By: Louis Catania, Division of Infectious Disease and medically reviewed by Ann K. Avery, MD, Infectious Disease Physician at MetroHealth Medical Center
If you have a criminal record, you already know the job search feels different. You send out applications and hear nothing back. You have an interview that goes beautifully, then comes the background check, then silence.
Two steps can make job hunting less painful. First, know exactly what's on your background check before an employer does—here's how to check.
Second, and this is the one people miss: where you apply matters just as much as how you apply.
Some employers toss your application the second a record shows up. Others are required by law to look at you first. And some hire people with records on purpose, because they've found out it works. Same you, same paperwork, completely different outcome.
This post is about taking the best path that leads you to a job.
We'll cover how to find employers who give fair chances, which jobs you can get with a criminal record, and how to reach the openings before they're buried under three hundred applications.
Jobs you can get with a criminal record
The question most people ask first is what jobs you can get with a criminal record. The honest answer is… more than you think, and fewer than you'd like.
Not every job offers a level playing field. Some are wide open to you. Some take extra work to get. And a few are a quick “no”, no matter how good you are, which stings, but it's better to know now than after six months of training you can't use.
Aim where your record has nothing to do with the work
This is the single best thing you can do. An employer weighing your record is supposed to consider whether the offense connects to the job. So, pick jobs where the honest answer is "it doesn't."
A theft conviction is a much bigger deal for a job handling cash than at a job driving a forklift. A DUI matters for a delivery route but barely registers for a warehouse position. Same record, different weight, depending on what the work involves.
You're not hiding anything by doing this. You're just choosing the fights you can win.
Look for employers that practice "fair chance" hiring
Back in the day, job applications had a check box: Have you ever been convicted of a crime? Checked off, and your application often went in the trash. Nobody read the rest.
Many places have since banned that practice—no check box allowed. These are called "ban the box" laws. Hawaii started it in 1998, and now more than 37 states and over 150 cities and counties have some version of that law. In about 15 states, the rules also cover private companies, not just government jobs.
Here's what this actually means for you. The background check still happens. It just happens later: after an interview, or after they've offered you the job. By then, they've met you. You're a person to them, not a check box.
Find out if your state or city has this law in place. Search "ban the box" plus your state. If the question shows up on a first application where it shouldn't, that tells you something about the employer.
Look at government jobs on purpose. For federal jobs and federal contractors, the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act means they can't ask about a record until after a conditional offer, and a record is not an automatic "no" for most federal positions. State and city jobs often work the same way. These are some of the most open doors on the list, and most people never try them.
Finding the right path to take
Here's something most people don't know: the big online job boards are the least forgiving job-finding option.
When you apply online, you're one of hundreds. Software screens applications before a person ever sees one, and it screens for things you may not have: a gap-free work history, a specific title, and years of experience. You get filtered out before anyone reads a word about who you are.
The options below work better because they involve a real person evaluating the job applications. That's the whole difference.
Free programs
- American Job Centers (AJCs). Every state has them. AJCs help with applications, training programs, and local job leads.
- Reentry programs. Many cities have organizations that work only with people coming home. They already know which local employers hire, because they've placed people there before. This is the fastest shortcut on the list. There is also a national job marketplace, called Honest Jobs, specifically built for people with criminal records. Its system analyzes your background history against job requirements to show you which employers are the safest and most likely to hire you. The Second Chance Business Coalition is a group of more than 50 large companies that have also committed to this effort.
- Charities and nonprofits. Many nonprofits run free job training and placement programs. Some even have career service offices for walk-in help from a real person. Often, they are part of larger networks that provide employment or placement services.
- Union apprenticeships. The building trades train you and pay you while you learn. Several programs specifically help people coming home get in. Ask a local union hall or your job center about pre-apprenticeship programs. They train you and pay you while you learn.
Staffing and temp agencies
Temp agencies often get overlooked, but they shouldn't. They get paid when they place you, so they're motivated to find you something rather than screen you out. That's the opposite of how an online application works.
Temp work also gives employers a chance to observe your work ethic, skills, and personality. Show up, do the job, and you've given them something a background check can't argue with. Plenty of temp jobs turn into permanent ones; that's called temp-to-hire, and it's a real way in.
Be upfront with your recruiter about your record. They place people with records all the time, and they'll know which of their clients are open to it. Then ask three things: “Do you have clients who hire people with records?” “Which jobs can turn permanent?” And, to get things moving along: “How soon can you get me working?”
Sign up with more than one agency. And know that a legitimate agency never charges you to find you a job, though they often take a percentage of your paycheck after placing you for a certain amount of time.
People who already know you
Most jobs get filled through a network: that is, family, friends, and acquaintances. This is the reality for everyone—you included! A person vouching for you outweighs a background check more often than you'd think.
So, tell people you're looking. Family, friends, your church, your case manager, a former boss, someone from a program you went through, your parole or probation officer. Most of them won't have a job for you. But one of them knows somebody who does, and that's all it takes.
Be specific. "I'm looking for warehouse work, first or second shift" gets you further than "I'm looking for anything." Give them something they can repeat to someone else.
You don't have to explain your whole situation to ask, "I'm looking for work. Do you know anybody hiring?"
And if someone does pass your name along, follow through fast. They put their own name on the line for you.
Quality over quantity
Aiming for the right job is the difference between sending out fifty applications and hearing nothing, and sending out ten to places that will read them.
Ten that go somewhere beats fifty that go nowhere every single time. And fifty rejections wear a person down. You start to believe the problem is you. It isn't. You were just knocking on doors that were painted shut before you got there.
Let's get you prepared for some interviews!