Listed On Available

Well, since I forgot to post this on April 27, 2009, I thought that I had better do it now to let those who read this blog what happened before I forget. Though I was not hired with the City of Everett for the position of Paratransit Operator, I was told that I was placed on the waiting list of potential drivers for future openings. Lovely. But that did not stop me the way I wanted my life to go.

You convicted felons? Do not give up at what you want to do as a career in life. I know first hand. I started to research where the trucking industry was going. It was not a pretty sight. So, instead of bitching about it, I did something about my future life, success and finances. Starting June 8, 2009, I start the Visual Communications course at the Everett Campus of ITT Tech. I will be going for my Associate's Degree and I will graduate in June 2011. I plan to take a quarter off after that and then go back to earn my Bachelor's Degree in Digital Entertainment & Game Design. I will graduate from that in September 2013. Granted, I will be a month away from my 50th birthday by then, but I will have done it for me and no one else.

That is the attitude you need in life, especially if you are a convicted felon. Do not give up and fight for what you want out of life like your life depended on it.

Today Is The Day

Well, for the past two months, I have been going through the process of getting hired on with the City of Everett as a ParaTansit Operator. Today at 1:25pm, I will be sitting in front of a 9-member panel to discuss my work history and past experience...or whatever it is they do at a panel interview.

Do Not Give Up

I have recently been going through the process to be hired on with the City of Everett, Washington as a Para-Transit Operator. Though my felony conviction is over seven years old, I know that it will be brought up at some point in the hiring process. Some of you may ask why then, did I even apply? Well, I look at it this way...if I do not try then I have no one to blame for my failure other than myself.

As I have said, I am a published poet with one book out now called "The Spoken Spirit: Thunder's Spirit Speaks" and a second book sitting at the publisher's text department waiting for me to get all the legal documents in for using some real people's names. (The second book is titled "Wolf's Whispers: The Spoken Spirit, Part 2.") Now, if I thought that I could not become a published poet, then I would not have gone through the tasks of writing it in a manuscript form, let alone send it into the publisher.

I do not allow nothing to get in my way, especially the fact that I am a convicted felon. For those of you who say that you cannot do something because of your felony, then you are only setting up yourself for failure. If you fail at anything after you are known to others as a convicted felon, it is because of what you did not do...follow your heart.

I applied with the City of Everett because I am tired of trying to live the life of what society chooses for those of us who branded as ex-cons. I feel that I am better than what people who have not been convicted think of me. I feel that it is worth me TRYING, with all my heart and soul, to do something that I feel would make me happy doing.

In closing, if you are not happy with your life as being a convicted felon, then by God, stop standing around and waiting for something to happen. MAKE THINGS HAPPEN FOR YOU!!

Hiring Convicted Felons

I know that there are businesses out there who wish to save money on their taxes. Why not hire a convicted felon? Though I do not know what the individual states guidelines are for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC), Washington State has the following for convicted felons: A convicted felon who was released from prison within the past year or who is actively involved in a work release program. You can view all the details here for Washington State. If you live in any other state, sit down at a computer, if you are a felon that can still do that, go Google and type in the search box "tax credits for hiring felons in * state," where as the asterisk is what state you inquiring about.

I know that there are companies out there who even have a complete resource list for helping felons. One I have found to help is Hard2Hire, or H2H. H2H has a national listing of companies and other businesses who are willing to hire felons. Basically, they are an employment agency for those people with disabilities, ex-offenders, older workers and many others cannot find their way forward. They are a company who have their act together in helping those who have offended and attempting to get them back to work and re-enter society. Their target for 2009 is getting 1,000,000 Americans back to work in 2009. Now those Americans are those people with disabilities, ex-offenders, older workers and many others cannot find their way forward.

I find it difficult to believe that even though I am a combat vet, Operation Urgent Fury: October 25, 1983 to Decembed 15, 1983, people do not see that anymore when the issue with my crminal background comes up. People DO make mistakes, there is not one person out there who is perfect.

Who does hire convicted felons? I am not sure on that nore, but I do know who does not hire them. Most temp agencies, such as ManPower, Express Personnel and NW Staffing Services do not. I know of a "BlackList" among the temp agencies which exists. I know this thanks to an unnamed friend who used to work at Express Personnel. She worked for them since they started business. But when they implemented the policy to not hire convicted felons and maintain a list, she quit. She said that the list is then shared with other temp agencies who do not hire convicted felons. Thus the reasoning for her calling it "The Black List."

