Moving up.

People mature a great deal over a two year period.
In my experience, criminal record would only prevent gaining employment if it is written as guideline. Meaning, I’m sure the interviewer will be impressed with you and only not hire you if guidelines prohibit.
That being said, the only way to find out is by applying! Any rule can be bent if it is for the benefit of the employer. Make it so they can’t afford not to hire you!
Good luck. Keep us posted.

You should definitely go for it, but I think you already know that. I think honesty is the most important thing, because trustworthiness is probably going to be any interviewers main concern upon seeing any sort of criminal record. The more honest you can be the more you demonstrate that you’ve “learned from past mistakes”. Really though, the worst thing they can say is no.

Oh, and this little booklet seems relevant on the issue of art vs. regular job for making a living, particularly tip 7:

http://changethis.com/manifesto/6.HowToBeCreative/pdf/6.HowToBeCreative.pdf

It’s a good read, especially if you consider yourself a creative type.

I love it, you rarely here people talk about the practicalities of creativity so it’s refreshing. Plus his little cards are quirky and sometimes hilarious.

It is a very slippery slope when you start leaving jobs in search of more pay, but of course, the entire purpose behind the wage game is to make money to pay the bills. If the bills ain’t getting paid, then the job is not doing what its supposed to do.

Really sucks, and I can completely relate to your situation. I am very fortunate to have a job currently that I enjoy every aspect of AND have enough $$$ coming in to survive. But, any further expenses come and I will have to look elsewhere.

Concerning your criminal record, that really sucks. I am in a similar situation, got a criminal record for a stupid student joke (stealing a city namesign to hang up in my former student house. It is a comon thing to do, I think more than 50% of the student houses have some kind of road sign in their homes). Anyway, I do not know how it works in the US, but here not every employer looks if you have a criminal record. Furthermore, I think they definitely look at the kind of criminal activity you did, so I think it is dependent on the kind of job you want to apply for whether it will be of significant matter or not.

I think it also depends on the recruiter who will interview you, and what his/her attitude is concerning these kind of matters, so it depends on these things as well. So it depends on the kind of job you want to apply for, how important this job will be for you and what kind of people you will encounter with. I think I will not mention anything about my criminal record during my interviews in the future, since it is not significant in my opinion, and the competition is big on the market nowadays, so I do not want to spoil my chances by something stupid like this. You can always tell about it once you are hired right?

I’m in your same boat though Ellie. I love how stimulating
my cooking job is, and I love the people there – I’m around all of them on the constant when I’m working. I make $11/hr and although I’d like to make more, I wouldn’t trade it up for some higher paying job just for the money. Liking you work is too important to your overall happiness. Having a job where you actually feel like you’re working hard and can see the benefits of your hard work is important too. I used to have an easy job and I made a lot of money (delivering jimmy johns). I thought I loved it but having it that easy was lame compared to what I do now, which is work harder and get paid less.
You haven’t seen the Ocean in 5 years?? :O I’ve never seen the ocean :,(