If you have recently applied for a job and then were interviewed and things went well, you were probably asked to submit to an employment criminal check. Many people are taken off guard if this is their first time having such a request, but it is not at all unusual. In fact, more and more employers are running background checks on all of their employees in an effort to protect themselves against people who have led a life of crim.

You are asked to submit to an employment criminal check not because the employer thinks that you personally are a criminal, but because they cannot tell who has a criminal past and who does not. The result is that they have to run an employment criminal check on all potential employees so they know who they have working for them.

You need to submit to an employment criminal check if you want the job. If you are asked to sign a consent form for a criminal check to be run and you say no, you will not get the job. This is the way that most employers who run these checks do things, so if you want or need the job you need to be sure that you submit to the check. If you know that the criminal check is going to come back with a criminal history, you may just want to be honest and tell the employer not to waste any more of their time with you.

An employment criminal check doesn’t have to be a bad thing. If you don’t have a criminal history you can submit to the criminal check, get the job, and never look back. If you do have a criminal past you may want to let the employer know that something will turn up, but tell them how you have changed your life since that time. Many employers are willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, if you are honest about it you may just get the second chance that you were hoping for. The best thing you can do is be honest if you do have a criminal past, either way the employer will appreciate your being forthcoming with the information.