Q. What is different about your program?
A. First off, I am NOT a program. I try to be the shortest distance between you being unemployed/underemployed and being gainfully employed. Most non-profit/501(c)3 Re-entry orgs. have grant monies that they have to spend, via, holding you captive for 8/10/12 weeks or more, to teach you job-readiness, interviewing skills, etc...And at the end of those 12 weeks, they will give you some
out-dated "Felony-friendly" list or give you "
random" job fair flyers/information. Most Re-entry orgs are completely wasting your time and are simply trying to enroll
participants...but they got to spend that grant money! I will never preach at you…your religion is YOUR business. However, there may be more than one approach to remedy your situation. Especially, with Project RIO being eliminated in Sept. 2011…there seems to be a new Re-Entry program or ministry being created every other month…will they add “value” to your job search…probably not. After they run out of bus passes…and subsidized employment grant money...then what?
Q. Can I obtain a state license for my occupation in Texas?
A. [Possibly] Depending on the occupation and your offense(s), the TDLR
may or may not employ a Case-by-Case basis for determining the granting of licenses. I recommend that you call the respective licensing agency
before attending any "job-training" school and/or
before paying the $75 processing/application fee to TDLR (in Austin). Click on the following link for statutory restrictions related to criminal convictions in the state of Texas.
http://www.tdlr.state.tx.us/crimconvict.htm Q. Should I attend
any job fairs?
A. No. Typically, job fairs are
random and do not add any value for criminal-background jobseekers. Most job fair organizers simply;
(1) are not bold enough to discuss the "criminal background" reality to employers, or
(2) do not know how to speak to employers about engaging/considering criminal-background job fair attendees, or
(3) organizers do not care about adding “value” for jobseekers with criminal backgrounds. Most job fair organizers only care about packing a venue with thousands of jobseekers and [only] a handful of companies (with half of them being temp/staffing agencies). I would not waste my time chasing down dozens of
random job fairs every week (especially, in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area)...in this economy...
most of them are planned and executed by incompetent/inexperienced job fair organizers and are a complete waste of time for jobseekers that have been “touched” by the criminal justice system.
Q. Why am I able to get hired by a temp/staffing agency and not a “real” company?
A. Most temp/staffing agencies do not care if you transition from temp-to-perm, at the 90 day point. Consequently, what happens every week to unsuspecting/un-informed criminal-background jobseekers is…On approximately the 90
th day, the company’s [own] HR dept. runs/processes your paperwork to
attempt to transition you from temp-to-permanent; and when the HR dept. discovers that you’ve been “touched” by the criminal justice system, the HR Dept. will terminate your employment, because the [actual] company is not Def. Adj./Misd./Felony-Friendly. THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME…most temp/staffing agencies are only concerned with exploiting you and billing the company $3-$5/hr.
on top of your $8 - $10/hr temp paycheck. Most temp/staffing agencies are focused on making a
profit for every hour that you work on their payroll…
not about helping criminal-background jobseekers find permanent/long-term/gainful employment.
Q. Should I seek expunction or a non-disclosure of my offense(s) so employers can’t see them?
A. First and foremost, you should consult with a specialized attorney (ie
http://yourlawyerleon.com/index.htm) Secondly, from my (15+ yr) experience and elementary understanding, if you were convicted, you are 99.9% ineligible to seek expunction or non-disclosure. Applying for Expunctions or Non-Disclosures is reserved for individuals that opted for deferred adjudication and successfully completed their probation terms. Visit
www.deferredadjudication.org for more details. Also google expunctions and non-disclosures to perform your own research…there is a lot of misinformation floating around Texas…Good Luck