Having a rap sheet and wanting to turn your life around is a noble idea. I believe in second chances in life, but expecting that you’ll be able to retain a secure, good-paying position when you have a laundry list of felonious arrests and incarcerations, is like expecting to purchase a home or get a loan after declaring bankruptcy. After a sordid past, a person must proove themselves, little by little. They must truly work themselves up from the mailroom, or from sweeping floors. Those are the consequences for making bad choices in life.
The first step would be to no longer associate with your old gang clique, move out of the city, and work far away from your old life.
The kind of jobs that ex-cons would be suited for, are currently done by illegal aliens. Our first step as a country needs to be to expel the illegals. The second step should be to abolish the minimum wage for felons. The reason that employers hire illegals is that they're willing to hard and cheaply. An employer who is willing to not ask about an employee's immigration status should also not care about felon status, if the employee is willing to work cheaply.
After ten years of no further trouble, the ex-felon should be allowed to petition for sealing their records from employer inquiries.