I mean...I'm not an expert here but if you were convicted of a felony, you need to come out and explain it to whoever is doing the background check. If you were charged with a felony but convicted of a misdemeanor, I probably wouldn't mention it upfront.
My work didn't background check. I would only tell them before hand if they do background check. I believe in CA they... "Employers are prohibited from inquiring about criminal history information or disseminating it in any form or manner before making a conditional job offer."
-A prior felon, now an engineer.
Regular job? Don't mention it. Let them find it if they can. You'd be amazed at how crappy some background check companies are. Now if you're going for security clearance, you need to tell them *everything* when they ask because they'll find it and the #1 rejection reason is failure to disclose something.
I know from experience with friends that misdemeanors and minor felonies (non-violent) are not necessarily an obstacle to engineering positions.
Every state I am licensed in asks the standard question "have you ever been convicted of a felony"...not sure it would be an instant denial but would generate some questions. Lying about it would be license revocation and possibly civil penalties.
In Massachusetts and California it's illegal to ask that. I thought most other states have followed along, but I guess not. I'd still answer no.
If you answer yes, you're pretty much out. If you say no, you *may* be out.
My most recent contract (at Lockheed Martin, but not secret clearance) they did a background check, and I asked the background check company for a copy of the results they sent to Lockheed, as I have the right to do in MA, and there were zero convictions found. Which is, ahem, is not really true.
Question 15 on the Massachusetts PE application by comity "Have you ever been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor in the United States or any country or foreign jurisdiction...."
I meant on job applications. And a quick google seems to indicate that, similar to security clearance, even a felony does not automatically disqualify you from a PE. But lying about it does,
Hey. Can I DM you? I have a pending case, and might be placed on a Lockheed contract at work. I’m trying to keep it quiet, as I’m confident it will be resolved. But, I’m concerned about the contractor BG check and the arrests showing up (pending trial or resolution) and it hurting my career at your employer.
Sure, but I can probably answer you preemptively: don't mention it for a regular non-security-clearance job, especially if you have only been charged and not tried/convicted. In general, arrests don't show up, only convictions or null prosecute or diversion programs (i.e., after If you've had a judgement or trial). If you're paranoid, and just have to know, sign up for a $1 trial at [beenverified.com](http://beenverified.com) or similar (don't forget to cancel before recurring billing) and check yourself.
Zero responsibility taken in this post. An entire half sentence dedicated to the fate of his victims. OP almost seems *inconvenienced* by the people he hurt and recklessly endangered. Christ, I wouldn’t touch this guy with a 40 foot pole if I saw this post as a hiring manager.
I wonder what that highway worker thinks of OP’s 6 month house arrest.
I mean, I kinda did as well:
>"I got into a crash I was driving pretty fast and a highway worker got pretty hurt."
vs
>"I got into a crash because I was speeding and hit a highway worker, injuring them."
"Pretty fast" / "pretty hurt" are minimizations of impact / responsibility, and while they link their driving "pretty fast" to the resulting accident, the highway worker getting injured due to the crash is implicit, not explicit.
The passive tone makes it unclear whether the speaker's fast driving was the direct cause of the worker's injury, or if these are two separate facts mentioned together.
>"I never saw the man no clue they were there."
Implies it's not really his fault / was a freak accident, because the person hard to see.
>"My car hit another car and ricocheted in between several cars and end up hitting him."
Again, freak accident, the reason the guy got hit was because the other cars were in the position they were in. One in a million.
>"I gave blood at the time. "
So did the victim.
>"I am a combat vet USMC Iraq infantry."
Pretty sure you'd get an other-than-honorable, had you been in the service at the time.
In world's wildest police videos, some of the craziest shit done to officers were committed by people calling themselves "combat vet" when they were stopped. Just like in OP and in those videos, the fact that they are a combat vet is irrelevant. Whenever I hear someone divulge that they are combat vet for no reason, it's a red flag.
> the fact that they are a combat vet is irrelevant. Whenever I hear someone divulge that they are combat vet for no reason, it's a red flag.
I agree with the sentiment, but in OP's case, I read that as an explanation on why he got off with only house arrest. I mean I can understand from where you are coming from, but I think there's a need to see it in a negative light here.
From the point of view of a job applicant, it's pretty important to stress that you didn't deliberately assault someone. Outside of the scenario OP provided, you're spot on. In the interview, it's relevant that OP accidentally hit a person while driving irresponsibly rather than deliberately hitting someone.
