FROM: Jeremy Sherer
Community Outreach Specialist
United States Attorney's Office - Northern District of Alabama
Jun 23 at 2:15 PM
I regularly receive a variety of feedback from the employment opportunities I send out. Some from probation officers or ex-offenders reporting success, and other continued frustration. Those who are frustrated occasionally ask if the employers listed below actually do hire persons who’ve committed a felony. Frankly various employers have diverse opinions on the types and numbers of felonies they'll accept from a candidate. Some might be willing to accept property or violent offenders, but not drug offenders. And, vice versa. And, there some have sliding acceptability standards when it comes to the number of offenses accepted. We've had folks in federal probation supervision that have been employed with multiple felonies, get revoked again, and then have increased difficult in finding a job. In the opportunities that I send out, I weed out the ones that state they completely don't accept persons with criminal histories. I typically weed out employers that say they perform criminal background checks. However, if I'm personally aware of persons with criminal histories that are employed by that same company or by other companies in that same field, I'll typically include those. I completely understand anyone frustrated with the difficulty of finding a job. But, I encourage job seekers to be steadfast in their search. While some employers on the distribution list might not be willing to extend a chance to some persons with criminal histories, we've had success with people landing jobs from opportunities on the list. So, I encourage you to be persistent and broad in your job search efforts. I'll certainly do everything I can on my end to help you identify the right opportunity.
A piece currently on AL.com lists the companies that have recently been doing most of the hiring across the state. I’ve got several of their job sites listed below, along with various opportunities that might be open to persons with a criminal history - More than 54K job ads posted in Alabama in May; see which companies were state's top employers.
Sears has current openings ranging from retail sales, to auto maintenance, to facility maintenance - Sears Job Openings
Lowes’ Hardware has over 40 jobs listed around the state. Go to Lowes Jobs and sort by location.
As always, AIDT is advertising a variety of positions around the state - AIDT Jobs.
Currently around the state, at least 30 Starbucks facilities are hiring - Starbucks Job Openings . Considering that Starbucks recently announced a program to pay for online college programs for employees (Starbucks workers could pay $23,000 for 4-year tuition ) , individuals needing to get more educational skills should strongly consider options here.
Jeremy Sherer
Community Outreach Specialist
United States Attorney's Office - Northern District of Alabama
(205) 244-2019
1801 4th Avenue North
Birmingham, AL 35203
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