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To answer other questions - I am looking for employment in DC. That is why it's here. I failed to mention the RX was for sch. II medication, and instead I was sent a different sch. II medication. Long story short I couldn't tell them my story because that is an entire different legal ballgame.
IT Consulting for medium size enterprises is my business.
DC is where I seek employment hopefully.
At face value, regardless of the situational causations, a felony conviction on an application looks terrible either way. Wondering if anyone had input as to that. For instance, if I, or You, or john smith for example had an MBA, was a top student, valedictorian = but he screwed up because of x,y,z and was subsequently convicted of a poss. of narcotics felony, are there any people who can comment on that situation?
As far as input and comments here - nearly everyone is very concerned about the nature of the crime and not the face value of felony conviction. What this tells me is that it would be best to not even describe the circumstance, as the employer (even if seeing documents...) would probably think like the masses, and automatically assume the worst. I guess you people, as many others, aren't fans of John Locke. So I have some insightful information here gathered from these typical responses.
Bottom line is that the felony will affect your chances of landing a good job if a background check is ran.
I have met a few people with felony charges who are very bright, ambitious, and would do anything to find a decent job.
But, due to one mistake, have been discriminated and turned down from job after job. As a matter of fact they were even denied the right to student loans because of their charges. A few decided to go into business for themselves and are doing quite well.
It really frustrates me that the system is setup this way but you have to do what you have to do to get by.
I say go ahead and apply to some of these jobs. Attend the job fairs and send out the resumes.
My advice: Dont try to "explain" this to potential employers. For starters, you seem to lack strong communication skills which makes the story difficult to follow, and second, even assuming you are telling the truth, it sounds so absurd no one will believe you (myself included). If you are going to lie (or at a minimum twist the truth) I'd go with something far less convoluted and far fetched, but honestly, i just wouldn't explain it at all.
First and foremost, do not bother to raise or explain this story to any potential employer. There's nothing noble or respectable about being recklessly forthcoming about such self-incriminating information, because you're not attempting to garner the approval of noble and respectable individuals. Most hiring managers operate within a distorted black and white reality, and thus are coldly unsympathetic to such plights due to their inherent lack of understanding and acceptance of the circumstances which ultimately lead to your criminal incident. Plus, if you think they'd be willing to gamble their reputation, not to mention their job, on an ex-felon, especially when the work skills and experience you present are comparable to those of other more legally untarnished candidates, then you hold HR managers to a higher regard than I do.
Furthermore, it's not your responsibility to elminate yourself from the position candidacy; it's the responsibility of the hiring manager. If you want to be a pal and do their job for them, then by all means but I'd recommend against it.
All right.
..... Most hiring managers operate within a distorted black and white reality, and thus are coldly unsympathetic to such plights due to their inherent lack of understanding and acceptance of the circumstances which ultimately lead to your criminal incident.
Spot on with this statement, couldn't have said it better. Captures the nature perfectly.
The only issue with not raising my situation upfront is that once they do a bg check - and I assume 99.5% of businesses do these days - then I am forced to explain it. I will check to see if it even shows up, because there are so many variables in these checks and they are not all equal. It is possible that it may not even be on certain checks, so if I happened to know that I guess I could omit this information, but I am not comfortable doing that because it is unethical and if they found out later I would be terminated.
Ok so here's the last caveat: In the job market these days, at least in DC - if you are interviewed, does this mean that you have a very good chance of landing the job? Several people I know who have sent out applications have had seldom interviews, and the ones they do have end up in a job offer. As long as you don't screw up the interview, and have some trash backround (like me) then you are golden. Not sure if that is the case in all fields or just around this area. Anyway I appreciate the responses.
Ok so here's the last caveat: In the job market these days, at least in DC - if you are interviewed, does this mean that you have a very good chance of landing the job? Several people I know who have sent out applications have had seldom interviews, and the ones they do have end up in a job offer. As long as you don't screw up the interview, and have some trash backround (like me) then you are golden. Not sure if that is the case in all fields or just around this area. Anyway I appreciate the responses.
I typically only interview the top 5 resumes I see. Maybe I'll do a second round if I'm not wowed by any of the interviews. That seems to be more or less the case with the other hiring folks that I work with. So I'd wager that you aren't competing with too many others when you get to the interview stage. I'm not in anything IT related though; maybe that industry has a different hiring culture.
Do small IT companies run background checks? There are a bunch of boutique firms all over town that have nothing to do with government and security clearances. As I said though, I am completely ignorant about IT. The little firm that we use could interrogate its potential hires for all I know.
I would bet that almost every company application asks candidates if they have been convicted of a felony. If you check "no", and it comes up later, you have lied on your application and subject to termination. You lose.
Assume they don't find it and you are doing well. Five years later your company is purchased and the new company runs background checks. You lose.
Assume things go well and ten years down the road you need a clearance. The investigator pulls your file and notes you lied. You won't get a clearance, won't keep your job, and now you have to explain to your next employer what happened. You lose again.
I've hired dozens of people. The candidates who were honest and sincere up-front earned my respect. I had one young college grad stop the interview as soon as it started to let me know about his DWI. That took guts.
People do stupid things. When I got my clearance I had to explain about a certain event in Subic Bay in 1974. I never would have imagined they kept those records. Luckily, when I filled out my questionnaire I had checked the box. The investigator had a copy of the report and we got a good chuckle over it.
I would bet that almost every company application asks candidates if they have been convicted of a felony. If you check "no", and it comes up later, you have lied on your application and subject to termination. You lose.
Assume they don't find it and you are doing well. Five years later your company is purchased and the new company runs background checks. You lose.
Assume things go well and ten years down the road you need a clearance. The investigator pulls your file and notes you lied. You won't get a clearance, won't keep your job, and now you have to explain to your next employer what happened. You lose again.
I've hired dozens of people. The candidates who were honest and sincere up-front earned my respect. I had one young college grad stop the interview as soon as it started to let me know about his DWI. That took guts.
People do stupid things. When I got my clearance I had to explain about a certain event in Subic Bay in 1974. I never would have imagined they kept those records. Luckily, when I filled out my questionnaire I had checked the box. The investigator had a copy of the report and we got a good chuckle over it.
My advise is to be honest up front.
No offense, they're not there to earn your respect. They're there to earn a position. Did any of those candidates with dubious background records get a position at your job, or did they walk out of the office with nothing more than your respect?
A couple did. Generally, and this is a broad generalization, we would tolerate "youthful indiscretion". When we had candidates in their 40's still behaving like adolescents it was an indicator of a bigger problem.
You can disagree and I don't take offense. Mine is just one opinion.
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