Jobs for convicted felons

Where is there a school that will train convicted felons in georgia or any location across the united states.it's against the law to discriminate against convicted felons so why is there not one school that would accept us

Hello. First off I was convicted of both state and federal counterfeit and fraud charges at the age of 19. I served two years in federal camp and at this time am almost complete with my supervised release. I figured when I was done with prison that I could re-enter society and start fresh. Unfortunatley approaching potential employers with the thought that my honesty would pay off turned out to be horrible. When telling the truth didn't work and having a minimum wage job wasn't going to cut it...I tried it. That's right I lied on my applications and just put school/personal time on the two year gap in my job resume. I didn't want to do this because I really did want to do things correctly; however, I chose what was best for my situation. From my experience, this is how it works. When I said I had never been convicted of a felony...it worked. Once, twice, and three times without fail. Here's why. First of all some employers state that they will run a background check on you and they may only use the credit reporting agencies which are able to provide some type of shallow report. Hence NEVER report your felony to your employer if you don't plan on claiming it for the rest of your life. Secondly, since I have federal and state records I've noticed something. IF your employer does run a background check they're only running THAT STATE background check. I was convicted in SC and GA but have passed state background checks in TX and LA (military spouse). I don't think my federal record has ever come up. Also, my probation officer here has mentioned another female who abused this fact: that is if you're married after your offense, the name will through off the background checks even w/ ssn. Unless you're applying for a federal agency job or a high tech contractor, they are not going to pay the amount of money needed to run EXTENSIVE background checks. If you move out of your conviction state you should be in the clear according to my experiences. (This is true in my case even using my maiden name). Even my federal probation officer couldn't understand how I obtained a management job at a retail store. I put no convictions and was hired. After being hired I was in CHARGE of recruiting and the computer stated for each applicant their results for background. I checked mine and it said NEG THEFT INQUIRY/NO CRIMINAL HISTORY.
Bottom line...you HAVE to have a job when you get out of jail...you should get a job..if you don't you could go BACK. What do you do? Some of us (felons) want to change and some don't..but if you do...you aren't left with many options. I took matters into my own hands which provided me with a job and excellent income. I felt a little guilty for telling a fib...but I think I would have felt far worse going BACK to federal prison. Life isn't over...
Ready to get involved? Rep. Danny Davis (D) Illinois is currently trying to introduce the 2007 Second Chance Act (or something like that) and I think it has passed the first state by the senate and now I THINK the president must approve it. (Really sketchy on the details) Research it and email him your thoughts of support.
Being someone who messed up I think it's important to convey to the general public that everyone makes mistakes...some a lot bigger than others. Some learn-some do not. But the bottom line is that the entire purpose of the penal system is to rehabilitate convicts (most institutions) for making the wrong choices, right? So we send them off to prison and let them know when they are ready to re-enter society that since they made the wrong choices...we are no longer going to allow you to make good choices I:e: work, school and housing in some states (TX APT ASSCN will not rent to convicted felons...I lived there though.) Well..we will tell you you have to do the right thing but when you try we're going to tell you no because you've made bad choices in the past. Society cann't expect people to become productive tax paying citizens after prison if they shut down all avenues to legitimacy. Then what are we felons left with? People have to eat. You should have never done it in the first place then...my father's voice will forever echo in my mind. God I hate that. (Love you Daddy )

because the people thats running these trucking schools are either racist or they are just plain ol picky and don't understand that people need these jobs to support their family and themselves and they think a person with a felony is the same old person and they won't change their life and do the right thing,they judge us from the past not by what we are now and their the same ones that sit and watch the news and wonder why it's so many people unemployed and don't realize their the reason i mean come on it's hard for men to make a living in the united states or anywhere.

I am a college student. I have a felony (which I did not advise admissions). I would suggest not advising admissions when you enroll - unless you have a federal drug charge that will prevent you from getting federal student aid.

Ok, I dont really know how to go about putting this gently, I dont know your situation, but did you not put yourself in it? I agree completely that everybody should have a fair shot in life, but weren't you given that fair shot untill you went out and commited a crime? And as for saying its illegal to discriminate against felons, it is not at all illegal to discriminate against felons. It is one of the few probing questions you will find on many job applications and school applications that is in no violation of equal opportunity. I am sorry that you are in this situation, and there are many programs ou there to help out former convicts, I wish the best to you and hope that this has made you better in the long run but I do have to reiderate that while I am sorry, you did do this to yourself, did you not?

