jobs for someone with a felony

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I screwed up about 5 years ago and have a felony conviction on my record. It makes it so hard to find a job. I have been out of work since October of last year. It seems that there are not too many companies or people that will hire a felon. Is there anyone here that has a felony and a decent job? Or someone that works for an employer or know of one or a few that hire felons. Its a completely non violent crime and its not drug related but everyone freaks out.

Is it something you can talk to a lawyer about getting reduced to a misdemeanor or expunged?

No I dont think there is any way to get it reduced. I believe you have to wait 7 years to get it expunged and I still have restitution to pay so I dont think that is an option. I dont think there is any way to make it go away I just need to find an employer that would be ok with it

*******I AM NOT A LAWYER, AND NONE OF THIS POST SHALL BE CONSTRUED TO BE LEGAL ADVICE********

Except the appeals process, and expungement, there isn't really a way to get rid of it post-adjudication. Appeals generally has time limits to start the process, and that is normally for reversal of the outcome. Expungement hides the matter, and you may want to check on what the timeframe is in your area (a lawyer can be very helpful), as these vary significantly.

*******I AM NOT A LAWYER, AND NONE OF THIS POST SHALL BE CONSTRUED TO BE LEGAL ADVICE********

My 2 cents having worked as a case manager who helped people like you.

Best advice is to start your own business doing stuff for people (tending lawns, painting, etc.). Sadly, most employers who will hire someone with a criminal record won't offer much as far as pay and opportunity.

I think a smaller company, and if you just explain it in a matter-of-fact way, in say, two or three sentences.

I worked for a chain of furniture stores back about 9 years ago. I got to know one of the guys there and he shared with me that he had a pretty serious drug conviction.

Okay, this company was kind of like the Al Davis's Raiders of old where it was "Just Win, Baby!" and people on the team had all kinds of backgrounds. At our store it was "Just Sell, Baby!" And, perhaps surprisingly, it was not as unethical as one might think. But, like an athlete, you went through streaks, including slumps, and there's a temptation to over-analyze a slump. Instead of, shifting the analogy to baseball, just ask, am I seeing well, am I swinging well. And if so, just stay in rhythm and good things will happen.

On the other hand, I understand auto dealerships, basically dance to the tune of the insurance company as far as who they can and cannot hire.

Now, about sales, if it's unpaid training, it is typically a rip-off. If it's paid training, it can go either way, might be a good company, might not.

At age 26, you're still a young person with your whole life ahead of you. Please don't let this define you. As an example, there was an episode of Star Trek Next Generation called Tapestry where Picard had always regretted letting the "Nausicaans" bait him into a fight. Anyway, this became part of the texture of who he was. And for you, too, this may have given you certain maturity or life experience or something else that you can view as a positive.

And what I'm going to suggest next is not going to help anything with the right now, but as far as medium and long-term: Give yourself the gift of considering medical school. Yeah, the real thing, getting an MD and becoming a doctor. It is a gift to yourself just to consider this. It opens up other possibilities of doing big significant things. And the ironic thing is, Macy's or Target or wherever may have their goody two shoes rules and no reason to change them because they have plenty of applicants. Whereas for medical school, college grades and MCAT are the coin of the realm, and a solid applicant (which for medical school is pretty close to all As), I kind of have a feeling, they might be able to overlook pretty much. Now, if you actually killed someone, that's a mistake that's hard to move away from. But anything short of that, it's in the past, you're now a lot more mature, and the medical college might be able to overlook it more than an entry-level job (ironically). Don't you be the one to exclude yourself. If you can find a low-key way of calling and asking them, it might surprise you.

Oh, yeah, the age thing, when I looked into medical school back in 1992, they told me they do not practive age discrimnation and that the oldest incoming student was 42 years old. Well, that gives you 16 years to take the required courses entirely on your own terms! Seriously, read "Becoming a Doctor" by Melvin Konner (1992), or the more recent "Every Patient Tells a Story" by Lisa Sanders, and as much other good stuff that actually tells what it's like that you can find. Don't sell yourself short.

Im interested in anything that pays

Bartender or cook in a restaurant, carpenter, roofer, landscaper ~ I've known people with felony convictions who worked in all these jobs. The bartender was convicted of felony drunk driving, the landscaper of possession with intent to sell large amounts of marijuana, and the others I'm not sure of the details anymore.

People who have been convicted of embezzling funds from a previous employer seem to have a really hard time of getting new jobs... self employment comes to mind... can't think of much else there.

If it's a privately owned company, or even if not, the person doing the hiring probably has more leeway than it may seem. My previous job (civil service) asked for disclosure of convictions on the application, while stating that each case would be evaluated individually and it may or may not affect the hiring decision, depending on the circumstances. However, none of the hundreds of applications that passed through my hands had anything filled in on that space. Maybe it deterred people with criminal records from applying at all. Or maybe some just weren't saying. We didn't do background checks at all for many of the positions, and only checked for relevant information (i.e. professional misconduct) for most others.

I don't see where you've said what the crime was, beyond saying what it wasn't. I'd be really put-off from hiring someone if they had been convicted of stealing, or otherwise taking inappropriate advantage of someone... not saying that you did that. But I know it's a personal vulnerability of mine, and I have had difficulty understanding that someone is doing it to me while it's happening ~ so I wouldn't be comfortable with that.

Every situation is different. Keep trying until you find something that fits.