Question: Dear Cher,
How do you overcome discrimination when the prospective employer asks my least favorite question, “Have you ever been convicted of a felony?”.
Sincerely, R.R.
Answer: Dear R.R.,
That’s a good question and a tough one. It sounds as though you may not have been satisfied with your responses to the “f” word in the past. Hopefully, once you have practiced telling the story the best way you can, it will lessen any anxiety you feel. Let me try and put this in perspective. We all have a thing or two in our past we’d rather not have to explain. Sometimes it’s about a decision we made. Sometimes it’s about a bad choice ending up in a felony conviction.
There are three topics I’ll cover in my response: company obligations, applicant obligation and good strategies.
Company Obligation
The obligation of a hiring company is “to pick the best candidate for each position.” Screening practices must be tied to demonstrable risk and business necessity. If, for instance, you are applying for an accounting position and you have an embezzlement conviction in your past, not hiring you would be seen as a logical choice. In that case, hiring you could be seen as taking a demonstrable risk, and a poor choice by stockholders and owners.
However, recruiters who indiscriminately use criminal checks to cut applicant job eligibility are increasing the need for greater regulation, while opening up their companies to costly legal challenges.
Huge growth in the background checking business in the last ten years has resulted in near universal adoption of criminal background checks for U.S. job candidates. Due to a similar increase in complaints regarding employer screening practices, however, employers are currently experiencing greater EEOC scrutiny of criminal record screening practices. As a result, a growing number of states now prohibit or limit pre-employment arrest inquiries. Even those states, however, do allow a company to check a person’s criminal record after they have been offered, or even begun, employment.
Your obligation
Your main obligation is to be honest, timely and sincere in your interactions with a potential employer.
In most cases, an employer will request criminal history on the application prior to interviews. This means the best course of action regarding any criminal record is to be honest with an employer during the prescreen or interview process. Be prepared to sell the fact that any criminal behavior on your part is in the past, what was learned from it, and how it is irrelevant to the job being pursued.
Good strategies
- Make a resolution to yourself to tell the truth no matter how difficult it is. Anything else leaves you always vulnerable to being terminated down the road.
- Spend some time now making a list of what you have done, and intend to do, to ensure a successful future for yourself.
- Have a “game plan” ready for an interview. How will you react when the dreaded subject comes up? Put together a response and practice it out loud until you are totally comfortable. Ask a friend or relative to listen to the “story” and give you honest feedback.
- Acknowledge your responsibility for whatever actions resulted in your arrest. Do not blame anyone else.
- Ask for references from people who know you and will attest to your good performance on a previous job, your full dedication to a successful career, or the personal work you have done to recognize what contributed to your having a criminal record, and your resolve to avoid that behavior or situation in the future.
- Use any contacts you may have at the Employment Development Department or the parole office to ask if they are aware of companies who have been known to hire people in your situation. If so, approach those companies first.
- Ask everyone you know if they know someone at the company you would like to join. If so, ask if they can set up a chance for you to meet that person. If you are able to speak with the person, ask about the culture and expectations of the company. Be honest about your history and then ask if they would be willing to send your resume or application through the company’s employee referral plan. If not, nothing lost; if so, you’ll have gained a great advantage.
- Carefully determine what you want to project about yourself at an interview. Conservative clothing, a recent haircut, and good grooming are crucial. Make sure your choices reflect your high level of respect for the employer and yourself.
In general, remember, any phone screen or interview is a chance to hone your interview skills. Develop a response to criminal history questions that is honest, candid and reassuring. Then, be ready for whatever reaction you get.
Possible interview scenarios
Here are a couple possible interview scenarios: If the interviewer immediately starts to escort you out the door, or wind up the phone call, as soon as you bring up your criminal history, take the upper road. Don’t get angry no matter how you feel. Take a deep breath and, as you are getting up, tell the person you can understand there might be some concern. Then say a few words about why you would really like to work in that company. Thank the person for the interview, tell him he’s welcome to check your record to learn the whole story if necessary. Then shake hands, if it’s not a phone call, tell the person you’d appreciate some more time at some point to discuss any reservations. Don’t forget to send a “thank you” note or email message. Even if your interviewer was rude or abrupt, your sincere thank you will tell him/her you may not such a big risk after all. It will keep the door open to spending more time with you.
However, if you get an indication your revelation didn’t end the conversation, tell the interviewer how hopeful you are that you will still be considered for the position. Talk about what you have been doing to show the world you would never consider that type of behavior again, mention your willingness to share the circumstances of the conviction, and offer to give references from people who know you well and trust you totally. Then, steer the conversation back to the position you desire and talk about your qualifications. Ask a question about something technically related to the job, or tell a story about how successful you have been doing this job in the past.
In either scenario, the worst that can happen is that you don’t get the job. If you don’t, there could be many reasons, not just your record. If you feel the interviewer was biased because of your background, write yourself a summary of the meeting and why you thought you weren’t hired. Put the note in a safe place and start again. Don’t say anything negative about your experience at that company. Sometimes you never know who might reflect on your conversation and decide to see you again. If, after you are employed somewhere else, you continue to believe there was bias against you solely because of your conviction, you can talk with an EEOC representative to see if they agree your concerns might be valid. Meanwhile, chalk up the experience as a good chance to practice your interviewing skills.
Overall , your greatest responsibility in getting hired with a felony conviction is to tell the truth, no matter how difficult it is. If you do that, and use some of the suggestions mentioned here, you should have a decent chance of finding employment. I wish you much good fortune, Michael. I would love to hear how things work out for you.
Best, Cher