Ask HN: Would you hire a felon for technical work? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Would you hire a felon for technical work?

#11

Post by raincom » Tue, Dec 18, 2018, 5:11 PM UTC

joshuaellinger wrote: post #6

A friend of mine had a similar issue. Drug-related. No big company would hire him. Hell, my contract with a large company said I couldn't hire him even if I wanted to. Oddly enough, the way he got around it was to start his own consulting company and hide behind it. Nobody would hire him as an "employee" but they would hire his company without asking about his personal history. Seems like a big loophole but it worked…

Even that loophole does not work, if the client insists on background checks of the people who work for consulting companies. Big companies ask staffing companies to submit background reports.

Re: Ask HN: Would you hire a felon for technical work?

#12

Post by AznHisoka » Tue, Dec 18, 2018, 6:41 PM UTC

Yes I would but I would rather not know and wouldnt ask if it was up to me. I already got enough things to worry about!

Re: Ask HN: Would you hire a felon for technical work?

#13

Post by Spooky23 » Tue, Dec 18, 2018, 10:38 PM UTC

After two decades I would bite. Two years, probably not. With a pardon, absolutely. Exception would be if I had any concern about the safety of my colleagues or compliance requirements.

Credentialism for this stuff is out of control. Between school volunteering, work, little league, etc I have like 5 entities monitoring me.

Re: Ask HN: Would you hire a felon for technical work?

#14

Post by justin66 » Wed, Dec 19, 2018, 2:58 AM UTC

awaywopassd wrote: post #10

anonyfelon wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This part is so discouraging. I've experienced this many times.

To be honest, don't voluntarily give any negative information. Don't lie if someone asks directly about criminal background. Normally, job application is filled out after hiring manager makes an offer. This where you might need to fill out any felonies. If during this phase something goes wrong, I would not hold it against you. And if someone does, you tell them you have been working for 20 years at different jobs an…

> Don't lie if someone asks directly about criminal background.

If you have a record legally expunged by a court, if it has been expunged automatically after a certain period of time, or even if you've been pardoned or something, you're generally expected to lie if asked the question. Great system.

Re: Ask HN: Would you hire a felon for technical work?

#15

Post by anoncoward111 » Wed, Dec 19, 2018, 7:52 AM UTC

raincom wrote: post #11

joshuaellinger wrote: post #6

A friend of mine had a similar issue. Drug-related. No big company would hire him. Hell, my contract with a large company said I couldn't hire him even if I wanted to. Oddly enough, the way he got around it was to start his own consulting company and hide behind it. Nobody would hire him as an "employee" but they would hire his company without asking about his personal history. Seems like a big loophole but it worked…

Even that loophole does not work, if the client insists on background checks of the people who work for consulting companies. Big companies ask staffing companies to submit background reports.

At which point, unfortunatelym doing business with big companies is no longer a time-efficient pursuit.

Despite how much I hate to say it, this world is still extremely political and illogical and laws/policies/reality are shaped by those with the deepest pockets and biggest sticks.

Re: Ask HN: Would you hire a felon for technical work?

#16

Post by walrus01 » Wed, Dec 19, 2018, 12:30 PM UTC

No. My company has state and federal government contracts which require background checks on all employees. Whether I find you personally trustworthy is irrelevant, the contracts in place for government network infrastructure worth many millions of dollars of annual revenue could be voided by hiring you and concealing your felony from the contracting agencies. Hiring you could result in a dozen people losing their jobs, some of whom are the sole providers for their families.

I do not have the political influence or lobbying ability to change these agencies' service/contracting procurement policies. The work will simply go elsewhere if I have a felon with 'enable' on the routers.