
Ask HN: When to disclose shameful felony during interview process? - sexoffender
As someone with a very strong software background and a recent felony, I&#x27;m wondering what your advice is in securing a local tech job. When should I tell interviewers? Is it even possible to get a tech job ever again? The last person I interviewed with canceled my second interview because she found out about this through google, and suggested maybe I look into contracting, but that sounds just as unlikely because of how easy it is to google me. Should I tell interviewers during the first introductory 30 minute phone call? Would this kind of red flag completely stop <i>you</i> from hiring someone who otherwise seems very qualified? What would make you more likely to keep moving forward with them?
======
noahc
Have you tried blogging and pushing those results off the first page. Sign up
for every social media account you can with your real name and location and
then create little snippets to post to them to push everything down.

------
dragonwriter
> As someone with a very strong software background and a recent felony, I'm
> wondering what your advice is in securing a local tech job.

Local...where? (That may help people with appropriate local knowledge give
more specific advice.)

While the pay may be worse, you may have better luck with public sector tech
jobs (they will certainly consider the offense in hiring decisions, but they
may be less likely to use it as an arbitrary complete disqualification.)

------
jgimenez
Can you ask Google to remove your links? It is possible depending on
countries. The legal ground is once a person has paid back to society they are
just like any other person and they have the right to be forgotten [0].

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_be_forgotten](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_be_forgotten)

------
akulbe
When you have a record, there's almost always a middleman in the way of you
getting a job. Most of the time, that's H.R.

HR is _NOT_ your friend. That is another conversation entirely.

If you cannot find someone to give you a break for a job, then I'm betting
your best bet will be to remove the middleman, and go the self-employed route.

It is _NOT_ easy, but it can be more lucrative and rewarding.

Good luck.

------
syllogism
Depends on the specifics. What did you do?

~~~
sexoffender
Suffice it to say it isn't something that makes me a risk to the employer, but
it's also more awkward to discuss than other felonies.

~~~
surrogatekey
Of course how much you disclose is totally your business, and I can't speak
for the person you're replying to. But for me this isn't enough to go on,
because your questions seem to be about others' perceptions of this as a risk.

------
jacquesm
Move to Europe or some other place. Likely nobody will care at all about your
past. Change your name.

~~~
syllogism
Getting a visa with a felony is basically impossible.

~~~
jacquesm
Wow, that's a pretty dirty move. That means that about 1/3rd of all Americans
can not travel abroad.

------
DoreenMichele
This might be a useful resource:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14911467](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14911467)

