Please forgive my curiosity, but how do interactions with employers usually go? I’m surprised that you seem not to have had any major issues with this.
When I was a felon, part of my success was due to good targeting. Now that I'm a misdemeanor(er?), I'm a much more free since a misdemeanor is a lot less marketable. At the time, I had the advantage of a solid work history in comparison to that of my peers.
During my job search, I'd do my best to get the decision-maker on a call. This could be a co-founder or eng manager or an outsourced recruiter. If there was good rapport on the screener, and I felt like I could be vulnerable to them, I'd mention it like "hey by the way, I don't want to waste your time with this... I won't be able to pass a background check."
At that point they'd often be surprised and I'd just be honest with them with what happened. I only remember one time it didn't work out.
I never would bother with sending a resume to HR or an internal recruiter. They see 100s of resumes and if I were to put "hey I'm a felon so don't waste your time unless you're chill" on it, I'd get put into the pile I wouldn't want to be in.
Having an opportunity to build a relationship prior to full-disclosure always proved to go astonishingly well.
My crimes didn't change anyone's immediate future or harm any children; it was white-collar. I'm also fairly articulate. I imagine it would have been more difficult if the nature of my offenses were different, or if I wasn't as (seemingly) intelligible.
This is an extreme understatement. I can practically hear your voice coming through in your writing. When you're done with the rat race you should seriously consider writing, if you enjoy it.
> During my job search, I'd do my best to get the decision-maker on a call. This could be a co-founder or eng manager or an outsourced recruiter. If there was good rapport on the screener, and I felt like I could be vulnerable to them, I'd mention it like "hey by the way, I don't want to waste your time with this... I won't be able to pass a background check."
> ...
> I never would bother with sending a resume to HR or an internal recruiter. They see 100s of resumes and if I were to put "hey I'm a felon so don't waste your time unless you're chill" on it, I'd get put into the pile I wouldn't want to be in.
I'd like to ask how you do this - is it just through friends and networking? I'm not a felon, but I left the workforce for 2 years for no particular reason (I was a bit burnt out, and I had a lot of money in the bank), and when I started looking again, I found it impossible to get past HR. I look like a felon pretty much, and I've come to the conclusion that a guy who doesn't work for 2-3 years whose references are all good looks like he's hiding something. I know that I have better luck with technical people (HR people evaluate what they can evaluate - which is a gap in my employment, not my tech chops.)
How are you getting inside, where people treat you like a person instead of a checklist?
No friends or networking, just doing my own diligence on where I was applying. I would find whoever I could on LinkedIn and discern their email and message them directly, asking for a quick call. Targeting younger and smaller companies helps as they’re often more forgiving to people who can provide value to support their mission.
I’d be happy to provide some specific insight offline. Feel free to reach out via email :) it’s in my profile.
If you're a tech worker, HN Who's Hiring threads often can put you in touch with technical people, particularly at small companies that aren't big enough for a dedicated HR person.
Another strategy to try if you're interested in startups: watch startup funding press releases. After funds are raised, the company is probably going to be hiring. When you see a company that does something cool that your skillset may be suited to, send cold emails to 1-2 people in the company: congratulating them, asking them a question about their business that demonstrate's you're really interested in them specifically, and mention that you may be interested in working there.
I've never gotten a job from this strategy (got hired through a Who's Hiring post), but have ended up having some really interesting conversations and now have a couple companies I consider 'friends' and have enjoyed following their successes.
Hey buddy, long time no talk. I'm glad to hear you're still out there doing well. I still check you out online every once in a while. I'm going to email you tomorrow in case you miss this.