What? I have a master's degree in human resources and employment law, and this is a first. What makes you believe that it is illegal to discriminate against someone with a felony conviction? You must have had a drug-related crime, because this is the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard!

As a convicted felon, i must say that these past post disturb me. To help you better understand why, allow me to give you the true background that doesn't show up on my background checks. I was convicted in 2004 of aggrevated assault. I called my baby momma a b!tch while taking her to work one day and she, in turn, attacked me in my car. She called the police on her cellphone and told them that i was beating her. i reached over to grab the phone to tell my side of the story and she grabbed the wheel of the car, causing us to veer off the road and into a tree. When i finally got to court after serving almost a full year without bond, she freely admitted to the DA on the stand that i never hit her. Due to the lack of any marks or bruising the day of my arrest, she had no choice. The 911 tape my attorney submitted as evidence on my behalf showed no signs of anger or hightened apprehention on either side. There is even a part where she laughed when making a mistake of stating the wrong location. Judge bachelor of the gwinnett county superior court found me guilty, sentenced me to 10 years to serve 2, and stated and i hope you never hit a woman again. Now i am a convicted felon.
(Since my conviction, my baby momma has been arrested twice for assault on two seperate men. Both times the charges where dropped.)
There are hundreds of thousands of convicted felons who have similar stories. Society has molded us to look no further than the phrase 'convicted felon', and to judge a persons integrity and wothiness on this phrase alone. Macenroe 2007 posed the question: didn't you put yourself in that position? The answer in most cases is yes, but my answer is no. So the next time you run across a convicted felon, simply ask them what happened. You'll find more often than not, evidence of a corrupt system taking advantage of disadvantaged people than you would a horrible, dishonest creep who chose to commit a crime. ignorance is bliss

The system as a whole sucks a**! Granted I did what I did to get myself in this situation, but what about me having served my time and paying me dues to society? Not only does the system see fit to take away a part of my life, but now there's a struggle for me to be and/or remain employed. That's how the cycle is continued on one front.
Even more so disturbing...what about all of the younger people who are still only children that are being marked with this ugly label so early in their life? 17 and 18 year old kids having to deal with this the rest of their life!
With that said, I am looking for employment myself. I face homelessness and no way to pay my court ordered fine. I have hella bills like everyone else and just can't survive off of $7.50 an hour! We need a fair break or we need to take charge!!!

I truely struggle for existance in a society which has turned its back on me. Very true that I originally caused my initial problem, but let talk of a judicial system which makes susequent convictions of once convicted felons so much easier, for win hungry prosecuters and DA's. I am a four time looser and I speak on authority from an inside out view. The prison systems have become big business for most states (at the tax-payers expence) and numbers become the pre-requiset to rehabilitation. I have watched as the fiscal budget yr approaches its end how the prison populations increase and there are far less paroles granted. Then as soon as the monies are allocated (based on head counts) the populations go down drastically. This trend should be an alert to concerned tax-payers, but of course these statistics are buried from public disclosure. Rehabilitation is discouraged as this would more than likely cause a significant drop in recidivism and the needed head count to support and justify continued raises in funding. Once on this perpetual merry-go-round it becomes virtually impossible to grab the brass ring. Our prisons are overcrowded, to the bursting, with the very young (gang members) and the very old (ill-of-health, crippled, and feeble). The crime rate continues to rise. I see no correlation between incarceration and harsher sentencing laws and any type of deterent to crime. Incarceration has historically proven that it is not a deterent, on the other hand, during the 60's, rehabilitation was still practiced and was producing positive results. Why was this abandoned? Why have programs associated with assisting the convicted felon been terminated ?
Today I work when and where I can, but of course I am limited to the menial, peon type professions, which I accept as my lot in life and of my own doing. But I do not accept what the public in general is allowing our government to perpitrate and the persicution of those who could otherwise be contributing, god fearing, law abidding citizens. Who really is the ultimate looser here ? Sincerely,
Robert L.

Perhaps the reason so many of you are so quick to pass judgement on felons is because you have no idea what its like to spend the rest of your life being punished for smoking pot when you were 18. However i'm willing to bet that a lot of you did smoke pot. Ever opened a piece of mail that didn't belong to you? Poof you should be a felon too. I hope that you feel very proud that you support thoughts that this government should give my innocent children a lesser chance in life because mom smoked pot when she was a kid like so many other people including our beloved police officers, lawyers,judges, prosecuters and naysayers.Open your eyes. our society has condemned so many bright young men and women to a lifetime of punishment after public humiliation,prison time and loss of wages. I'm not sure if the 8 hour long class for alcohol abuse does anything for pot smokers. What about having to sit and explain your child hood that was fine to some nosy counselor who insist that there has to be a reason you did it. it cant just be that you wanted to try some pot and kinda liked it. Seems a little absurd. maybe you should consider how you'd feel if your child/sibling got into a little trouble when they were young.Would you feel that it would be fair if they couldn't find a job and were refused almost every housing opportunity they could find because they made a human mistake once. If you do think its fine and you would turn your back then your probably going straight to the pits of.......! -Summer

I hope you all are aware that throughout history, even America's humble beginings, were the end result of oppressed people who revolted. Enough said!
Robert L.

