If you have recently applied for a job and did well through the interview phase of the hiring process, you may be asked to submit to a criminal record check. If your employer wants to do a criminal record check they will need to get your permission first and that will usually require a signature. You can say that you do not want them to do the check, but if you do not submit you will generally not be eligible for employment.

Wondering what your employer can learn when they do a criminal background check? It can be a little bit nerve wracking, even when you know that you don’t have anything to hide. What your employer will learn will really depend on how extensive a background check they do. A lot of employers just want to know about your criminal records, so they won’t bother with speeding tickets. Instead, they want to know about felony convictions. Your employer can learn an awful lot about you including cases that are current, past cases, and more. If you have a felony on your record, chances are that the prospective employer will not hire you, even if it was five years ago.

You need to be honest with your employer about what they will find. If you were charged with something and then it was dismissed or reduced to a lesser charge, just tell the prospective employer this. They can tell you on the spot whether or not you should waste any more of your time on the application process or not. More employers are becoming open to giving people a second chance, but it really is dependent upon what the charges were and how long ago the incident occurred.

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