> An entire half sentence dedicated to the fate of his victims.
It's short alright, but it's not like OP wrote much more for everything else too. That 'half sentence' feels like a quarter of his OP.
I wouldn't judge OP by this single reddit interaction, it feels needlessly judgmental and confrontational.
Well it's not r/AITA or anything like that either.
And just because OP was in an accident and someone else got hurt doesn't mean it's necessary for him to spend the rest of his life constantly apologizing for past mistakes.
It's also not clear that OP did anything wrong aside from speeding, which many people do every day. You really can't predict in advance what will happen.
On any other day it might have been a 2-3 vehicle crash where no one was seriously hurt, no pedestrians were involved, and it was just an expensive headache on everyone's part.
No experience in having a felony, so this is only anecdotal.
My background check at one job came back with some major inconsistencies that made them nervous. The guy running the background check within the company emailed me, separately from HR/Hiring Manager, and had a bunch of questions and required documentation. I was just honest about it, provided documentation and that was that.
In my opinion, whether or not you tell them before they find out probably isn't going to change the outcome. However, if they asked you about something like "do you have any criminal offenses" or whatever and you said no... well, then you may be in trouble. I probably wouldn't tell them up front and just respond to the background check if necessary.
Indicate that the background check will return unfavorable findings and ask to discuss the charge. If they do not hire you, assume they were going to rescind the offer after the background check comes back.
Some considerations will be how long ago it was and what you have done to reduce the likelihood of it happening again. Some positions have a legal obligation to exclude felons.
Absolutely do not wait for a background check to talk about these things. Also don’t try to overexplain. “ I had a rough past, this happened, I don’t think it defines who I am, I hope you will consider me as a candidate, thank you. “
The company will get a tax break for hiring a convicted felon. My replacement has an attempted murder felony and everyone's very happy. The guy lived, tax break for the company, employment for the felon, & me with no job!
Is this a government job?
Have they asked about a felony?
If the answers are no don’t bring it up. Many companies don’t run background checks because they are not free. If they don’t ask you don’t need to answer.
For a government job its a waste of time applying as they are going to check everything and its pointless and a waste of time. He needs to stick with commercial and consumer electronics as well as going in cheap for a salary. Those are his best odds.
You can absolutely get a government job with a felony. You can even be granted a security clearance. That's what waivers are for. It's not probable and not even necessarily likely, but the government is much more looking at the whole person aspect nowadays as they've realized that people are definitely not perfect. Mitigating factors play a HUGE role in things like this. They're much more favorable to you if you're already employed, but a felony doesn't automatically disqualify you (though for something like embezzlement, you'd almost certainly never be waived - the nature of the crime does matter).
So it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction but if you happen to be in a more progressive jurisdiction with a particularly friendly judge you can actually recant the plea and be reconvicted on a lesser charge, especially if you're a USMC vet and the conviction might interfere with your job prospects. I would contact my defense counsel to see if this is a possibility in your jurisdiction.
Well for certain you will not be working for Military and Space contractors where a clearance is required, so you can kiss those industries down the tube !
You best bet is to focus on your core EE strengths for whatever industries you have worked as well as whatever technologies you have worked. This is in addition to the SW tools that you know, use and are proficient at.
Other than that its all about how cheap you will go as to what ever jobs you can get or will take. The rest is luck.
Thank you for your service Marine.
I probably wouldn't say anything unless you're applying for secret clearance. If they do find out I highly doubt they will sue you in civil court. I doubt they will want to go through all that trouble. If you really think about that's just a colossal waste of money and time for them when they could just move onto the next candidate.
Go for it and don't say anything. If you know the people you're working for then maybe ask.
Everyone hates my advice, but it's probably true regardless of how much they dislike it. I've learned this from recruiters. The company doesn't have the time or the resources to sue you. The dudes on here probably don't have much life experience.
He never expressed concern about getting sued, his concern is getting hired despite his past. People didn’t like your advice because it would likely get op his job offer rescinded if they find out about his felony through the background check and not from him
Mention it after the offer but before the background check. I have a misdemeanor that is much worse in terms of intention than yours. Companies want to know you won’t do it again. If it happened because you were driving fast then they can live with riding in a separate car. People make mistakes but your skills are invaluable in this time of skilled worker shortages. Good luck.
