Can the state of Tennessee hold a 21 year old felony against me when applying for employment

The charge was theft of services over telephones bills Back in july 1997 I was conflicted and I served a total of 8 years of supervised probation & 4 years of unsupervised probabtion I do nott have a job right now due to the fact bc of this felony on my record I have been turned down for employment bc of it what can I do to clear this matter up Iam so stressed out and have been for years bc of this and have even gone homeless bc of it I have had some privately jobs on my own threw the years but now adays Im finding it harder to find work on my own please help me.