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Les Rosen's Corner
November 01, 2012 posted by Steve Brownstein
CareerBuilder Study Finds Over 50 Percent of Employers Have Hired Job Applicants with Criminal Records
A study from CareerBuilder of more than 2,000 hiring managers nationwide revealed 51 percent of Human Resource managers reported that their organizations have hired a job applicant with a criminal record. More information about the study conducted by Harris Interactive©, which also looked at what job applicants with criminal records can do to better their chances of getting hired, is available on CareerBuilder.com®, the largest online career site in the U.S., at: http://www.careerbuilder.com/Article/MSN-3152-Job-Search-Half-of-employers-have-hired-someone-with-a-criminal-record/.
“The number one recommendation hiring managers have is to own your past and focus on what you learned from it to grow professionally and personally,” Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources, stated in a press release available at: http://www.careerbuilder.com/share/aboutus/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?sd=9/27/2012&id=pr717&ed=9/27/2099.
According to the study of 2,298 U.S. hiring managers and human-resource professionals conducted between May 14 and June 4, 2012, job applicants with criminal records can make themselves more marketable to employers by following these recommendations:
-68 percent of hiring managers recommended being up front and honest about the conviction and stress what was learned from it.
-48 percent of hiring managers recommended being willing to work your way up.
-46 percent of hiring managers recommended staying positive.
-39 percent of hiring managers recommended preparing while in prison (taking classes, getting a degree, or vocational training).
-31 percent of hiring managers recommended not applying to jobs where a criminal record means automatically disqualification.
-31 percent of hiring managers recommended volunteering.
-26 percent of hiring managers recommended taking freelance or temporary assignments.
-18 percent of hiring managers recommended joining the military.
-16 percent of hiring managers recommended starting your own business.
-13 percent of hiring managers recommended monitoring what is said on social media.
According to figures from the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics cited in a July 2011 meeting by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on ‘Arrest and Conviction Records as a Barrier to Employment,’ more than 92 million individuals have a criminal history on file in state databases. For more information, visit: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/newsroom/testimony/2011/11_0726asolomon.pdf.
In April 2012, the EEOC – the agency that enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination – voted to approve updated Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The complete text of the updated EEOC Guidance is available at http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/arrest_conviction.cfm.
