Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Dear Human Resources Manager

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I am writing to request an interview to work for your organization.  When I filled out your online application, you asked about my criminal history.  Because I answered honestly, I fear that we’ll never meet face to face in order for me to explain my past.  This is disappointing, because I have something valuable to offer.

It is also frustrating, because productive employment represents one of the bridges that could lead me back to a trusted place within my community.  I can explain what led me to commit criminal acts. For me, it was out of the desperation of addiction; but, everyone has a unique story.  The point is that I fractured the bond that existed between me and my community.  Now that I’m out of prison, I have to heal that wound.  Using my skills and passion to help you achieve your goals is one of the ways that the bonds of trust are restored.  It shouldn’t be a surprise that the likelihood of me and anyone with a criminal past going back to prison decreases significantly when we find gainful employment. 

For many years, I was defined by the crimes I committed.  I wore the label “offender”.  It represented a permanent state, not the actions of my past.  The label doesn’t go away just because they released me from prison.  People ensure that it remains a permanent mark of shame that separates me from my community.  In the rare instances when I get an interview, employers quickly race to the end of the interview when I try to explain what I’ve done to overcome my past. Even if they wanted to give me a chance, their lawyers or senior executives would veto the decision.    

Ironically, it is what I’ve done to overcome my past that makes me an asset beyond what you can imagine.  In prison, I learned to deal with stress, anger, and pain without turning to alcohol or drugs to change my mood.  How many of your current employees can say that?  In prison, I learned to do the right thing at every moment, even when no one was looking.  Can all of your senior executives say that?  How many of your workers embrace their jobs with the type of gratitude and passion that I would bring with me every day?  Believe it or not, it was in working to overcome my past that I learned all of these things.  
The criminal record you see on that application represents untold efforts to overcome the worst about myself.  How is that not a strength? 
If you took the criminal background question off of your application, you and I might get an opportunity to have this conversation.  You wouldn’t be alone.  Hundreds of cities and counties around the country removed the question from their employment applications.  Already, 18 states followed suit.  Major corporations like Walmart, Target, Home Depot, and Koch Industries removed the question from their application.  I included links below that will allow you to read about these decisions yourself. 

These employers know something that you don’t.  They know that we all make terrible mistakes in our lives, and that we should never be permanently defined by our darkest moments.  When they welcome people into their organizations who have worked to overcome past mistakes, they build a bridge back to the community that anyone can walk across, even themselves. 

Respectfully,


Doug Smith

Fair Chance Employment Resources:


3 comments:

  1. FROM HR SUPERVISOR
    I agree. Employment would help you, but we have no obligation to help you and will not do so until we have helped all others who have NOT committed crimes.

    A further problem is that all our dishes are washed by machines and all our ditches are dug by unionized heavy machine operators.

    We could not, in good conscience, offer more promising positions to criminals when there are unemployed people who remained law abiding and who knew what the word "dope" meant.
    In short, if you go back to prison, we pretty much just don't care. Never have, never will.

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    Replies
    1. DEAR HR SUPERVISOR,
      Your comment is most ill-considered and your judgment of this blogger, categorizing him as a dirty criminal who is only worthy of a job digging ditches or washing dishes is painfully short-sighted. Have you never made any mistakes yourself? Have you never done anything you later regretted? Do you know no one who eases their stress by drinking alcohol?

      The blogger you have responded to is highly educated, a dedicated worker, and damned more compassionate of others than most. What he is saying in this post is that by learning from and transcending his own mistakes he has become exceptionally thoughtful about his behavior, more considerate of how his actions affect others, more compassionate towards others and himself, more internally motivated to work hard and passionately, and able to feel genuine gratitude about having a job. He is a person who would wake up in the morning eager and excited to go to work, instead of complaining and griping. Why? Because coming out of prison and then having something to feel hopeful about can change a person's life for the better. Coming out of prison and having no hope can drive a person back to crime. That is just one reason why he will be a more valuable employee.

      But, why should we care about this instead of letting all people who commit crimes rot away in jail? Well, aside from the economic reasons (you can read a conservative's view here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/mattstroud/2013/03/11/the-conservative-case-against-more-prisons/) – I’ll tell you…
      One, being in recovery from a substance abuse problem compels a person to live more fruitfully and constructively than before. That person understands how easy it is to lose that life, and will not again jeopardize what they have gained. One thing is for sure, he’ll never go to work hung over! Two, the worth of a human being should not be defined by his actions alone. And three, HUMAN BEINGS CHANGE.

      And, MR. HR SUPERVISOR, I have hope that you can change too. Be willing to consider a person by the measure of his values and integrity instead of by his past. Because he is, and will always be, a member of your community.

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