UPDATE BELOW

Some job seekers who thought they had their criminal records sealed or believe arrest records won’t show up in a background check are often in for a rude awakening.

Turns out FBI data bases, and other public and private sources of information, can still turn up past missteps you thought weren’t in the public sphere, said Samuel Miller, a labor law attorney.

“A quarter of U.S. population has some record in FBI data base, and a large number may be situations where someone got fingerprinted or held in jail for a few hours but never got prosecuted,” he said.

Today, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is holding a meeting in Washington where it will announce new guidelines for the use of using criminal background checks in employment, and what they propose could help some workers. But the issue of bogus information, or information that was supposed to be out of the public’s eye for ever, may be hard to resolve. (more…)

Yet another prison population story, this one in the Wall Street Journal today, talks about how states are moving to push out inmates earlier in order to save money amid budgetary woes. But yet again, little thought or ink is given to what will happen to those ex-cons when they go out into one of the worst job markets in U.S. history.

About 700,000 prisoners are released every year from state and federal prisons, and nearly two-thirds will re-offend within three years. Many of the states mentioned in the WSJ article today that want to cut prison populations and shutter prisons, including New York and Indiana, have upwards of 30 percent recidivism rates.

One of the biggest factors contributing to ex-cons ending up back in jail, prison experts say, is their inability to find work. It’s tough enough for a law-abiding citizen to get a job in this economy so former inmates face even more of an uphill battle, with the jobless rate for the group said to be anywhere from 40 to 60 percent. Discrimination against ex-cons when it comes to employment is largely legal in this country. I wrote about this last year when states were implementing early release programs and many of the inmates they were freeing just ended up back in jail.

Programs to help ex offenders reenter society and the workforce — including the Second Chance Act, a federal program signed into law President Bush — have done little to help the problem.

With their recent efforts to curb prison costs, states are potentially just putting off an impending correctional spending crisis by pushing out inmates prematurely in order to make their state balance sheets look good, at least until many ex-cons end up jobless and back in jail.

I’m all for letting offenders get a second chance but aren’t we just dooming them to failure if we don’t have the programs in place to help them get jobs in this crummy job market?

Attempted murderer. Armed robber. Two decades in the notorious San Quentin State Prison.

These are difficult circumstance to emerge from and become a productive member of society. Who would bet on such a man? Maybe Johnny Cash, but would you?

But by all accounts, Randall Countryman of Chula Vista, CA, appears to be beating the odds, even though he walked out of jail “a wiser, weaker man,” as Cash sang it.

I wrote about him, and other excons earlier this year, in a story about the difficulties ex-offenders face finding jobs when they leave prison. His outlook did not look good. (more…)

You might not be interested in reading any obits today on a really old senator who probably should have retired from Congress long ago.

But in this era of Twitter, Facebook and extreme self promotion, all of us, including every so-called social media and personal branding guru out there, might want to spend some time today reading about how Robert Byrd, the longest-serving member of Congress who died today at age 92, went from Ku Klux Klan member to liberal hero.

Byrd also voted against the Civil Rights Act, but he went on to become a champion of the rights of all Americans.

So many of you have asked me how to explain being fired from a job, or getting a hiring manager to see beyond a past public transgression, or criminal record. And parents are often wondering if something their kids say on Facebook will come back to haunt them when they go out in the real world.

All these things can make your career life harder, no question about it.

A newly released survey by OfficeTeam found that one in five job candidates gets dropped after references are checked.

But how did someone like Byrd overcome such a checkered past? Was he a shrewd image revamper or did he just not let his past keep him down? (more…)

Right now, if you have a history of bad credit, or a criminal conviction, employers can pretty much throw you resume in the trash bin.

But there’s a growing movement in this country to discourage hiring managers from delving into your past. Some states are considering legislation to ban credit screening of applicants; and the federal government will soon be introducing new guidelines that will make it harder to use a person’s run ins with the law as part of the application process.

