Temp Agencies That Hire Felons

Are there Temp Agencies That Hire Felons? As a felon looking for a new job, you know how hard it can be to find a company willing to give you a chance to prove yourself.

You’ve got skills, you’ve got experience, and you’re ready, willing, and able to work hard. You’re an ideal employee in every way, but that felony on your record keeps turning up on your background checks and wrecking your opportunities.

Well, here’s some good news. There’s a route into work that could give you a better chance of finding a job. And that route is through temp agencies that hire felons.

While many of the roles on offer at temp agencies are temporary, as you would expect, some positions are what is known as a temp to hire, which means that you could get a permanent job after your temporary contract ends.

And even if you have to take a series of temporary jobs before a better opportunity comes along, at least you’ll be earning an income and building up some work history.

Although working through temp agencies has its benefits, there are some drawbacks, and you need to understand what those are so you can decide if signing up with agencies is a route you want to explore.

In this article, we’ll give you a list of temp agencies that hire felons, go into more detail on a few of the best ones you should consider, and look at the main pros and cons of working for a temp agency. We’ll also get you up to speed on background checks and drug testing.

To get started, let’s take a look at the temp agencies that hire felons.

Temp Agencies That Hire Felons in 2024 – Top Picks

Supplying temporary staff is a big business. Businesses spend in the region of $20 billion each year on temporary staff, and because of this huge need for workers, you’ll easily find agencies that cover your location.

While these temp agencies are willing to hire felons in some cases, your criminal record may still be a disqualifying factor for some of the companies they work with. But apply to enough agencies and there’s bound to be an employer that will take you on.

Many of these temp agencies have a job search facility on their website and you can begin your application online. But if you’ve got a branch office nearby, it’s always worth popping in to speak to a recruiter in person.

A recruiter will be able to tell you what type of jobs you’re most likely to get, and the kind of hourly rate you can expect.

Do your best to make a good personal impression and it’s very likely that you’ll get preference over someone who only fills in the form online.

The following temp agencies are our top picks.

Adecco

Adecco has temporary and permanent job opportunities across the nation. The majority of roles are industrial, manufacturing, and warehouse positions, but they have other types of work available too.

Their job categories cover

• Industrial and manufacturing
• Warehouse
• Office clerical and administration
• Medical and science
• Call center and customer service
• Retail and sales
• Accounting and Finance
• Business operations and management
• Creative and marketing
• Engineering
• Education
• Human resources and training
• Transportation
• Information technology
• Hospitality
• Legal

On their website, you can filter your job search by state and city, job category, and contract type. Contracts fall into one of three types.

• Contract Temp to Hire
• Contract Temporary
• Direct Hire

When you search their job listings, skip down to the bottom of each listing. If the employer is open to hiring felons, you’ll see the information listed at the end of the job description. Each listing also provides the hourly rate for the job.

To apply for any of the jobs offered through Adecco, click the “Quick Apply” button and fill in the short form on each job listing page.

You can also register with Addeco by providing your details and uploading your resume (if you have one). Then a recruiter will get in touch with you about jobs that you can apply for.

Working with a recruiter is your best option. They’ll already know which companies on their books are prepared to work with different types of felony offenses. This will save you the frustration of applying to companies that won’t hire you.

And another benefit of working with a recruiter is they can suggest roles that you’re qualified for that you may never have thought of before.

If you want to go and talk to a recruiter in person, use the “contact a branch” tab to see a list of all of their branch locations.

Pay rates are good with this temp agency and you can also join their paid group health insurance plan.

You’ll get paid every week following the week that you worked, so your first paycheck will be at the end of your second week.

Even though many of their clients are willing to hire felons, Addeco will run a background check, and some employers on their books require a drug test too.

Related Article: Does Adecco Staffing Drug Test After The Interview?

Aramark

Aramark has job opportunities available in all 50 states. The type of companies you can work for through Aramark include colleges and universities, conference and convention centers, hospitals, school districts, parks, and stadiums. You can find salaried positions, hourly paid jobs, temporary roles, and seasonal jobs with this agency.

