Job search tips : Past history not good now what

I have been laid off now for nearly two years. Consequently, a one salary household is not good. Each month, I try to figure out what to pay and what not to pay as I am sure many of you are feeling the squeeze too! I have applied for hundreds of positions but there are so many problems with my past and I am hopeful that I can get some questions answered.

1. What type of resume do I use since I have been laid off for nearly two years. I read somewhere that a functional resume would do best. Is that true?

2. My driving/arrest record is not good at all. I was arrested for a felony; however, after nearly two years of fighting with the court, it was reduced to a misdemeanor of OWI. Unfortunately, I also had a Drunk Driving almost seven years before that and then 14 years ago, an impaired conviction. Recently, I applied for a position working at the local school district and they indicated they were having problems/issues with my felony arrest. I informed them I was not CONVICTED of a felony. Is this legal for them to look at the arrest instead of the conviction?

3. Two jobs ago, I worked at a nonprofit organization and turned my supervisor into the Board of Directors for misappropriating funds. This misappropriation was documented and true. The supervisor had to pay back all the money and somehow was allowed to remain as the supervisor. But the supervisor fired me. How do I complete the area "Reason for leaving"?

Any assistance any of you could provide would be appreciated.

Thank you.

School districts are critical of any felony conviction. Did you ask the judge to expunge the conviction? if not, ask the judge to reduce and record the conviction as a misdemeanor.

As for the third question, you can state that you discovered misappropriation from a former supervisor who was caught but was not terminated from the position. Subsequently, you were terminated by this supervisor for reasons unknown.

What types of jobs are you looking for? Have your tried retailing?

1. Yes, functional is best. You might want to ask for some help on Monster's resume board.

2. Rather than quibble over whether or not your arrest record is fair game for a school district to check out, you should deal with the underlying problem--alcohol abuse. I've read that statistically, for every one time someone is arrested for DUI, they've driven impaired 7 times without getting caught. Your concern over your arrest record is understandable but you seem overly hung up on legal technicalities. You write as if you were a bystander in all this.

3. Are you sure you're telling this the way it really happened? Whistleblowers are historically not treated well by those upon whom they blew the whistle.

It might be helpful for your resume if you'd get involved in some volunteer work.

Thank you for your input. I will look on Monster.com for sample resumes.

As for the DUI -- it was not alcohol, I do not drink. It was prescribed medicine from amy doctor who also told me to take cold medicine with it --which messed me up entirely. I was NOT a bystander in this, I spent nearly two years trying to prove that I should not be convicted of a felony. As a matter of fact, it was a hung jury the first time and then the prosecutor finally agreed that she did not have a "felony" case - it was not like I was taking street drugs. My doctor even testified that he prescribed the medicine AND told me to purchase OTC cold medicine. Yes, it was my fault for driving when I was so tired and I should have stayed home. Trust me, I have learned my lesson (I no longer take those medicines -- even if I need them) and I have paid the consequences.

I know that whisteblower's don't usually get treated real well but it took a lot of guts for me to tell. First, the other staff members ALSO knew about it but since I had worked there for 8 years, I was elected to inform the Board of Directors. Second, this supervisor was also my aunt and I would have never told on a family member if it was not true. Third, I sued the company and won my case too. I still don't understand why the supervisor is still employed there but to be honest, it is not my problem.
My problem is how do I address this in the "Reason for Leaving" area on applications?

I do a lot of volunteer work so I will make sure to include that as well.

Thank you for your input/

Thank you for your input.

As for the felony, I was never "convicted" of a felony -- I was only arrested and they added the felony while I was in lockup. Needless to say, it was quite a surpise when I was released that I now had a felony arrest. It seems the school district is look ing at the arrest, not the conviction. Is that legal? It took a hung jury, nearly two years in court, and thousands of dollars on an attorney to get this reduced. Although the night I was arrested was the worst thing that has happened to me in a very long time, I am thankful no one got hurt and I have definetely learned a valuable lesson.

Your verbiage for the termination for whisteblowing sounds much better. Thanks.

I am looking for anything at this time. I NEED to find a job so we don't lose everything that I have worked for all my life.