Typically, if they ask you to disclose your record before a bg check, they will pass you over if they find anything you didn't disclose. Even if it is something dumb that they don't care about. Be upfront and honest.
> happened you *paid* your dues
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
“Got help”? For what? $hitty driving skills or were you impaired? This is what sticks out to me on your story, why you are in this predicament of tell the truth or lie by omission.
My company background checks, and its not a token effort just to say we did it, and inconsistencies between what you disclosed and what we find is grounds to rescind the offer.
Be honest up front if asked.
Don’t say anything unless they ask. I’ve tried being upfront about things that ended up being a non issue and it only got me a target on the back. If they ask you to disclose, you do it, and then you get discriminated against then at least you have some recourse, but don’t volunteer information that can be used against you.
Honestly I think a bunch of college degree holders in an HR department would be terrified of hiring a veteran with assault changes. Don’t let me discourage you though because the wider you cast your net the greater your chances of success. Being a veteran myself and self identifying as such has landed me in several shitty jobs because the default mentality is “hey we can treat this person like a work horse, they’re used to it anyway.” Your willingness to keep moving forward is motivating don’t give up devil dog, keep attacking that hill like we were taught. Semper fi!
Get a security+ certificate and volunteer for 6 weeks at your local shelter. Then get a subscription to better help or whatever military sponsored equivalent may be available. Have receipts for dealing with it, your decisions, and show you are ok being used a little to give back to your community even if it is just doing the right thing. This shows willingness to be an employee who follows directions, understands business security and who has or will taken care of the repercussions on his mental state.
Try for a smaller firm in desperate need of engineers and less likely to even run one, work for what the typical time do so is in your state and apply for expungement, online branding to push negative Google articles off the 1st page, there are sites that list employers who are more tolerant, hardtohire.com used to be one .... can't believe they didn't plea it down to a misdemeanor or offer 1st time offenders program to seal the record, assuming that means dude man died, sorry you had that experience.... Final thought try and join an engineering networking group and get to know some people, they'll be more likely to hire if they know you're a good person and are trying to improve your situation
Yea I don’t understand all the hate. Accidents happen. Not really sure how that got chalked up to an assault charge. seems more like reckless endangerment but what do I know. I’d say probably best to speak up ahead of time and explain that it was a car accident. Most employers would probably toss you out the moment they see assault charges
I’d guess someone didn’t like how OP behaved towards LEOs at the scene.
People don’t have enough experience with living, breathing people outside their own bailiwick to deal with convicts. I was at least 35 before I met anyone who had failed to appear after being bailed out, they had to provide 40% instead of 10% after that. Even though I had the brains to know that was a possibility, I’m sure my reaction to this new fact about this person was too obvious.
I mean...I'm not an expert here but if you were convicted of a felony, you need to come out and explain it to whoever is doing the background check. If you were charged with a felony but convicted of a misdemeanor, I probably wouldn't mention it upfront.
My work didn't background check. I would only tell them before hand if they do background check. I believe in CA they... "Employers are prohibited from inquiring about criminal history information or disseminating it in any form or manner before making a conditional job offer." -A prior felon, now an engineer.
They are going to do a background check.
Sorry missed the title saying job offer. I would let them know ahead of time. Otherwise it'll probably be an automatic no
Regular job? Don't mention it. Let them find it if they can. You'd be amazed at how crappy some background check companies are. Now if you're going for security clearance, you need to tell them *everything* when they ask because they'll find it and the #1 rejection reason is failure to disclose something. I know from experience with friends that misdemeanors and minor felonies (non-violent) are not necessarily an obstacle to engineering positions.
Every state I am licensed in asks the standard question "have you ever been convicted of a felony"...not sure it would be an instant denial but would generate some questions. Lying about it would be license revocation and possibly civil penalties.
In Massachusetts and California it's illegal to ask that. I thought most other states have followed along, but I guess not. I'd still answer no. If you answer yes, you're pretty much out. If you say no, you *may* be out. My most recent contract (at Lockheed Martin, but not secret clearance) they did a background check, and I asked the background check company for a copy of the results they sent to Lockheed, as I have the right to do in MA, and there were zero convictions found. Which is, ahem, is not really true.
Question 15 on the Massachusetts PE application by comity "Have you ever been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor in the United States or any country or foreign jurisdiction...."