Their job categories cover:

• Administration
• Corporate and field support
• Culinary
• Custodial
• Early careers
• Facilities
• Foodservice
• General management
• Retail and customer service
• Transportation
• Uniform service

The majority of the available jobs are in food service, culinary, retail, and customer service and facilities.

On their website, you can filter by location and job type to make your job search easier. Each job listing gives you full details about the type of tasks the job involves and the qualifications or experience you’ll need.

Many of the jobs on offer don’t require any specific skills or education, although previous relevant experience is preferred, and you’ll need to be able to read, write and follow instructions.

Before you can apply for jobs through Aramark, you need to register with the agency and pass an interview.

The application process begins online. If you see a job you want to apply for, use the “Apply Now” button to begin making your application. The application form asks for your personal information and contact details, and your resume and cover letter (if you have them). You’ll also need to indicate the salary or hourly rate that you require.

Because the job listings don’t give any indication of the pay on offer, you’ll need to enter a rate of pay that meets your needs.

We’ve collected a few examples of average hourly reported pay rates on offer with Aramark to give you an idea of what you should expect.

• Food service worker $11
• Cashier $10
• Custodian $12
• Grill cook $12
• Housekeeper $12
• Customer service representative $17
• Maintenance mechanic $21
• Shuttle driver $18

When you submit your application, a recruiter will get in touch with you if they think you’re a suitable candidate. You’ll then arrange a time for a phone or video call interview, and if that goes well, your recruiter will get back to you with a job offer. At that point, you have to give Aramark permission to carry out a background check.

While Aramark evaluates criminal records on a case-by-case basis once they receive your background check information, it’s a good idea to mention your felony when you have your initial phone call with a recruiter.

Aramark pays wages every 2 weeks.

MVP Staffing

MVP Staffing offers temporary work which is mostly centered on light industry and food processing. Although some other types of work are available.

This agency offers transportation in some areas from central pickup locations, which is handy if you don’t have your own transport.

You can work a variety of shifts, and some placements give you a choice of hours.

MVP recruits in most states, and to find a job with them, you can look through the open jobs on their website, drop into one of their offices, or call and speak to a recruiter.

On their website, filter your search by location, industry skills, or job type.

On each job listing, you’ll see the hourly rate and a brief description of what the job involves.

When you find a suitable position, click on the “Apply” button to begin your application.

As far as we know, MVP doesn’t carry out a background check, but they require proof of your eligibility to work in the U.S. on your first day of employment to comply with immigration rules.

Rates of pay look reasonable. As an example, a general warehouse assistant makes $15 per hour, while an Industrial worker assembling trusses makes $20 per hour.

Wages are paid weekly.

People Link

People link provides temporary, and temporary hire job opportunities in the industrial, manufacturing, and warehouse sectors. They don’t indicate on their job listings if each employer is willing to hire felons, but the agency staff will know which companies they can place you with.

This temp agency operates in the following states:

• Alabama
• Arkansas
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• North Carolina
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New York
• Ohio
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Virginia
• Wisconsin

On their website, you can filter jobs by job title and location. Each job listing details the job description, hourly rate of pay, and the shift hours, along with a list of any skills and qualifications you need.

To apply for the jobs on offer at People Link, you need to sign up with the agency. The sign-up process begins online when you complete the application form. You’ll need to give your personal and contact details and give consent for a drug test and for the release of your criminal records.

Next, the agency will interview you and if they feel that they can place you with an employer, you’ll attend an orientation session, and then you can start work.

People Link pays weekly and offers access to a healthcare plan.

Remedy Intelligent Staffing

The Remedy temp agency supplies staff for light industrial, administrative, and clerical positions. They have opportunities for temporary work and listings for direct hire.

Examples of job types are warehouse, assembly line, call center, janitorial, maintenance, accounts, customer service, and forklift work.

