Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer • Hacker News Board

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#131

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 4:01 PM UTC

buro9 wrote: post #73

exhomeless wrote: post #59

I was homeless for about a year and a half. The first 6 months were spent sleeping on the streets, and when possible, in a shelter - but realistically, in the area where I was, most shelters were not really a safe place to be, and the few that were filled up early. The remaining time, I crashed at a drug dealers house and helped sell in return. I didn't have much more than the belongings that fit in a mid-sized duffl…

Fully escaped? I've spoken openly of my 30 months sleeping rough on the streets of the UK. I may have "escaped" homelessness, but the mental scars accumulated whilst on the street do still haunt me. I feel it, the sense of worthlessness, the self-doubt. There's a feeling that I shouldn't be alive let alone here in this workplace or surrounded by good people, a feeling that I don't quite belong. One can put a roof ove…

[deleted]

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#132

Post by ambicapter » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 4:07 PM UTC

exhomeless wrote: post #74

RealGeek wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Glad you were able to break the vicious cycle and build a career. What job do you do now? What skills / education helped you get the job?

Engineering - self taught, and I have a GED (for non-U.S., this is a credential that is treated as an equivalent to passing high school).

So you haven't taken the professional engineering exam (forget what its called)? What was the first job you got out of homelessness?

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#133

Post by cerebrum » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 4:20 PM UTC

buro9 wrote: post #73

exhomeless wrote: post #59

I was homeless for about a year and a half. The first 6 months were spent sleeping on the streets, and when possible, in a shelter - but realistically, in the area where I was, most shelters were not really a safe place to be, and the few that were filled up early. The remaining time, I crashed at a drug dealers house and helped sell in return. I didn't have much more than the belongings that fit in a mid-sized duffl…

Fully escaped? I've spoken openly of my 30 months sleeping rough on the streets of the UK. I may have "escaped" homelessness, but the mental scars accumulated whilst on the street do still haunt me. I feel it, the sense of worthlessness, the self-doubt. There's a feeling that I shouldn't be alive let alone here in this workplace or surrounded by good people, a feeling that I don't quite belong. One can put a roof ove…

I never was homeless but I hate christmas. Since I have a good career now I always travel to some warm place during christmas.

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#134

Post by ensignavenger » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 4:27 PM UTC

alistairSH wrote: post #121

forgetsusername wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are two kinds of background checks. IBM. Wells Fargo. Frontier Airlines. T-Mobile. Experian. Daimler Chrysler. These are some of the companies listed in the article. They are some of the biggest in the world. They don't seem to me to be the type of companies that take the latter approach to recruitment, possibly opening themselves up to discrimination legal issues.

They probably do both. The official background check may come back clean. But, as soon as the HR guy or hiring manager put his name through Google, they see "So and so convicted of dealing crack."

Surely one of the first things he does when contacting a company is to warn them that a web search will find these things, but that he has been exonerated, and to provide documentation as to such?

I just find it incredibly sad that the people conducting these background checks at such large companies are so utterly incompetent.

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#135

Post by jschwartzi » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 4:40 PM UTC

spyder wrote: post #60

Why don't they do the background check before the interviews so they don't waste eachother's time and money just to later have a background check fail. Does a background check costs more than an interview and paying for the flights?

It's probably because the interviewer's time is a sunk cost, whereas the background check would require accounting approval.

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#136

Post by Filligree » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 4:45 PM UTC

gabalese wrote: post #63

exhomeless wrote: post #59

I was homeless for about a year and a half. The first 6 months were spent sleeping on the streets, and when possible, in a shelter - but realistically, in the area where I was, most shelters were not really a safe place to be, and the few that were filled up early. The remaining time, I crashed at a drug dealers house and helped sell in return. I didn't have much more than the belongings that fit in a mid-sized duffl…

Great story indeed, and really inspirational. But that just reaffirms what other commenters already pointed out: the problem is not homelessness per se , but a (unfair) criminal record that doesn't mix really well with a job in security. What I find incredible, though, it's that this record still persists after he has been cleared of the past accusations.