Employers argue they need this information to make an informed decision about an applicant, and to even keep the workplace safe. But such practices end up destroying people’s lives because they deny them a livelihood. (more…)

How do you erase past sins that are keeping you from getting a job?

You can try and have a criminal conviction or an arrest taken off your record, a process called expungement.

I’ve been reporting on how hard it is for ex-cons to find work, especially in this tough economy, and I came across a hot trend right now, expungement mania. (more…)

It was a tough year for working stiffs and as a result I ended up writing about workers getting screwed quite often this year.

But there were certain topics that got many readers the most riled up.

Just mention working moms in a blog post and readerships spikes. The topic of moms who dare want careers is like the third-rail of the blogesphere. If you write about it there will surely be lots of cyber sparks.

And famous men screwing behind their wives’ backs also got a lot of attention this past year, as did ex-cons and the hell they face when trying to find work, and the perils and perks of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook

Here’s a list of some of the most popular CareerDiva posts of 2009: (more…)

Whenever a public figure falls from grace, people love to ponder whether he or she will ever recover.

They do. Trust me.

Must I remind you …

Husband and father David Letterman admitted to having sex with subordinates at work, but it doesn’t seem to have impacted his viewership or career.

Koby Bryant was accused of rape, but eventually the charges were dropped. Husband Bryant didn’t deny the sexual episode, just the rape. But he’s still an NBA star.

A headline about him from the Associated Press today: “Bryant not always loved, but respected everywhere”

And remember Christian Bale’s F-bomb-filled rant against a worker on the set on his Terminator movie? (more…)

I know Michael Vick’s crime of running a dog-fighting ring was disgusting. You can hate the guy, but banning him from the work world helps no one.

I spent the past few days reading angry comment about the Philadelphia Eagles signing Vick after I blogged about the decision on Huffington Post Friday in piece called “Would You Want Michael Vick as a Coworker?”.

My main point was the double standard in this country when it comes to ex cons.

If you’re Michael Nobody who robbed the grocery store and spent time in jail for it, you’ll have a hell of a time finding a job when you get out.

If you’re Michael Vick who bankrolled an illegal dog-fighting ring, you’ll end up with a plum job and millions of dollars in our pocket.

I’m not saying the Philadelphia Eagles should not have signed Vick for a two-year deal. Why not? He says he learned his lesson and wants to make amends. I love dogs just as much as the next guy, but in the scheme of crimes NFL players commit this one was pretty tame.If you’re famous then typically you get a pass, but if you are just an average Joe good luck landing a job if you have a record.

Many of the readers just brushed aside my point and focused on how much they despise Vick.

Keeping over 50 dogs to torture and fight to the death, drowning them in buckets, hanging them from trees, electrocuting them with jumper cables, feeding them family pets for five years is “PRETTY TAME”? Compared to Auschwitz, that’s not tame! Robbie, you’re right. His crime IS similar to child molesting, in that his victims are particularly helpless and innocent, and that his crimes are particularly depraved.

Almost everyone seems to want Vick banned from the sport forever. But to what end?

Each year, 650,000 people are set free from prison, and as of 2001, the most recent data available, there were nearly 6 million ex cons out in our society. All these individuals are not going to disappear into the ether. Don’t we have to be a little more open to having them as employees, co workers, and NFL stars?

What’s the alternative? If our penal system allows people to pay their dues and get back into the free world, how will the process really work if ex cons are met with slammed doors. Clearly it’s not working since about 50 percent of those who are incarcerated end up back in the slammer. Hello, we’ve got a serious problem with prison overcrowding in this country and little is being done to deal with it.

I know, many people see Vick as a dog Hitler but it’s time to stop the vitriol and think of the greater good. Experts have long maintained that a job is what helps keep people out of prison and helps them become contributing members to society. A high recidivism rate helps no one.

Here’s my question — If you think Vick should be banned from the NFL then what should he do? And what about others like him?