Remedy Intelligent Staffing can help you find work if you’re in one of the following states:

• Alabama
• Florida
• Georgia
• Iowa
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Jersey
• New York
• Ohio
• Pennsylvania
• Texas
• Utah
• Virginia
• Washington
• Wisconsin

When you visit their website, you can filter your job search by location and job title. Each job listing includes the pay on offer, the shift hours, and a description of the tasks and responsibilities the job entails.

You’ll also find information about any skills and experience needed, although there are a number of job types that don’t require any particular experience and will train you on the job.

Rates of pay vary considerably depending on the job type and the part of the country you’re in. But the average rate seems to be $14 – $15 per hour based on the sample of jobs that we looked at.

Skilled positions offered rates of $20 per hour and up.

Some jobs with Remedy Intelligent Staffing may be easier to get than others with a felony on your record. Certain job listings state that additional screening will be required, but many listings don’t include that requirement.

To apply for work with this temp agency, you’ll need to create an account on their website and fill in an application form. Then a recruiter will get back to you to move the process along. You can also call into one of their offices to discuss your needs in person.

Pay is weekly and you can also access healthcare benefits.

More Temporary Agencies That Hire Felons

Aerotek Recruiting: Aerotek is one of the largest temp agencies in the country and they have thousands of opportunities nationwide. Positions are available for most industries, and they have openings for skilled and unskilled workers.

All Team Staffing: This temp agency largely focuses on providing workers for administrative and clerical work, along with positions in healthcare, hospitality, food processing and light industrial work.

All Team Staffing is present in California, Colorado, Kansas, Texas, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Oregon, North Carolina, and Virginia.

Customer Driven Staffing: This is a smaller temp agency covering Florida, Kansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The type of work available falls under light industrial, construction, warehousing, clerical, hospitality, and technology. It’s often possible to find permanent positions through this agency.

Elite Staffing: With a nationwide network of offices, Elite USA supplies over 75,000 workers for roles including warehousing, assembly and manufacturing, transportation, sales, customer service, and more.

Frontline Source Group: This staffing agency finds jobs for skilled workers in engineering, finance, technology, accounting, healthcare, retail, and administration. Frontline Source Group covers Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.

Integrity Staffing Solutions: With offices in almost every state across the nation, Integrity Staffing Solutions fills positions for light industrial, warehousing, administrative, and professional staff and the skilled trades.

Kelly Services: Kelly services places over 400,000 workers every year. This global agency covers every state and offers a wide range of career placements. Industries covered include construction, transportation, call centers, manufacturing, warehousing, hospitality, and logistics.

Manpower: It’s only possible to apply to Manpower if your felony is over 7 years old. Manpower temp agencies are nationwide and have positions available in many industries.

You can find jobs in hospitality, warehousing, manufacturing, light industrial, construction, oil & gas, supply chain, and logistics, call center and customer service, administration, and more.

People Ready – People Ready offers jobs in construction, food service and packing, events, manufacturing, hospitality, retail, transportation, warehousing, and skilled trades. Search for jobs on their website, or call a branch.

Pirate Staffing: Jobs available with the Pirate Staffing agency involve manual work across a wide range of industries. Positions are open for general labor, plumbing, warehousing, forklift operators, manufacturing, catering, CDL transportation, and more. Offices in California, Georgia, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Texas.

Pride Staff: Pride Staff has jobs available nationwide and serves small and mid-sized businesses as well as corporations. Roles are available in catering, manufacturing, food production, hospitality, warehousing, general labor, clerical and administrative, IT, logistics, and more.

ProLogistix: This temp agency supplies staff for warehousing and logistics work across the nation.

Randstad USA: Randstad has locations in every state and covers a wide range of industries. Find jobs in finance, engineering, healthcare, manufacturing, warehousing and logistics, sales and marketing, IT, and more.

REV: REV is a little bit different from the other agencies listed. With REV you sign up to take online freelance work. If you have the right skills, you can get transcription, translation, captioning, and subtitling assignments. Useful for extra work that you can do at home, but unlikely to provide enough regular work.

