Ask a White-Collar Crime Lawyer: Can You Find a Job After a White-Collar Crime Conviction?
When many people think of white-collar crimes, they assume these convictions carry mild sentences with little to no repercussions on an individual’s future. This belief is false, as white-collar crimes can significantly impact numerous aspects of your life. Working with Houston white-collar crime lawyers is the best way to avoid a conviction or minimize the consequences of a criminal record.
Ask a White-Collar Crime Lawyer: Can You Find a Job After a White-Collar Crime Conviction?
If you’ve been convicted of a white-collar crime, you’re probably wondering how your life will change. Unfortunately, being convicted of a white-collar crime can affect your professional life, even preventing you from pursuing professional licensing or certifications in some fields.
However, although a criminal record may require you to alter your career trajectory, you can still find a job with a white-collar crime conviction. You’ll want to learn more about minimizing your conviction’s impact on your career by discussing your situation with Houston white-collar crime lawyers.
Factors That Determine How a Conviction Impacts Your Career
You’ll need to consider various factors when trying to gauge how much a conviction will affect your career and employment prospects. It’s essential to remember that there is a difference between being charged with a crime and being convicted of a crime. If you have only been accused of a crime, you’ll want to contact a lawyer immediately to represent you and mitigate the damage to your career.
The Type of Crime
The type of crime you’re charged with and how closely it relates to your career will factor prominently into whether you can find employment in your current field. For example, suppose you hold a position where you are responsible for property or funds, and you are convicted of fraud or embezzlement. You will likely need to alter your career path once your conviction becomes public knowledge.
If your job doesn’t have anything to do with your crime, your employer may be willing to keep you in your current role. However, when you seek employment with a criminal record, you will have to limit your search to jobs wholly dissimilar to your conviction.
Your Employer
Whether you retain your job following a conviction will also depend on your employer’s standards regarding criminal records. If you are a government employee, your conviction will most likely result in your termination and prevent you from working for other government agencies.
Since government employees often interact with sensitive information and perform tasks that require a security clearance, employees are typically not permitted to have a criminal record. As you search for jobs, you’ll likely be more successful in seeking employment with small businesses and companies since they often don’t have the same policies regarding criminal convictions as large companies.
Any Required Licensing or Certifications
A conviction can derail careers that require certification or licensure, such as nursing and teaching. Therefore, you’ll need to research your field and determine whether you will be able to receive certifications or licensure with a conviction or if a conviction bars you from working in your chosen field.
Your Role in the Workplace
Following a conviction, you may find that the damage to your reputation is one of the most challenging things to repair. Many individuals with white-collar convictions struggle to gain their coworkers’ and supervisors’ trust, even if the crime they committed wasn’t related to their field. In addition, depending on how well-known your conviction is, you may not be able to work in a customer-facing role because customers are not comfortable working with you.
Rebuilding Your Career Following a Conviction
As you rebuild your career following a conviction, be prepared to face challenges and setbacks. However, although finding a job with a criminal record may be difficult, it isn’t impossible.
Be Willing to Change Lanes
Following your conviction, you may need to step away from your current field and take a new career path. Consider your core skills, and branch out in a new area where your past actions won’t cast a shadow on your current performance.
Be Honest With Employers
Background checks will show employers your conviction, so you’ll want to be honest about your past when a potential employer lets you know they’ll be running a background check on you. Being upfront with the information lets your potential employer know you aren’t hiding anything and allows you to share how you’ve improved your character and professional skills since the conviction.
Be Willing to Take a Step Back
If you held a position with a great deal of responsibility before your conviction, you likely wouldn’t be able to return to the same type of position. Be willing to work jobs you are technically overqualified for because this provides an excellent opportunity to get your foot in the door at a company.
Once you have been hired, you can work on moving to a more prestigious position. By working in an entry-level position, you can give your employer a chance to judge you off the quality of your work, not your past conviction.
Protect Your Career: Contact Houston White-Collar Crime Lawyers
While you can certainly take steps to improve your job prospects following a white-collar crime conviction, the best thing you can do for your career is avoid the conviction altogether. Contacting a lawyer as soon as you are accused of a crime ensures your attorney can do everything in their power to help you avoid being found guilty of a white-collar crime.
Rebuilding your career will require effort, perseverance, and willingness to adapt. However, if you are willing to adjust your career path and be open to taking positions for which you may be overqualified, you can find a job after a white-collar conviction.
