When Community Voices producer Courtney Alspaugh came home from prison, one of the hardest parts wasn't just adjusting to life outside. It was trying to show people she was more than the mistake that sent her to prison.
That can be especially challenging when looking for a job. When an employer asks about your past, how much do you share? Do you tell the truth and risk being turned down before an employer has a chance to get to know you? Or do you leave that part out and hope it doesn't affect how they see you later?
In this episode of ReEntry Stories, Courtney Alspaugh talks with Susan Best about her experience finding employment after prison. What begins as a conversation about the challenges of getting a job becomes a deeper discussion about the fear of being judged and the struggle to show that who you are today matters more than the mistakes of your past.
This transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Courtney Alspaugh: When you came home from prison, what was your experience like trying to find a job?
Susan Best: Difficult. Nobody really wanted to give you a chance if they knew your circumstances. You know, I would do an interview, and people would say, "You're just what I want. You're what I'm looking for." And then they'd do a background check. Then they kind of ghost you. They don't have anything to do with you anymore.
So that was hard, but then I started focusing more on mom-and-pop companies. And I had a lot of success there.
They understood situations, and they were ready to hear you out and judge you more on who you were now than what had happened to you in the past. You always heard when you were in prison, "Full disclosure. Tell them right up front what's going on," which I did, but it didn't get me anywhere. So then I decided that if it wasn't asked, I wasn't going to disclose it.
Alspaugh: When I came home and was looking, I wanted them to know right up front, so I just felt like there were no secrets, you know? It was out there, and if they were going to judge me for it, then they were going to judge me then, and I could just move on from there. I had a couple of jobs where that happened to me. They wouldn't hire me because it was a small town, and they knew.
Best: If you don't tell them and they don't ask, then I was always thinking, OK, when are they going to find out, and when am I going to be fired?
Alspaugh: And then you've got that worry in your head. Then you start to like the job.
Best: But when is somebody going to knock and say, "You know what? We did this, and we can't keep you"?
Alspaugh: Was there a person who gave you a chance when others wouldn't?
Best: I had a friend, and she called me one day, and she said, "We're expanding here, and we need somebody. Would you be interested?" Something in me said, "You can tell her what's going on." And I did.
And she said she looked at me, and, like a reaction I get from most people, said, "You spent four years in prison?" I think it took her back a little bit, but she talked to her husband, and her husband said, "She can do the job; she can have it."
And they hired me, and then I was there until they sold the business. She told them the only stipulation in selling the business was that she wanted everybody who was employed there to keep their jobs.
Alspaugh: What did having someone believe in you make you feel like?
Best: Wow, it's an awesome, awesome feeling. For the first time in a long time, I didn't feel defeated. I felt that maybe, you know, there was hope for me, that I was worth something and that there were good people out there who were willing to give you a chance. Just don't give up.
That's the worst thing you can do.
Because it just might lead you down the same path you were on. And I know a lot of people say, "Well, I can't do anything, so I might as well be back." As hard as it is, you don't want to be back.
Support for ReEntry Stories comes from Sinclair Community College and LION. The series is produced at the Eichelberger Center for Community Voices at WYSO.