Spherion: To apply for jobs with Spherion, your felony needs to be 7 years or older. With offices nationwide, you’ll find administrative and clerical work, light industrial jobs, healthcare support workers, and customer service roles with this temp agency.

Staffmark: With jobs available nationwide, you can find the following types of work through Staffmark – manufacturing, warehousing, clerical and administrative, CDL truck driving, skilled machine work, forklift operator, customer service, and many more.

Working With Temporary Agencies – Some Pros

When you sign up with a temp agency, you’ll have access to all kinds of jobs that never get advertised to the general public.

Often, businesses prefer to outsource their hiring, instead of having an in-house team. When these companies have a position to fill, they contact a recruiter and have an agency do all of the hiring work for them.

That’s why you’ll see permanent jobs on offer and not just temporary ones.

And speaking of recruiters, when you’re with an agency, you’ve got someone working alongside you searching for suitable positions. And two heads are better than one!

Your recruiter will know which companies on their books are most likely to hire you given your history, so the hiring process should run smoothly.

Lots of small and medium-sized enterprises get their staff through agencies and these companies may not have such strict hiring policies. And if they’re desperate for someone to get to work, they’re even more likely to be flexible.

Once you’re with an agency, you can start work quickly. If you visit an office in person with your documents, they can sign you up, carry out your background check and drug test, and often get you into a new job within a day or two.

A temporary job can lead to a permanent role. When you take a temp to hire a position, the employer is basically giving you a really long trial period. If you do your job well, they have every reason to take you on as a permanent employee.

Agencies usually have a group medical plan that you can access, some provide paid time off, and others will have training opportunities for you so you can improve your skills.

If you don’t have a high school diploma and that’s been holding you back, you can often take advantage of a discounted GED program through your temp agency. Getting your GED will improve your career prospects by allowing you to apply for more jobs.

And if you’ve been out of work for a while, working through a temp agency will start to build your resume back up and give you a more attractive job history.

Working With Temp Agencies – Some Cons

The obvious con of working with a temp agency is the temporary nature of much of the work. Unless you get hired for a permanent position or secure a temp-to-hire role, each job could be very short-lived.

Sometimes a business just needs a temporary worker for a few days while an employee is out sick. On the other hand, they may need you for longer to fill in for vacations or to cover busy seasonal needs. When a contract ends, it’s vital that you let the agency know that you’re looking for work again.

With a temporary job, you won’t often know where you’ll be working, and there could be periods where you don’t have a placement, which means you won’t earn anything.

Lower pay is another issue, but lower pay is better than no pay. While you don’t need to pay anything to use their services, temp agencies take a cut from your wages. You could have a company paying the agency $40 an hour for your services and you only get $20.

Another issue you might face is falling victim to an unscrupulous employer who has advertised for a temp-to-hire position with no intention of ever hiring anyone permanently. They do this because they know you’ll put extra effort into your work, hoping to land the job.

They can even try to get you to work a few extra unpaid hours here and there, which you might agree to if you thought it would seal the deal. The only way you’ll know that the temp to hire was a scam is when they don’t follow through with hiring you when your temp contract is up.

What Kind Of Background Checks Do Temp Agencies Do?

Temp agencies are no different from the majority of employers when it comes to background checks. But a temp agency can decide to take you on with offenses that a company making a direct-hire wouldn’t consider.

The state that you live in determines how far back a background check can go, and some states have drawn the line at 7 years. That means that if your felony or prison release date is older than 7 years, it won’t be reported on your background check.

However, if you spent time in prison, you’ll have a gap in your employment record which could indirectly reveal your criminal past. It’s up to you, but the best advice is to be honest about your past if the agency asks you about it.

Background checks will confirm your identity, education record, and employment history, and search criminal records databases to find out about arrests, charges, misdemeanor convictions, felony convictions, warrants, civil judgments, parole, and probation.

Credit reports are sometimes included to find out about levels of debt, debt defaults, bankruptcies and even workers’ compensation claims.

