NEW YORK (AP) — Don Christian had never held a regular job when he left prison. A conviction at age 19 for selling drugs kept him confined through young adulthood and into his early 40s.
When he got out after serving 23 years and started looking for work, "I had to start from the bottom. The very, very bottom," Christian said. "I was willing to work anywhere. I just wanted to change my life."
After Christian's release, his parole officer suggested applying for a job at Toyotetsu, an auto parts manufacturer. The company hires former inmates through a second-chance program. Christian, now 53, got a welding job there and began rebuilding his life.
"I had to learn on the go, on the fly," he said nine years later. "I already had my mind set — I wasn't going to fail."
Christian took up welding in prison, which helped him land the job at Toyotetsu. He still works at the company, where he mentors new employees. He also takes social work classes with the goal of earning an associate degree and helping other former inmates transition into working life.
"Even when they come home with skills and credentials, they see fewer job opportunities and they earn less money than people who don't have convictions," Ruth Delaney, who directs a higher education initiative at the Vera Institute, said.
Having a criminal record, as an estimated 1 in 3 American adults do, creates hurdles for people seeking employment, especially in fields that require licenses, according to the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit that aims to end mass incarceration. Meeting with parole officers, a need to secure stable housing and other conditions of release, along with discrimination, compound the typical challenges of job hunting.
A number of U.S. companies, including large employers like JP Morgan Chase and Virgin Atlantic, work intentionally to hire people with criminal records. The Business Roundtable, a nonprofit association of American CEOs, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have promoted "second-chance hiring" as a policy that can help address labor shortages as baby boomers retire in large numbers.
Some types of businesses, such as restaurants and warehouses, have established track records for hiring former inmates. Manufacturing jobs and technical positions in health care are growing opportunities as well, Delaney said.
