Troy’s letter / Volume 001 / October 1, 2026
The mark
that expires.
If we say a company hires people with records, we should be able to show you when we checked. And when that runs out.
TROY CARR · TRUTH. TOLD STRONG.
Check an employer ↓
Somebody handed me a list of reentry organizations a couple of weeks ago. It was a good list. Somebody had worked hard on it. It was also from 2021.
Five years is a long time for a list. Programs lose their funding. The person who answered the phone has moved on. Nobody lied. The list just got old.
That’s the problem I keep running into on Steel Man Resumes. Search “jobs for felons” and you get lists, lots of them, and most have no date on them and no way to tell whether the company still hires people with records at the store down the street or did it once at a warehouse three states away. What I actually need to know is simpler. Does this employer consider people with records, at this location, for this work? And how do we know?
So on SMR, the “Hires people with records” mark only goes on when there’s evidence you can check yourself. It’s tied to a place, sometimes to certain jobs. It shows the date we checked and the date it runs out. If nobody re-checks it, it comes off.
That makes the list shorter.
I’m okay with that.
A short list you can trust beats a long one that sends somebody with a record to an interview that was never going to happen.
01 / Open the evidence
Here’s what that looks like.
This is a real listing, with a real limitation. Open the employer’s page and read the policy yourself.
Published policy / Not a hiring guarantee
Flathead County
Kalispell, Montana · County government
“A criminal conviction does not automatically disqualify an applicant from employment.”
The caveat: criminal history checks still apply. Some positions add skills tests, drug or alcohol testing, or other screening.
Read the employer’s policy ↗
Read the SMR listing ↗
Snapshot from October 1, 2026. After the expiration date, check the current SMR listing for re-confirmation.
The word that matters there is automatically. It doesn’t mean everybody gets every job. That’s why the limits sit right next to the claim instead of in fine print somewhere.
Here’s something you can use today, whether you’re looking for work or helping somebody who is. Pick an employer you’re thinking about and run it through the five checks below. Write down what backs it up, what’s missing, and what you still need to ask. Don’t turn a maybe into a yes just because the list looks official.
02 / Take something useful
Would you send somebody here?
Five checks. At the end you get one record you can save, print, or keep in front of you on the phone. What you type stays on this page. Nothing gets sent unless you send it.
Every state and DC has its own page on SMR now, with the law and where to get local help. Two states, Wisconsin and Montana, have the employer check done. The rest come one at a time, because every mark needs a date.
If you know an employer near you that hires people with records, tell me who, where, and how you know. I’ll check it. If it holds up, it goes on the list with your source next to it.
Troy
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