My CollegeRecruiter.com | Employers & Advertisers
Question:
I was convicted of grand theft auto when I was in high school. Because of that, I am finding it impossible to be promoted from entry level management positions. I completed my Bachelor's degree and am working on my MBA. I have great work experience, including being an assistant manager at Exxon and Walgreen's. At my last job, I was getting great reviews and regular promotions, but then my supervisor was promoted and his replacement was terrible. I ended having to quit because of the stress. I now been unemployed for a year. I get interviews and offers, but the offers are withdrawn when they review my application. On the applications, I am always truthful and disclose the conviction. Should I continue to look for employment or should I give up and start my own business?
First Answer:
Frustration doesn't equal failure. If we gave up every time we hit a brick wall in our lives, we'd be giving up an awful lot. That said, while your situation is an obstacle, it is certainly one that can be overcome.
When we're in life predicaments, sometimes the only wany to get out of them is to be creative, try a new solution, or just take a roundabout path. The same goes for careers. Based on your unique obstacle, I would take a 180- degree different look at how it can be tackled.
First, remind yourself of the strides you have made. If you're not confident you can handle a position, it will come across in your demeanor. A positive attitude is key and you should be lauded and supported for your rehabilitation and efforts to reinforce positive change in your life.
Second, find someone else who agrees with that. Someone who already holds a position you'd like to have in five or ten years. Finding a mentor in your field or industry will not only provide you with moral support and advice through the process, but can also vouch for your experience, trustworthiness and reliability despite past mistakes.
Third, abandon the reactive process of sending in resumes and waiting for the response. Set out on a proactive path and create a target list of places you'd like to work. Search out contacts through your personal network or cold call if you have to and up informational interviews with contacts in those organizations. Spend time in the interview asking for advice on progressing in the field, the industry and the organzation. Toward the end, reiterate your commitment to your professional vision and openly share your record. Ask for candid advice on how to convince an organization you're mature, responsible and committed.
Finally, prepare your spin and be vocally open. As you start to make contacts and get your foot in the door, use your personal history as an asset. Don't just list your record on the application, but be more forthcoming. Use the experience to explain the key lessons you have learned and how that can be applied in the business world, how it has made you a more effective employee and why it makes you a better choice. Use a mentor to help you prepare arguments.
Don't give up, don't give in. Proactively ask for advice and guidance from the very people and organizations you're afraid will reject you.
-- Susan Strayer, Assistant Director, Career Services, School of Professional Studies in Business and Education at the Johns Hopkins University and founder and President of University and Career Decisions
Second Answer:
This is a difficult question to answer without additional information. People make serious mistakes, see the error of their ways, pay for what they have done, and still go on to lead successful, productive lives. Therefore, the sense I get is that your lack of promotion and your problems on the job are due less to a mistake you made "way back when" in High School, and more with your current performance and attitude.
You mention that things were going well at your job until your former supervisor left. You say that his replacement was "terrible." In what way was this person so awful (or did you just not get along with him or her)? If you know your track record needs strengthening and you already have some strikes against you in the job market, wouldn't it have been wiser to find some way to deal with this new person and win him or her over instead of running away from the problem?
You say that you have worked in a few other places, so obviously they overlooked your conviction and hired you anyway. Why would it be any different today? Could it be that your prior conviction is less of a problem than possible negative references from your former company(s)? I would suggest that you check this out to be sure that this is not the case. read How To Handel References from a Hostile Boss for tips on what you can do in this situation. You may also be coming across as defensive and nervous in the interview process. One book to read about personal marketing is: YOU ARE THE PRODUCT - How To Sell Yourself Employers to help project a more confident image and to help you diffuse any "objections" an employer might have.
Finally, you ask if you should conceal your conviction or work for yourself. I would suggest that you never lie on a job application. Doing so may get you hired, but it will more quickly get you fired (when they find out that you lied--and they will) and gain you a bad reputation --and you do not need any more strikes against you. How you handle objections will help determine whether or not you can get an prospective employer past your less than sterling record, and still get hired.
As to working for yourself, that's an option, but it takes more than just a desire to stop job hunting to make a success out of being a sole entrepreneur. I suggest you read Can I Start my Own Business At Home? from my ASK ALISON column archives to help determine whether or not working at home or for yourself is for you.
-- Alison Blackman Dunham, life & career expert, columnist, personal public relations consultant, half of THE ADVICE SISTERS®, and the author of the ASK ALISON career advice column
Third Answer:
You report previous success in being promoted, and one occasion on which you felt you had to leave employment due to the stress of a difficult supervisor. That is a long way from "finding it impossible to be promoted from entry-level management positions; as presented, this was a one-time event, not a pattern.
You are doing exactly the right thing in disclosing the conviction: lying about it and being caught later is a proven way to get fired. Once you have put your integrity at risk in this way, no one wants you on their team, so don't risk it. Even if not caught, you'd spend the rest of your career looking over your shoulder to see if the lie might catch up with you someday.
Your search is longer now due to both the economy and your special requirement: someone who will look past a theft committed when you were a teenager and see your great work experience with name-brand companies, and your continuing education. Don't give up; that person is out there.