I can only hope that you all are aware that throughout history, even America's humble beginings, were the result of an oppressed peoples revolt. Man can only tolerate so much before he will instinctually fight for survival.The ranks of ex-felons are increasing daily and you John-Q-Citizen, by denying us basic rights, are providing us with a focal point you can not even begin to understand. Think on that John-Q. and be forwarned!!! Robert L.

If I was charged with a felony does that me I have been convicted?

Its a very bad testimony if citizens can't forgive a person for a mistake made and paid for. If someone does their time...serves probation...that should be the end of it. I all for letting non-violent offenders back into society. It should be forgotten about after a certain time period. If not...then sentence them to more time in jail...its the only humane thing to do.

Now, if they have paid their debt to society...why do we continue to punish them? Why do we denie opportunity to people who have rehabilitated themselves?

The prison system has become a revolving door...and this is the reason why. Its vbecome a business that lives and feeds...off the misery of others. Why should someone clean up their act and try to do the right thing...when they are tattooed with the label of Felon.

Its not right...and its against human rights, justice and fairness. If you are honest with yourselves...you will realize that each of us...has committed a crime in our past...some of us even got caught.

Something has to be done about this. The prison system has become a BIG BUSINESS...to the point where Real Estate Syndications are formed that build prisons and people...buy their stock!!!

The paradox is...by branding people and denieing them opportunities...we feed the criminal justice system...and eventually, we become victims ourselves. People have to eat...and if they can't find gainful employment...they will commit crime to put food on the table...and a roof over their heads. Its just plain math.

I am not a felon...but I can tell you this. Our crime problem is not going away soon...unless we have some reform and hope. Branding someone a felon forever...take away hope and only adds fuel to the fire of a blazing problem in America.

This is a travesty of justice. People who have done their time...should be given another chance. If not...then the humane thing to do is sentence them to more time in jail. Otherwise, you create a revolving door system that only enriches those who make TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS every year from the criminal justice system.

I'm a felon also. Not sure about the term ex-felon, maybe ex-convict or ex-inmate, but still a convicted felon. My felonies stem from over 10 years ago but I'm turned down for most every job I try to get once (and if) they run a criminal background check. I've got 3 felonies involving burglary and grand theft. I was charged with 4 prior but all dropped and reduced to a misdemeanor for lack of evidence and plea. Don't think those show up though and also a different state. But I live in Virginia and they allow criminal checks past 7 years and pretty much any charges you've ever had. I hear some people say lie on your application and I believe it depends on the job. For example, I was a truck driver for a few companies and I know they will check it, so lying will only make you look bad. The more they stress criminal check the more they probably mean it, and you can take an educated guess that if you are trying to work at a bank or dealing with company funds, they are going to check. I'm pretty sure that being honest for a job I just recently tried to get, turned me down because I admitted it, and looking back on it, I would have at least had a damn chance if I didn't tell them. Trucking companies don't care much about having felonies as long as they aren't recent. It's one avenue that most felons could do. Swift Trans will train anyone but be honest, they will check. Can't have numerous recent reckless or speeding tickets either. One post mentioned sales. That's not a bad occupation, and I've done it before. Most don't even run background checks or even check previous employers. Which leads me to my 2nd to last idea for others. Many of us have trouble getting decent jobs, fact, and because of this we tend to change jobs because under paid or completely unhappy. I make up a resume, depending on certain categories of jobs I'm tying to get. Like one for sales, one for warehousing, dispatching, technician, etc. Each sounding good for that job and employer. Some info is true but I alter to make sound better. One trick that I have actually used is, for whatever reason or time-frame, I use my own cell phone number as one of the jobs. Best for last job because you can make up your own company sounding answering voice mail and either you call back to verify that work history or have someone else read the dates and title and answer basic questions. A good thing is that because of privacy laws you don't have to reveal much or anything past dates of employment, although some co's will press knowing that. End call and you just verified work history for years with whatever job title you think you can pass for. Hint: don't get far fetched, you may have to walk into that expects you to pass that off. My last thought.. (drum roll) is you can't just walk on into Canada and start over. I keep reading that bs on this site. Hot Tip: if you walk into Canada and don't already have permission from Canada from the office in DC, because of your felonies, you can be re-charged with your American felonies and put into jail in Canada and do more time. AND if you do get permission from Canada and pay the few hundred bucks for permission and move there, you are still a damn felon. Your record doesn't just disappear. Most, if not all saying that have never tried it. Good luck to all out there and don't let this world decide your happiness.