It persists on the internet. This type of situation is essentially the reasoning behind the EU's "right to be forgotten".

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#137

Post by jpindar » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 5:00 PM UTC

ekianjo wrote: post #34

nickff wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even the president is in favor of punishing people who have been suspected of crimes; it seems to be a popular position that people are not really innocent until proven guilty.[1][2] I find this trend deeply troubling, but it does seem at least somewhat popular. #2 is at least partly due to the fact the if the companies allowed him an opportunity to refute the claim, they would be incurring various legal liabilities.…

> it seems to be a popular position that people are not really innocent until proven guilty Shouldnt that be instead: "people are somewhat guilty until proven innocent" based on the links you shared?

Parse it as: people are not really "innocent until proven guilty".

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#138

Post by asift » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 5:24 PM UTC

crimsonalucard wrote: post #2

Why don't wrongfully convicted people Sue for damages and use the lawsuit to get there records purged? I sure there is a reason why people don't in general I'm just not clear what exactly this reason is. Anyone in the know care to elucidate me?

Depending on where you live, it might be that certain court/legal records can never be expunged.

I know a guy who was sober (determined by multiple breathalyzer tests), but arrested for public intoxication. The case was immediately thrown out and the charges dropped, but he lives in a state where arrest records cannot be expunged. It's the only thing that shows up on his criminal record, but he's had job offers fall apart because employers assume he was actually guilty of public intoxication (a charge that usually only comes against people acting belligerent, violent, so drunk they can't walk, etc.) and just lawyered his way out of it. He thought about suing for wrongful arrest, simply to try and bolster his case in employment situations, but his attorney told him that it's nearly impossible to win a wrongful arrest suit and it would cost him 10's of thousands of dollars to even try.

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#139

Post by temphack » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 5:24 PM UTC

buro9 wrote: post #73

exhomeless wrote: post #59

I was homeless for about a year and a half. The first 6 months were spent sleeping on the streets, and when possible, in a shelter - but realistically, in the area where I was, most shelters were not really a safe place to be, and the few that were filled up early. The remaining time, I crashed at a drug dealers house and helped sell in return. I didn't have much more than the belongings that fit in a mid-sized duffl…

Fully escaped? I've spoken openly of my 30 months sleeping rough on the streets of the UK. I may have "escaped" homelessness, but the mental scars accumulated whilst on the street do still haunt me. I feel it, the sense of worthlessness, the self-doubt. There's a feeling that I shouldn't be alive let alone here in this workplace or surrounded by good people, a feeling that I don't quite belong. One can put a roof ove…

I wasn't really homeless but when I was a teenager I struggled with food for some years. I mean, sometimes eating only once per 2 or 3 days. For weeks or months.

I can say now I'm much better, maybe not part of the 1%, but surely part of the 2% :)

But not fully escaped. They say hard times build character. That's true, but the physical and psychological sequels are with me for ever. Nobody should be that poor.

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#140

Post by alistairSH » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 5:35 PM UTC

ensignavenger wrote: post #134

alistairSH wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They probably do both. The official background check may come back clean. But, as soon as the HR guy or hiring manager put his name through Google, they see "So and so convicted of dealing crack."

Surely one of the first things he does when contacting a company is to warn them that a web search will find these things, but that he has been exonerated, and to provide documentation as to such? I just find it incredibly sad that the people conducting these background checks at such large companies are so utterly incompetent.

I'm not sure I agree that this is a sign of incompetence. Instead, it's likely a case of extreme risk aversion.

Hiring somebody is risky and expensive. The cost for getting it wrong is quite high. At best, it costs the team money in lost productivity. At worst, the new hire actually is a criminal (or whatever).

Given two otherwise equal applicants, it's only prudent to hire the one that doesn't have nasty Google results.