Please don't mention anything about whistleblowing on a cover letter, in an interview, nowhere! Not to be petty or anything, but nobody likes a tattletale. You might be convinced in your own mind that you did the right thing, and maybe you did. But telling a potential employer that you turned somebody in for theft will not work in your favor. Unfortunately, I don't have an alternative answer to the question. But anything is better than "I turned in a supervisor for theft and got fired for it by the very same supervisor I turned in." You will be viewed as a potential troublemaker. This might be a good question for the Monster Interview board. You'll get a variety of answers over there from some very experienced people.

I really do wish you well with your job search.

I'm going to assume you're serious.

You are not going to be hired by any school district. You won't be hired by any place where you may have to drive (your own car or the company's). You won't be hired by any financial institutions (in any capacity), nor will you be hired by anybody that asks for "arrests or convictions" in the last 10 years (which is a lot of employers). In 14 years, you've had 3 arrests with various convictions. That's not good. You've clearly got a long-term substance abuse problem and need to start addressing that. Until you do, it won't matter what job you do manage to get, you're going to continue to have problems.

Then you add to that a very sketchy employment history. Really, this isn't looking good. I recommend that you get yourself together first before you start trying to find another job. You can do a search on these boards for the words "felony" and "conviction" and find a number of suggestions (even though your last conviction wasn't a felony, the same issues are going to apply).

Tess

Yes I am very serious about all of this. I have already been turned down by a job that may have required transporting teenagers (may have never had to transport them but just in case) and lost it. I actually had went in for the orientation and the owner indicated their insurance would not cover me. As for financial institutions, why would they not hire me? I have NEVER stolen from my employers. As for sketchy employment, the past two employers I worked for were 8-1/2 years and 5-1/2 years. Then previous to those jobs I worked for about one year at a couple of organizations.

As for a substance abuse problem, I have not drank alcohol since my arrest 12 years ago. And the drugs were prescribed (apparently the mixture of a couple of them along with cold medicine made me too tired) but I no longer take ANY of them. I won't even take cold medicine anymore. I am not placing blame on my doctor; however, you would have thought he would have checked my condition following prescribing the combination. And I would have thought that I would have known better than to drive when I was tired. I thought that once I got into the cold air and rolled the windows down, it would wake me up - but it didn't and I now know better. I no longer do that either. If I am in the least bit tired, I do NOT drive anywhere -- even down to the corner store. In addition, I have attended any support group meetings I can and while I was going through the last court hearing, trust me -- I went through a LOT -- I didn't drive for nearly two years, did community service, attending meetings, and anything else I could do to improve myself. I have certainly learned from my past.

Thank you for the input and again, why would a financial organization not hire me?

The question asked by most employers is "have you ever been arrested for a felony or convicted for a felony?"

A conviction is likely to get you off of any consideration list before you are even on it. A felony arrest may not mean that you are immediately disqualified but you will need to do some serious talking and provide proof of completion of any probation/parole and the probability exists that you will not receive a second interview or offer.

Financial instituions of all types are especially wary of felony convictions because of the stigma associated with this. Even though it may have absolutely nothing to do with stealing money, the institutions clients could simple follow the outdated and inaccurate, "all felons are thiefs" belief and the clients are put before the potential employee.

I knew someone whose "felony" was indecent exposure and child sexual indecency. Actually what it was, was he took a tinkle in an alleyway outside of a concert hall after the concert was over and there just heppened to be children under the age of 12 walking by the entrance to the alley. The mother freaked out and called the cops. He hadn't done anything to any of the children and, in fact, his back was towards the children and he was zipping up when they walked by.

But, the fact remains that the law is the law and he is now considered a registered sex offender for going potty in an alley.

He has been turned down for several jobs and decided to explain the circumstances before a check is down. After the interviewer finishes laughing or hanging his head, he is told that the circumstances do not negate his chances at the position. He recently received an offer for a very nice six figure job at a national mortgage company.

Financial institutions don't hire people with criminal records. Period. Doesn't matter what the offense was, they don't do it. They have to meet SEC and other government requirements and you won't meet those. Likewise, you're not likely to get hired anywhere that you have to be bonded, you are just too high a risk.

And honestly, I think you're kidding yourself. You've had 3 convictions for various types of impairment in 14 years. That's 3 convictions for pete's sake. Not even just 3 incidents that didn't get to that point. That's not normal. Most people go their entire lives (say 70-80 years), without ANY. Something's not right here and until you address why you keep landing in that boat you're going to continue to have problems.

Tess

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Past history not good now what