I'm not quite sure, but I can ask my ex-husband and find out. He is a felon also.

I just recently was turned down for two lousy gas station jobs Sheetz and Holiday for being a felon...Once you are a felon your doing life!! We need to take a stand and start striking establishments that won't hire felons. If were not good enough to hire then they are certainly not good enough to take our money which they most certainly do not provide! God I'm so fu$%^^ angry.

well I for one... have been charged with many felony's. im sorry but.. I have to explain... I am going threw a really bad divorce. and my ex made up some bs story that I slept with a 16 year old. I have three kids... I have never and will never touch a child. I am being charged with drug related charges also. I have never in my life touched drugs.. I smoke cigs... I have never done any kind of illegal drugs in my life.
thing is my ex wants custody of my kids so he made this stuff up.
it has been ... a year since I was charged and I am still going to court with night mares that I might go to prison... I was told I could get 10 years... I have never ever been in trouble with the law in my whole entire life. IM SCARED TO FREAKING DEATH.
but I got a great job... I thought I had a good job. I was pulled in the office one day and said I was fired. they made up some bs story... that I had carple tunnel. I have a feeling they fired me cause they found out of my court dates. it is a small town.
but yeah... IM INNOCENT. as many people say.. but I cant prove it...

if I loose my kids I dont know what I will end up doing... I could care less about a job .. which I am holding off on now that I got fired... but when I get done with this ... im going to get one and show my dead beat ex that I am a person.

I hope I can still get a job after all of this.

I did my crime and served my time! Now I'm free and the world wants me and others like me to fit into the norm but all of you so-called good people won't let us. From my view of the so-called good people of the world you are only 1 drink away from going to jail or prison from driving drunk and don't tell me you havn't gotten into car car after having acouple of drinks!!! Also all of you good men that are married or with someone all you are is 5 mins. from coming home early and catching your mate with someone else!!! Then your in prison for doing your thing on them!!! Good luck with your great I don't do anything wrong LIFE.

I agree with you nothelm. Though I've never been incarcerated , I have friends and co-workers that have. Usually if you walk the straight and narrow and go into a trade like auto mech., aviation mech., construction,heating nad air cond. auto body work. You can get a break and work your way back up. However your right. Just because someone makes one mistake. It shouldn't cost them the rest of their lives. Let him here who is without sin...
Keep working at it and I'm sure you'll get those breaks. If God be for you. Who can be against you ?

Does anyone know if there is a good site that has resources to help felons with employment, housing, voting, etc...? If not, I am thinking about building one. I guess I am a success story: convicted of 3 felonies and several misdemeanors in 1994 - today I have a good position with a Fortune 50 company. I wish that I could say that the road was easy, but it wasn't; nor did my 'recovery' happen quickly. But felons should not lose hope - contrary to popular belief, there are very good companies, Fortune 500, who will hire convicted felons. I still have the stigma of ‘convicted felon’ and in Texas I always will, but frankly, I don’t give a damn!

Keys that helped me:
1) I accepted that I screwed up, took responsibility and stopped blaming the system. Two years after my conviction, I was still bitter over getting screwed by the system. Not coincidentally, my life was still no better than it was before I got convicted. I didn't turn my life around until I let go of the bitterness and decided to FOCUS on improving my situation.
2) Work hard. I got a temp job at a dirty, blue collar job, worked hard and finally got hired full time. I got hired because I was a great employee; I was always on time, I was a hard worker, and I was respectful of the other employees. The company I worked for did NOT hire felons, but they hired me anyway knowing full well of my past. We don't hire felons is not always the final answer.
3) I finally went back to school and got my degree. OK, so college is not for everyone; but if possible, earn certifications in your chosen field. Make yourself so valuable that your employer will have to weigh your criminal past (that gets older and less relevant every day) against the SKILLS that you bring to the company - a smart business person will make the right decision.

I hope this helps – don’t give up – you are a citizen of the USA. You have every right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as anyone – but you might have to work a little harder at it.