A decision about starting your own business has more factors, including your personality and psychological make-up. Entrepreneurs need strong internal motivation and self-discipline, when the only person you are reporting to is you. They need an outgoing personality, strong endurance, the ability to tolerate high levels of frustration, a vision of where you want the business to go and the patience to get there one sale at a time, good budgeting and record-keeping skills, and access to investment capital and credit, where your felony conviction might be just as big an impediment as in the job market. Most banks or private capital firms want you to put money into a business and will not finance 100% of start-up costs, and it may be five years before a new business, if it doesn't fail, becomes profitable.
You should consult your MBA career services office and ask to take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment instrument; get Ed Schein's Career Anchors and/or take Holland's Self Directed Search to determine if you have the psychological makeup to be a successful entrepreneur. Ask for a professional assessment integrating all instruments available, or seek one from a private career counselor (www.iacmp.org or www.careercc.org). These steps should precede the self-help books about doing a business plan and starting your own business, home offices, etc.
Your past need not be your future. Keep your eye on the goal, and don't be discouraged. I would hire a reformed felon, and I can't be the only one.
-- Carol Anderson, Career Development and Placement Office, Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy at New School University in New York City
Fourth Answer:
To paraphrase Forrest Gump, ethical is as ethical does. Kudos for remaining truthful during your job search - people who "pay their debts to society" should start with a blank slate (no hisses from the peanut gallery; yes, I believe there are exceptions given certain crimes). However, some people and companies can see the bigger picture, others cannot. It's one of the dirty little secrets that companies don't publicize: Don't expect to find "don't hire ex-cons" in any policy manual...
Do you follow-up with the companies who pull the offers off the table after discovering your "checkered past?"
If an offer is rescinded, you are obliged to yourself to find out why. My personality tells me that when I don't receive an answer from a company contact, then I escalate the questioning higher up the ladder. Not rudely but in a very business-like manner. In fact, be so professional that you are the model of professionalism. Someone up the chain should ultimately listen to your explanation of "a teenage indiscretion" and the effort you made to receive your bachelor's degree and the work you are putting in towards your MBA. Obviously, talk about your qualifications, etc. Sounds as if you may have to work twice as hard as someone without a record - it's just the hand of cards you were dealt.
Do you always quit when faced with stressful situations?
In your question, you twice mentioned quitting: You quit because of stress and you've asked us whether you should give up and start your own business. Here's a sappy saying: Your attitude directs your altitude. Successful people don't quit. They believe in themselves. They look for ways around problems. They don't blame others for their results. Get the message?
Frankly, no one can counsel a person without knowing what is in the person's heart. All decisions are a combination of factors within one's control and without one's control. If you want to move up, change your attitude and identify ways to effectively work with people's pre-conceptions about ex-convicts. Go back and talk to the companies who rescinded the offers. Talk to other ex-convicts who didn't let their problems get in their way. Work tens times as hard to eliminate the "I quit" elements from your personality - quitting is a behavioral pattern that can be changed. And don't for a minute think it gets easier if you work for yourself. Given your current state-of-mind, what might happen when your major customer leaves for a competitor? You aren't going to quit, are you?
-- Steve Levy, Principal of outside-the-box Consulting
Fifth Answer:
As you've presented the situation, it does not appear that the high school GTA conviction is really the source of your not being chosen.
You've outlined a history of positives in professional development, career advancement, and continuing advanced education. Another matter you've shown is your excellent rapport with your previous manager.
I recommend that you review the things that made your relationship with your previous manager work. Also review the things that seemed to work well for you while at Exxon and Wal-Green. Compare your lists and then begin a program of emphasizing and developing those traits and practices. Talk about them during your interviews. This will show your interviewer -- and future employer -- that the positives you present are not just for interviewing purposes but part and parcel of the package they will gain by having you on their team of players.
I'm not an expert in the area of criminal background. So I attempted to ask an HR pro about the conviction and its potential for hindering a professional long after the incident. Unfortunately, holiday vacations prevented me from being able to contact someone before deadline for this question.
As to the last suggestion and the stress-related illness, it very well may be that is the key to your new employment difficulties. Our economy is still at its bottom and work stress from having to do much with small resources is a very prominent issue. If an employer believes you will drive up their costs from frequent absences, stress-related medical issues, and an inability to cope, they will pass on an otherwise great candidate in favor of someone who is more stress resilient. Think about ways in which you can build your own stress-resistant coat and also actively discuss this skill during your interviews in the form of being able to handle all types of challenges.
Should you start your own business? Operating your own business increases the amount of time you need to work by a factor of about three. There are the employee-invisible duties that still need attention after the workers have gone home. The amount of responsibilities also increase. You virtually get no time off because it is necessary to develop new work one to three months (or more) ahead of when you want to have it. If the real issue is stress-related illness, you may want to table starting your own business for a while.
May all of your Entrances be through the doors of success!
-- Yvonne LaRose, career and professional development coach, Career and Executive Recruiting Advice
Sixth Answer:
One of our readers pointed out that if the individual has truly turned his life around, he should contact a lawyer and investigate the possibility of getting the conviction expunged from the record. In many cases, this can be done easily. Then, for the purposes of the law, he will never have had the conviction and need not mention it to anyone!
-- Steven Rothberg, President and Founder of CollegeRecruiter.com
