Skills for Ex-offender Job Seekers

You might have skills that employers want and not even know it. Use your free time to gain skills and experience.

Employers look for people that have the skills that match the job. Each career has its own set of technical skills that are learned at past jobs, at school, job training programs, and other ways. But soft skills are sometimes more important to employers.

Soft Skills

Job seekers, including those with criminal records, may be turned down for a job even though they have the required technical skills for a job. Why? They lack the right set of "soft skills."

Soft skills are your personality traits, attitudes, and manners. They can also include the clothes you choose to wear, your hairstyle, and overall appearance. Soft skills are sometimes called people skills, interpersonal skills, or work-readiness skills.

Employers value people who can interact well coworkers and customers, including people of different cultural backgrounds. They want to hire people who know how to behave properly in the workplace. That's why employers look for people with good soft skills.

Unlike technical or hard skills, soft skills are transferable. That means you can use them in more than one type of job. If you can show employers that you have both technical and soft skills, you will have an advantage during the job search.

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1. Know Your Skills

   Some soft skills, like how to use proper grammar, can be taught in school. But most are learned in everyday life. That means you might have these skills and not be aware of how they can help an employer.

   Employers may not want to hire an ex-offender because they may think you lack the people skills needed to interact with customers or behave properly in the workplace.

   The more you know about your skills, the better prepared you will be to talk with employers about them. Examples of the soft skills you can list on a resume or talk about in a job interview include:

   • Serves customers in friendly and respectful manner
   • Accepts change and easily stop, start, or switch duties
   • Able to read and understand reports and charts
   • Able to write reports, e-mails, or business letters that are easy to understand
   • Comfortable working with people of diverse backgrounds
   • Listens, understands, and follows instructions
   • Speaks clearly to coworkers and customers
   • Takes criticism or can be corrected by supervisors or coworkers
   • Takes responsibility for decisions and actions
   • Understands and follows company rules and procedures
   • Understands industry and business practices
   • Takes initiative and works with little supervision
   • Learns new skills or takes on different projects
   • Works as part of a team
   • Works calmly in busy environments and completes tasks quickly and accurately

   Employers say that most job seekers could improve some of their soft skills. Practicing and increasing your soft skills is often easily done. It could also lead to more job offers.

   A career advisor or someone who knows what type of jobs you are applying for can help you identify the skills that employers want.

   If you are still unsure of your technical or soft skills, take a skills assessment. An assessment measures your skills in categories like communication, problem-solving, physical abilities, and more. Assessments can be found online or at career centers in schools, community centers, and WorkForce Centers.




2. Gaining Skills

   Learning technical skills often requires formal training. This might be a college degree for a dental hygienist, a job-training program to be an administrative assistant, or an apprenticeship for a plumber.

   Some technical skills can also be learned on the job. However, most high-paying occupations want people with formal training and/or previous experience. This can be frustrating to job seekers with little or no related work experience. They are not able to get hired to gain that experience.

   Don't be discouraged. There are ways to gain new skills and show employers your work experience without a paid position. Some of these options include:

   Volunteering

   Nonprofit agencies and community groups need people to help them with tasks related to their everyday operations. This may include office work, computer projects, accounting, working with clients, planning events, building maintenance, or transportation.

   As a volunteer, you could help with a short-term project or work on an ongoing basis. Volunteering allows you to learn new skills and proves that you can complete projects and meet deadlines. The people you work may also be willing to give you a good recommendation.

   Find a volunteer opportunity that is work related so you can add it to your resume. Use websites like VolunteerMatch, Idealist.org, or the United Way to search for opportunities.

   Internships

   An internship gives you on-the-job training in your career path. Most internships are unpaid. But employers are less interested in the wage you earned in past positions than they are in the skills you can bring to the job. This means that an unpaid, three-month internship in your field is more valuable than unrelated work experience.

   Most large companies only accept students as interns. By law, everyone working there has to be either collecting a paycheck or earning school credit. Smaller companies and most nonprofits don't have the same restrictions. Call companies that you want to intern with, and ask their human resources department if they allow for non-student interns.

   Have clear goals for yourself before setting up an internship. Talk with the intern provider so you both know how long the internship will last, what your job duties and title will be, and who will supervise you. Also, let the internship provider know that you are job searching and might have to leave the internship if you find a job.

   Treat the internship and the company with the same respect and professionalism that you would a paying job. Prove to the company— and yourself— that you are a competent, skilled worker.

   Don't expect to be offered a paid position at the end of an internship. Instead, ask for a written letter of recommendation from those who know your work the best. You will also gain a job title and duties to put on your resume.

   Hobbies

   If you have a hobby that is directly related to your career path, then add it to your resume. For example, a person who rebuilds computers and created a LAN at home could talk about that experience when looking for work as a computer technician. Or a person who has planned large family or community events could add that to their resume as a caterer or event planner.

   Be prepared to provide documentation for any experience you add to your resume. Keep track of dates, people's contact information, important documents, marketing materials, photographs, or other proof of personal projects you've completed. Also, ask other people involved in the projects to write recommendations for you.