Are there any NY RNs working with a felony conviction?

Cait720 · Sep 3, 2012

My mother is a nurse with almost 30 years of critical care experience here in the NYC area. She lost her job 2 years ago after being arrested for DUI. She has since gone through rehab and remained sober and she was never actually convicted, because of some sort of plea deal. The arrest is on her record though and she found it incredibly hard to find a new job. It took her until a few weeks ago to finally find a position in NYC with a travel agency. She did have good references (her problems did not seem to carry over into her work) and generally did not have a problem getting interviews at hospitals that only asked about convictions of the application (and every hospital I've applied to here does at least ask that). It was after the interviews when they did the background check that she lost out on the opportunity. Based on that experience, I would say that your friend having an actual conviction on her record would seriously hurt her chances. NYC is an extremely competitive market and hospitals have no shortage of qualified candidates for every position. When it comes down to choosing between someone with a record and someone without they will go with the candidate without a conviction.

That being said, if she does try to find something in NYC I would suggest she do something I spent months telling my mother to do. Own the problem. I don't know what felony she was convicted of but she should bring it up in interviews if she gets to that point and explain what happened and what she did to correct her life since then. It gives her a chance to tell her side of it and spin it into a positive light whereas if she waits for the background check, they will probably never give her a chance to explain.

JustBeachyNurse, LPN · Sep 4, 2012

moved to nursing license with a criminal history forum.