Let me give you an example of how many of us felons view working. I love to work and work hard. Perfect example of this is my last employment for 2008. I worked for an express freight company based out of Fife, Washington. Though my delivery area was primarily in Snohomish County, Washington, I did travel all around the Puget Sound, including the eastern area of the Olympic Penninsula. Between September 15, 2008 to October 10, 2008 there are 19 work days. Within that time I worked 264 hours! (Normal hours for this time frame would be closer to 120 hours.) How is that for a hard working convicted felon? Though me leaving that job had nothing to do with my conviction, that was just to show people out there that there are some of us willing to work hard to make it in society.

In closing, the convicted felon's best bet for finding employment, that I have found, is going through your local state employment office, LaborReady and go old fashioned hitting the pavement. Emailing and phone calls help, but unless that is the company's preferred method, it will earn you another negative mark in your work search.

First Time Convicted Felons

In 2001, I was convicted of my very first felony, ever. I thought that the way that the system was set up that you do your time and your debt to society is paid. Little does anyone who has not been convicted of a felony know that is bullshit. It does not matter if you have been convicted of your first felony or your third or your 10th. If you have a felony, chances are, you will not get hired anywhere. Only if you are really lucky will you get hired somewhere. Most likely though, it is at minimum wage or just barely above.

I have seen first hand what companies do when they find out that you have been convicted of a felony. They do not ask crucial questions pertaining to the fact that I have a felony. My answers are in brackets, but they could ask questions pertaining to it such as: 1) How many felonies do you have? [1] 2) What happened to casue this conviction? [I caught my best friend in bed with my then wife and beat the living crap out of him. It just happened that he was an off-duty police officer and Indiana does not believe in "crimes of passion," which this was in the eyes of Washington State.] 3) What did your sentencing consist of? [I was convicted of a Class C Felony, Battery on a law enforcement officer, resulting serious bodily injury. I was sentenced to eight years, six suspended and serve two. I was released after a year for good behavior. I was also given eight years probation. I was released from probation 50 months early because I not only completed the other terms of the sentence, but Washington State D.O.C. thought I was a "model Probationee" and was a waste of their time.] 4) What were the other terms of your sentence? [I had to be evaluated for a drug/alcohol problem. It was determined that I had no problems with them. I had to take a stress/anger management class, which I did within three months of being released from prison. I also had to pay my $20/month probationary fees to the State of Washington. I paid for the entire eight years of probation in advance, in one lump sum. I was told that I needed employment during my probation period. I started an online business where I was successful enough that I had plenty to pay rent, utilities and recreational expenses with. Unfortunately, Washington State D.O.C. wanted me to be employed by someone else, not for myself. So, after shutting down my successful internet business, I got a job working for a well established local company. I ended up taking a cut in pay, but I satisfied the D.O.C. requirement.] 5) How do you feel that you have moved up from that? [Well, I have fulfilled more of my life's goals in the past 7-1/2 years than I did in the previous 10 years. I am a published poet, soon to have a second book of poetry out. I am currently working on a work of fiction, National Treasure meets Indiana Jones type storyline. I am currently working on getting my internet business going again. I have my own car now, as opposed to relying on others or the transit system. I have material things that I feel is essential to my business and to my personal life.]

These are the questions that I would like to hear from a potential employer. I would then know, in my heart, that there is actually one employer in the world who gives a rat's ass about giving us convicted felons a chance at actually being productive members of society once again. We can only be that, productive members of society, if we are given a chance.

Now I understand that employers are less likely to give a repeat offender a chance, but a first-time felon, such as myself, come on people! Employers ahve to realize that not all convicted felons are the same. Just because they might have had a bad experience after hiring one convicted felon, do not mean that all convicted felons are the same! Hell, I know I am nowhere near being like some other convicted felons. But I am treated the same.

So, in closing, the felon's debt to society is never paid while society screens potential employees and discriminates us all as being "bad apples." Our debt to society in today's day and age is still owed and we shall continue to pay for the rest of our natural lives.