Those are pretty similar to the roles I've been applying. "Red shirt" roles where the checks are low and the work is straight forward.

The problems I'm facing seem to be 1 of 2.

The first one is the obvious one relating to my offence (images). It's quite interesting watching their face turn almost instantly in an interview when you tell them what it is. I've had it a few times where they ask about unspent convictions and I say "yes" and they're usually still on board "Oh that's okay, we're strong believers in giving people a second chance! What was the offence relating to..?". Then when you say images the interview is cut abruptly and "we'll let you know..." said with a face like they've just walked in on your shagging their cat.

The other issue is relating to my work and experience pre-offence. For most of the 'red shirt' work I'm getting turned down because they feel I'm too qualified for it and will leave as soon as something better comes along. Then the same employer will be moaning on BBC or whatever saying they can't get staff. Hello? You've got a guy with nearly 2 decades of experience in that sector ready to go and work for your poverty wage yet you turned him down.

I had a job interview with Tesco for a warehouse job. Completed the physical assessment and went back to the supervisor's office for the paper work. Very last question was "Do you have an unspent conviction?" I answered "yes". The interviewer thanked me for being honest but said he had to refer it to HR. 

Next day my probation officer said that she received a call and told me she gave me a glowing report with no negatives. Never heard from Tesco again. This was less than a month after Amazon "let me go" from working in a distribution centre. It was a zero hours contract. Technically I wasn't sacked. They just weren't going to give me any more work .
 
Now, my PPO told me that she had several SOs employed at the same warehouse. I have no way of knowing whether that was true. She'd lied to me before. The police are legally allowed to do that. 

Confidence shot, that is when I decided that if I couldn't even get a warehouse job I had to start looking at other financial arrangements. Luckily I could do that. Many other people can't.

I have been applying for jobs like warehouse assistant and workshop assistant on minimum wage. I would even do cleaning but I know that can be a tricky thing to get into. I also managed to get a job delivering leaflets. But I was not able to keep up with the amount they wanted delivered. Now that my health is better I was thinking of starting to look for this type of work again. Because they didn't ask. To be honest I only have close family left. I'm not in contact with my other family and have basically lost 90% of my friends. Funny you should say that about big company's I actually heard some success stories for people in my position getting a job with tesco. Not sure how true that is. A huge part of my problem is confidence. I had none to begin with. Now after all this. I find it nearly impossible to put myself out there. 

Just out of interest, what kind of jobs have you been applying for?  Were they all in one specific area of employment, or were you looking for a particular level of salary and were unwilling to consider anything less?

I don't doubt that you have faced huge levels of unwarranted discrimination, but as I said in another post, there are some employers who don't ask you to disclose and they tend to be either really low paid, low skill jobs, or jobs with smaller, family owned companies. The other way that SO tend to get jobs, is through personal contacts, friends and family etc. 

When an SO goes up against other people, in an open competition, particularly for a well paid job, they are at an obvious disadvantage. If the employer is a big name, who can afford a big HR department, they can be especially concerned about reputational damage too, so will want to tick all the boxes. Smaller firms, in my experience, are less inclined to ask questions. They just want someone who can do the job and can start asap. Everything else, is immaterial to them.

Hi
I applaud your topic but after 8 years since my release, 6 since ending my licence, circa 2000 applications, various job offers / headhunted but as soon as I declared all roles are rescinded.




Society suggests I must let go of all my expectations but I disagree, as whilst I have a voice, I have hope.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope is for tomorrow else what is left if you remove a mans hope.
------------------------------

This forum supports these words, thank you Unlock and your contributors.

So I thought I would start a post where everyone in a similar position to me can post any ideas of what has worked for them and what didn't work.This can range from training to self employment to employed work. I will list everything I have managed to do with an SO. I still have 2.5 years before mine is unspent. I can't sit here till then. 

Clean Sheet -  Just started with this company. They call me up every 2 weeks to ask how the job search is going. They have an employment portal with vaccines. Most are out of my area or don't accept SO applications.
Nacro -  They actually got me a job once. I had a guy calling me every 3 days checking up on me. Applying for me. Really super proactive. That was over two years ago. I tried to get in contact with them again but all they do is send me generic links I should check out. 
OffPloy -  The job centre tried to get me on their books. But I was basically ignored. Tried 3 times. All they said. They were waiting for funding. 

Self employment; I would really love any extra ideas that people could suggest. I wish I knew someone personally who had started an ebay business who I could learn off. The whole process seems daunting. But if I could sit here all day taking pictures of items and listing them. It would be ideal. 

Education/Training. 
Go train. Managed to do a course with them. Never actually got a certificate, got told the whole class failed. Because the teacher taught us all wrong?? I didn't really care at the time. Just glad to be out the house
ACL - Managed to do a maths and forklift course with them. 

So yeah as the title states. Lets start a post and try to help each other though this difficult time in our lives. 

Agnecy's -  I have gone down to sign up for them in the past. Taking all my I.D etc. Then just get ignored.