Many Indiana residents struggle to find work after getting a criminal record. Companies often check your background and might see past mistakes during job hunts.
Indiana’s rules do allow some job limits based on criminal history, especially in schools, hospitals, and banks. You have options to reduce these roadblocks and boost your job chances even with past legal troubles.
How criminal records can affect job opportunities
Job hunting with a record means facing hurdles that other applicants never see. Knowing these challenges can help you create better plans when on the hunt for a new job:
- Industry restrictions: Healthcare jobs might not accept people with certain drug or violent charges because they need to protect patients.
- Professional licensing: Getting licensed in many Indiana careers requires clean background checks, and your past might block certain career paths.
- Company policies: Some businesses simply won’t hire anyone with a felony, no matter what happened or how long ago it was.
- Background check timing: State government jobs in Indiana now wait longer before checking your background, which gives you a chance to show your skills first.
As a job seeker, you have rights that protect you from unfair treatment based just on arrests without convictions, and you should always get the chance to explain your situation during applications.
Steps you can take to overcome employment barriers
Taking action now can help reduce how much your record affects your job search in Indiana. Think about these options to improve your chances:
- Seek expungement if possible under Indiana Code 35-38-9, which can hide certain records from public view
- Get a Certificate of Employability from an Indiana court to show you’ve changed
- Look for businesses known to give second chances to people with records
- Practice explaining your past honestly but positively before interviews
- Find support programs made specifically for people with criminal backgrounds
You might be able to clean up your record depending on what happened, how long it’s been since you finished your sentence, and how you’ve behaved since then.
Having a record does not mean all is lost. Using Indiana’s legal tools and being smart about your job search can really improve your chances of landing good work.