Your driving record could also be part of the search and this will show any driving offenses that you’ve committed. If the job you’re applying for involves driving, it’s a certainty that your motor vehicle report will be looked at.

As far as non-felony convictions go, a federal law, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) restricts background checks to 7 years. The FCRA does not place a limitation on the reporting of felony convictions.

However, as we already mentioned, some states have restricted felony reporting to 7 years. These states are:

• California
• Colorado
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Montana
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Mexico
• New York
• Texas
• Washington

Even in states without the felony reporting restriction in place, a felony over 7 years old shouldn’t be too much of an obstacle. We’ve heard from ex-felons with fairly serious offenses and lengthy prison sentences on their record being hired through temp agencies.

The same is true for more recent felony convictions. And in some cases, depending on the nature of your offense, temp agencies can even hire you while you’re on parole or probation.

Is A Drug Test Necessary For Working At A Temp Agency?

Usually, yes. Most temp agencies will ask you to take a drug test. And some of the companies that you work for will also conduct random drug tests, and reasonable cause drug tests during your time with them.

As an ex-felon, you’ve already got numerous obstacles in your path that you can’t really do much about, but the decision to continue using drugs is entirely under your control. Imagine how you will feel if you miss out on a job that you would have otherwise been hired for because you failed the drug test. Or even worse, being fired because your random drug test came back positive.

With that said, here are the types of tests you could have to take and the drugs you will be tested for during pre-employment drug tests and random drug tests.

The most common type of drug test you’ll undergo when you apply for any job is a mouth swab test. This type of test uses a swab to collect a saliva sample from inside your cheek or under your tongue. The sample is then checked on the spot or sent away to a lab for processing.

Some employers prefer to carry out a urine test. For this type of test, you’re asked to produce a urine sample, which can also be tested on the spot, or sent out for analysis.

Both samples are screened for the same drugs. For a 5-panel test these are:

• Opiates
• Cocaine
• Marijuana
• Amphetamines
• Phencyclidine (PCP)

With the exception of marijuana, a saliva test can’t usually pick up drugs after 48 hours have passed since the last use. But because the THC in marijuana can accumulate in fat cells, it can linger in the body for longer. A strong marijuana strain smoked frequently will also have a longer-lasting effect on your result than a mild strain used lightly.

Drugs in a 5-panel urine analysis can usually be detected for much longer than in a saliva sample and the detection window depends on the exact drug taken and level of use.

Marijuana can still be present for up to 3 days after a single-use, 5 days with moderate use, 10 days with daily use, and up to 30 days with chronic use.

Cocaine has a detection window of up to 3 days, opiates 3 – 4 days, amphetamines 3 – 4 days, and phencyclidine up to 2 weeks.

And a 10-panel screen looks for these additional substances:

• Methadone
• Barbiturates
• Methaqualone
• Benzodiazepines
• Alcohol

With a saliva test, methadone can be detected for 2-3 days, benzodiazepines for up to 10 days, barbiturates for up to 3 days, alcohol for up to 48 hours, and methaqualone for up to 10 days.

A urine analysis can detect methadone for up to 2 weeks, methaqualone for up to 14 days, barbiturates for up to 6 weeks, benzodiazepines for up to 6 weeks, and alcohol for up to 5 days.

Again, the actual detection times vary a great deal depending on the level of use and the exact drug taken.

Final Thoughts

When you need a job fast and companies keep blocking you because of your background, signing on with temp agencies that hire felons is a smart way to move forward.

Even though temp agencies carry out background checks, many of their clients will have fairly relaxed standards, so the background check isn’t the same barrier as it is when you apply for regular jobs.

Once you’re with an agency, it’s in their interest to find you a placement because that’s how they make their money.

Agencies have access to thousands of jobs that you would never get the chance to apply to without an agency contact. Apply to enough agencies in your area, and one of them will be able to find a job for you.

What you need to do now is look up the latest jobs available with the agencies we’ve listed and start making applications to every agency in your area. Get busy now and you could be in a new job by the end of the week.