despicable when employers ghost on you like that. I totally agree that they should at least have the decency to reject you outright! But unfortunately I'm sure sometimes you get lost in the shuffle.
On the other hand, when my husband was looking for work it was about six weeks from the time he interviewed to when he got the job offer. He had completely given up hope. So even thought that might not be the case here, it's not impossible to have the silence turn into something good.
I commend you on your honesty going into interviews. Honestly you sound like a fantastic candidate and you really have learned from your history. I think perhaps you should look up companies more likely to hire felons? I like this site for ex-offenders, and they offer a great list of felon-friendly companies: https://exoffenders.net/employment-jobs-for-felons/
I think considering you're smart, you don't seem to be a troublemaker, you've learned from your history, and you're personable, I think you should go into your next interview armed with the great reasons they should hire you, an ex-offender. There's a great article from the Huffington Post about great bottom-line reasons to hire ex-offenders and I definitely think you should check it out: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-green/five-bottom-line-reasons-_b_8021476.html
Finally, unfortunately what you've experienced is common for everyone, not even those with a background! I'm afraid we've all had a great interview turn into nothing. Keep going, you're not alone and we're all pulling for you! Please let me know if you have any questions, I want to help!
I'm in the same boat in Pennsylvania.