Finding a job is one of the most important challenges facing the nearly 7.7 million ex-offenders who leave prisons, jails, and detention centers each year. Indeed, for someone who has lost everything, successful re-entry into a community becomes very difficult. Without a job and support network to help meet the immediate needs of food, housing, health care, and transportation, and often saddled with financial obligations, many ex-offenders soon fall back on old habits, relationships, and temptations that lead them back to the prison doors. While many employers may not want to hire someone with a criminal record, others are willing to give ex-offenders a second chance and help them get back on their feet and move ahead with their lives. Indeed, we live in a society that both admires and supports people who can pick themselves up, change their lives, and go on to achieve their dreams. But what should ex-offenders do in order to land a good job? Where should they go to find a job they do well and enjoy doing? Here's the book that provides important answers to many re-entry questions facing ex-offenders. Beginning with an examination of 20 myths/realities and 22 principles for success, two of America's leading employment experts reveal 10 steps to job and career success:

- Examine and change your attitudes

- Conduct research on jobs and communities

- Seek assistance and become proactive

- Write effective resumes and letters

- Select appropriate job search approaches

- Network for information, advice, and referrals

- Assess your skills and identify your MAS

- Develop winning job interview skills

- State a powerful objective

- Negotiate salary and benefits like a pro A final chapter goes one step further in examining what to do once you've landed the job - how to survive and prosper on the job as well as advance your career. Rich in insights and filled with practical examples, exercises, and resources, here's the book that can make a big difference in the lives of ex-offenders. Follow each step and you'll begin meeting employers who will want to hire you because of your unique talents and your new attitudes and motivations. You'll find a job that you both do well and enjoy doing. Best of all, your Second Act will be living a new and productive life centered around your work, family, and community.