Convicted Felon PLEASE READI need the advise of all you human resource experts and senior managers with hiring responsibility because I am at the bottom of my self-motivational bucket and don't seem to know if the problem I have created for myself is fixable. A quick summary of my dilemma: At the lowest point in my life, while going through a personal tragedy, as an employee, I made a mistake in judgment and took monies I felt I was entitled to from an employer who turned out to be less then sympathetic. After fixing the mistake by paying the money back, the now former employer had me arrested anyway and subsequently convicted. I never fought the issue and took the terms of conviction as recommended by my then attorney. Since the amount taken was in excess of $100, I was convicted of a felony. I was given two years of probation of which I am currently serving through June of next year. To add further insult to myself, I was the Operations Manager and Controller at the time I made the choice that I did with over twenty years of stellar performance and an impeccable reputation. As a condition of probation, I must inform all employers of my status so that they maybe contacted by my probation officer. Prior to my sentencing, I started my own business and was working to get it off the ground. Once I was convicted, I was forced to abandon this pursuit because it was a state licensed industry here in Florida and I am afraid that the state will pull my license at anytime even though they have been informed of my status and their investigation has not led to any disciplinary actions thus far. The point of all this rambling is that during my extensive job search these past few months, I have disclosed the fact that I am on probation when sending out my resume as I feel it is not beneficial to provide this information at an interview only to be disqualified at that time and wasting the company who was interested time. To date have had zero interview opportunities. WILL I EVER HAVE A CHANCE TO WORK AND AGAIN AND BE A VITAL PART OF AN ORGANIZATION. Or is this one mistake going to be my defining career moment. Please any words of encouragement or utter brutality would be appreciated because I don't know what to do next. Thank you for your time.
This information will be obtained during a routine credit/criminal check so it is best that you remain forthright. Every job application that you come across is going to have a section that asks if you have been convicted of a felony. There are a few states in which this information cannot be disemminated. (I think I saw Hawaii on an application at one point last year). Anyway, yes, you will eventually get another job even with this hanging over you; however, your career as a Controller, Accountant or in any financially based industry is gone. Honestly, I doubt that even Mcdonalds or Burger King would hire you with a felony of this type on your record. (But, who wants to work there, anyway?) Your best bet is probably to move into something new like construction, graphic design or architecture. Check with your probation department. They may have some leads for people such as yourself who want to work but circumstances are preventing you from going into your first field of choice. Don't be so sure, I have a 3 felony convictions from 15 years ago and I have had trouble getting a good job. Now this wasn't that I did 3 things that were illegal but I had my probabtion violated for failure to pay (had lost my job at the time). And because of that it added another "felony" charge. I don't think they should be able to do this. But that is life. My credit was decent until i lost my job last year and my daughter was hospitalized and at that point I had trouble keeping up the bills. So I have both against me. Also know that if you are ever arrested again even for a misdomeanor, this convict will haunt you. It used to be innocent until proven guilty now its guilty until proven innocent and people get slammed with unfair convictions. I even have gone back to school to gain further knowledge in a field and yet with the conviction have been stopped basically at the front door when interviewing. I was hired on at one place, telling them about the criminal charge against me, only to be let go once the background check came back. I can find low paying jobs, but they don't pay the bills so I have to keep looking. If the company only goes back a certain number of years I am fine, however this does not seem to be the case here in Fl. They want to do a complete history. While I am ashamed of my actions that I took at that time, I have learned several valuable lessons from it. One you have a felony on your record its hard from there out! I wish you luck. My wife was a private investigator and she can tell you that it is very easy to find out if a person has been arrested and what the outcomes were. She said when she preformed background checks she would tell her clients to be mindful that depending on how far back one goes remember people do tend to change. I think there ought to be a law passed on how far back they can go. I understand the need for safety but at the same time it penalizes everyone who has been rehabilitated. Yes, this is going to be a career defining moment. It does not mean you'll never work again however. It does mean that you're going to have to seriously shift your thinking starting with the fact that this was NOT a "mistake". This was a crime, you knew it was a crime and you felt justified (and that you could get away with it) so you did it anyway. At your age and your level and in your position as Controller, you certainly knew what you were doing. Do not continue to try to sell this as a mistake. That is only going to annoy potential employers. I would not disclose it in your resume or cover letter, but rather wait until you are in an interview. You're giving the company too much opportunity to say no with no reason to say yes. With that said, however, you're also going to have to look at appropriate jobs. You won't be hired anywhere that you have any access to company assets. That's going to cover a big range of things and includes customer information, cash, inventory, etc. You won't be hired by any type of financial institution in any capacity (even if you're not handling money). You won't be hired anywhere that you have to be bonded and of course I'm sure you know that Controller is out of the question. Since you've started your own business once, what's keeping you from doing that again with something that doesn't require state licensing? Sit down and consider what businesses you could start. Have a browse through the bookstore, there are tons of books on starting your own business that could give you some ideas. SBA and Score are great resources once you have the idea nailed down. You could built an empire selling gift baskets or something, it does not have to be complicated. Find a need and fill it. With your operations background, you should be able to see what is needed and then see how you could address it. Perhaps the answer is in consulting in Operations Management. Give it some thought.
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