Looking for a job as high as possible after a time in jail is not at all an easy task for anyone. The difficulty is even doubled if it is a high paying job, as in this case many people compete for the same job and most employers do not take felons into serious consideration. Good paying jobs are not very many or common, so you need to do a lot of research and inquiries to look for a suitable job.
Rule 1: Don’t lie
One thing that many felons try to do to relieve themselves of the criminal history burden is to make lies in their job application. This is an illegal thing to do (prescribed as “fraud”), and there are laws made specifically to protect employers in this case. So if you do not want to defame your background anymore and stay away from any lawsuit, you are advised not to lie in your application, instead be 100% truthful. Some employers do not really care about your criminal background, but if you are not honest in your application, they will make sure you are never accepted into their business.
Rule 2: Prepare your appearance
In some cases, felons are rejected from jobs not because of their criminal history, but because of their lack of skills, education, negative attitude, appearance, etc. Therefore, do not take the negative response to your head. Instead, you are recommended to try to amend your style and appearance and enhance your skills and knowledge. If you want to get a job, first make sure that you appear more potential than other applicants towards the employers. Employers want to take on employees with high productivity and competency for the job, so showing that you have what they want is the key a getting a job.
Some years ago, felons were restricted to roof jobs and construction sites with minimum wage. Nowadays there are more opportunities and some jobs pay really well regardless of your backgrounds. However, getting accepted to a high paying job and earning high salary with a criminal history using only an application form is impossible. What I mean here is that you have to work in low-wage positions first and earn experience, then you can get promoted to higher positions and earn more money from yours. Here are some good paying jobs you can get:
- Self-employment: Be your own employer! Felons can start a small business and earn profits from the business operation. Content writing, freelancing, etc. and many kind of home-based businesses can provide opportunities to work from home and earn decent money. This kind of job has its own risks, however.
- Customer relationship management: Some companies take on customer relationship employees regardless of their backgrounds. This job requires skills of interpersonal communication, information processing, and customer treatment. Employees in this talk to a customer in person, via phones, emails, etc.
- Welder: Welder is a high-paying job, yet it requires that you start at the base level and earn experience to reach higher positions. Experience is very important in this job.
- Electrician: Similar to the welder job, electrician job requires everyone to start at the entry level and go through some training programs to learn skills and experience. If you can work in high positions of this job, the salary is very decent.
- Carpenter: Carpentry jobs do not care what happened in your past, but they place a strong focus on how you work now and what skills you have.
Finding good paying jobs for people with criminal records may be a difficult task, but if you equip yourself with the right attitude, nice appearance, sufficient skills, and education, the problem is not so big at all. There are some jobs that pay well and overlook the past of employees. Therefore, be confident in your competency and remember to be honest about your past, or else you will end up in a fraud affair and the situation gets so much worse for you.