Unit 8: Basic Understanding of the Law

Lesson 3: Explaining a Criminal History to Employers

OBJECTIVE

1. Identify strategies to gain employment despite a criminal history.

SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES
Putting the Bars Behind You – A $169 video by JIST WORKS, Inc. (1800 648-5478).

INSTRUCTIONAL FORMAT
This lesson is designed to provide information and training on how to get a job if you have been convicted of a crime. The source of the information presented in this lesson is the video titled Putting the Bars Behind You. Despite its cost, this video is strongly recommended if your program frequently serves people who have been convicted of a crime.

1. Discuss that most employers will consider an ex-offender. However, in order to increase the chances of being hired it is important to use the right application strategy, be positive, be truthful, and convince the employer that you will be a good employee.
   
   

2. Discuss application procedures. Students should avoid traditional application methods such as answering want ads, filling out applications, and sending resumes. When answering a want ad, employers often want you to send a resume or fill out an application. A resume may reveal a gap in your work history that may signal a problem to a prospective employer. Additionally, most employers ask about a criminal history on an application form. This, of course, is going to make the employer reluctant to call you in for an interview. To overcome these obstacles, inform students that it is best to find jobs through networking and applying directly to the employer. This requires a little more initiative. Using people you know to help you meet with an employer to explain your past before he or she reads about it on paper increases the chance of getting hired.
   
   

3. Discuss what to say in an interview. Inform students that interviewers can ask about convictions but not arrests. Stress the importance of being positive and truthful. It is a bad idea to be defensive. This is not the time to become hostile, proclaim your innocence, or show any signs that you are not taking full responsibility for your past mistakes. Accept the fact that the employer is going to ask you about your past. Answer the interviewer's questions truthfully and try to convince him or her that you have been rehabilitated, you have learned new skills, and you have learned from your mistakes. Have the students write down specific examples to support claims about being rehabilitated, learning new skills and learning from mistakes.
   
   

4. Conduct mock interviews with the students. Have the students practice answering the following questions:

   • "What have you been doing for the last ____ years?"

   • "Why were you in jail?"

   • "What have you learned?"

   • "How can I trust you?"
     
     

5. Remind students that they are going to get rejected just like everyone else in the process of a job search. Their criminal history places them at a disadvantage, but they can overcome this obstacle if they use the strategies above.

SIGNS OF GENERALIZATION
Students report using the strategies listed above in their job search. Students obtain employment.

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