For job-seekers, the past is close behind

His resume. And a copy of his criminal record.

The easy part of Clayton’s journey was over. A longer road lay ahead, one he didn’t know how to travel alone.

“Hey brother, how are you?’’ Hakim Cunningham said, catching sight of Clayton as he came inside the office. A big man with a preacher’s fervor, he’d met Clayton on a previous visit, and was delighted to see him back.

Cunningham lives for these moments - not the first time a former inmate comes through the door, but the second and third. Many never return. For men who crossed the line in their younger years, crossing back to the wage-earning world and a more settled life they now crave is far harder than they ever imagined.

The drive to turn things around can quickly fade - they have grown up expecting little from the world. And the world isn’t offering much at a time when jobs are scarce even for those with college diplomas, and without rap sheets.

Clayton, however, is determined. He particularly doesn’t want to fail his son. Cunningham shepherds him to his desk and talks of the task ahead: He must try to convince a judge to seal the record showing he served nearly a year for having a gun and marijuana.

“I put the docket number here?’’ Clayton asked, pointing to a form.

“Yes,’’ Cunningham said. “And you have to tell the judge, ‘This is hampering my job search, my housing, my opportunities - I need this off my back.’ ’’

He made another appointment for Clayton to work on his resume and watched as the slender man zipped the forms into his backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and disappeared out the door, racing to catch his bus.

Cunningham returned to his paperwork. He wants to believe in Clayton and has hopes for him. But he knows too well the long odds.

He often prefers not to talk about that part of his life, about what he did with his own youth; he is a different man now, with a mission to help and a college degree in the works. But the old life intrudes. Not long ago, an former inmate came in for help and did a double-take. “Hey,’’ the man said. “Didn’t I walk the yard with you?’’