Hi Doug, I can fully understand how you are feeling at the moment. I was employed by the same company for nearly 30 years before my offence. After I finished my sentence I really tried to find employment handing out countless CV`s, knocking on doors and just plain old fashioned walking into lots of different companies and asking face to face for work. Now at this point non of them knew about my conviction. I was saving that for my interview unless specifically asked before hand.

Sadly I didn't get a single invite so I can only conclude that my age (57 at the time) was working against me. OK so my only option was to "reinvent myself" and become self employed and to be honest I am loving it. I am never going to become a millionaire but it keeps me out of the Job centre who were to be honest totally useless other than to lower my self esteem.

The only ones I found who were remotely interested in employing someone like me were Timpsons the shoe repair people but they didn't have any current vacancies ( a fact I am now grateful for).
I am stuck with my crime for life it isn't going to ever be spent but on the whole it doesn't really matter to me now too much, I have found I can exist with it and have a good life. Sad fact is NO ONE will do it for you we are who we are you just need to arrange your life around that and it will be ok for you. Keep the faith and 2019 isn't far away.

Interesting thread and I can relate to a lot of what has been said, however the view that you need to keep your head down in my personal experience isn't entirely necessary (although I don't have my offence tattooed across my face if you take my meaning).
I feel that the fundamental of any offence is that a trust was breached and if you are asking someone to trust you again you need to be open and honest. I have always found that it has worked for me ( I told one guy who was so impressed with my honesty he accepted me for who I am now not who I was). I learnt not to have a predetermined expectation of how you will be treated. I,e, I have to visit the police station once a year to update my details. The person I saw asked me for a brochure from my business as an interested customer before I left.

Hi Doug,

I agree that putting your head above the parapet does mean you're in the firing line however, and don't take this as a criticism, in some of the other threads (and possibly the two that are "stickys" there is reference to employers that take the blanket "We won't employ ex-offenders" stance. IF you're fortunate enough to get to interview stage then it is worth finding out (discretely if necessary) what their policy is regarding people with a conviction. If they haven't got a policy (negative or positive) and you are asked if you have a conviction and/or is there anything significant that you need to tell us? then use your confidence to explain your situation. I state that I have a conviction and then ask them if they need to know any details or would they like to wait until after they had made a decision. That way, you don't have to disclose unless you are successful but you have been open and honest with them and they should appreciate that although it may not get you the job! I don't agree with lying as that can get you into all sorts of trouble should your employer ever find out that you've lied to them. And none of us want an extra conviction for breaching the ROA!

TL;DR
Chin up, be confident, don't lie, don't apply for jobs with Royal Mail or John Lewis* etc.


*Unless you wanted to gain interview experience or research into attitudes towards ex-offenders etc.

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I haven't stolen any Pineapples, but they are a great prog rock band!

I havent stolen any Pineapples, but they are a great prog rock band!

Let's be honest if you're struggling to get 5, might be a bit of a reach to get 100k.

Prejudice will always happen when it comes to people with Convictions. This forum is a prime example when it decided to segregate and abandon a large selection of people trying to rehabilitate due to them having committed certain offences. That says a lot when this is thw supposed voice of the reformed offender.

Lastly I fear you have discovered what is the problem of our society, apathy. People, including people with convictions, are just too apathetic. Unless it's the current fashionable good cause people don't care. Maybe you should ask people to get wet or do some stupid act whilst signing, might be more popular then.

I signed up Doug - how many is you get?

Hi all

My conviction was in 2013 and according to all the new regulations, it is apparently spent (2 years) so although I do not have to tick the "Do you have any unspent criminal convictions?" box on job applications, I still have to declare if I have any unprotected convictions, which I do, as it was custodial (4 weeks but not served) so will not be eligible for filtering

I have a degree, but ironically, I have been unsuccessful trying to get interviews for supermarkets (although that was just after the conviction) but I have been interviewed for jobs at universities and the NHS (this year)! For those type of jobs obviously the ROA does not apply, due to the nature of the work. I've not been successful as yet and for those organisations who do provide feedback, I am of the opinion that it is rubbish (cynical, I know) and the reason is because of the conviction. Although in saying that, I was offered a job at a London hospital in January but after the training, I decided it wasn't for me. I believe there are companies who will employ ex-offenders but due to the job market, they usually have so many applicants, they can disregard all those with convictions immediately as there are so many other people to choose from!

As someone mentioned already, what are ex-offenders supposed to do then, remain on JSA until their conviction is spent and even after that period, we still have difficulties, which reminds me of this quote:

DON'T JUDGE MY STORY BASED ON ONE CHAPTER YOU HAPPENED TO WALK INTO