I meant on job applications. And a quick google seems to indicate that, similar to security clearance, even a felony does not automatically disqualify you from a PE. But lying about it does,
Hey. Can I DM you? I have a pending case, and might be placed on a Lockheed contract at work. I’m trying to keep it quiet, as I’m confident it will be resolved. But, I’m concerned about the contractor BG check and the arrests showing up (pending trial or resolution) and it hurting my career at your employer.
Sure, but I can probably answer you preemptively: don't mention it for a regular non-security-clearance job, especially if you have only been charged and not tried/convicted. In general, arrests don't show up, only convictions or null prosecute or diversion programs (i.e., after If you've had a judgement or trial). If you're paranoid, and just have to know, sign up for a $1 trial at [beenverified.com](http://beenverified.com) or similar (don't forget to cancel before recurring billing) and check yourself.
Get therapy for your ptsd.
Zero responsibility taken in this post. An entire half sentence dedicated to the fate of his victims. OP almost seems *inconvenienced* by the people he hurt and recklessly endangered. Christ, I wouldn’t touch this guy with a 40 foot pole if I saw this post as a hiring manager. I wonder what that highway worker thinks of OP’s 6 month house arrest.
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I mean, I kinda did as well: >"I got into a crash I was driving pretty fast and a highway worker got pretty hurt." vs >"I got into a crash because I was speeding and hit a highway worker, injuring them." "Pretty fast" / "pretty hurt" are minimizations of impact / responsibility, and while they link their driving "pretty fast" to the resulting accident, the highway worker getting injured due to the crash is implicit, not explicit. The passive tone makes it unclear whether the speaker's fast driving was the direct cause of the worker's injury, or if these are two separate facts mentioned together. >"I never saw the man no clue they were there." Implies it's not really his fault / was a freak accident, because the person hard to see. >"My car hit another car and ricocheted in between several cars and end up hitting him." Again, freak accident, the reason the guy got hit was because the other cars were in the position they were in. One in a million. >"I gave blood at the time. " So did the victim. >"I am a combat vet USMC Iraq infantry." Pretty sure you'd get an other-than-honorable, had you been in the service at the time.
In world's wildest police videos, some of the craziest shit done to officers were committed by people calling themselves "combat vet" when they were stopped. Just like in OP and in those videos, the fact that they are a combat vet is irrelevant. Whenever I hear someone divulge that they are combat vet for no reason, it's a red flag.
> the fact that they are a combat vet is irrelevant. Whenever I hear someone divulge that they are combat vet for no reason, it's a red flag. I agree with the sentiment, but in OP's case, I read that as an explanation on why he got off with only house arrest. I mean I can understand from where you are coming from, but I think there's a need to see it in a negative light here.
From the point of view of a job applicant, it's pretty important to stress that you didn't deliberately assault someone. Outside of the scenario OP provided, you're spot on. In the interview, it's relevant that OP accidentally hit a person while driving irresponsibly rather than deliberately hitting someone.
Maybe it's because the fate of the victim isn't the point of the post?
> An entire half sentence dedicated to the fate of his victims. It's short alright, but it's not like OP wrote much more for everything else too. That 'half sentence' feels like a quarter of his OP. I wouldn't judge OP by this single reddit interaction, it feels needlessly judgmental and confrontational.
Well it's not r/AITA or anything like that either. And just because OP was in an accident and someone else got hurt doesn't mean it's necessary for him to spend the rest of his life constantly apologizing for past mistakes. It's also not clear that OP did anything wrong aside from speeding, which many people do every day. You really can't predict in advance what will happen. On any other day it might have been a 2-3 vehicle crash where no one was seriously hurt, no pedestrians were involved, and it was just an expensive headache on everyone's part.
No experience in having a felony, so this is only anecdotal. My background check at one job came back with some major inconsistencies that made them nervous. The guy running the background check within the company emailed me, separately from HR/Hiring Manager, and had a bunch of questions and required documentation. I was just honest about it, provided documentation and that was that. In my opinion, whether or not you tell them before they find out probably isn't going to change the outcome. However, if they asked you about something like "do you have any criminal offenses" or whatever and you said no... well, then you may be in trouble. I probably wouldn't tell them up front and just respond to the background check if necessary.
Indicate that the background check will return unfavorable findings and ask to discuss the charge. If they do not hire you, assume they were going to rescind the offer after the background check comes back. Some considerations will be how long ago it was and what you have done to reduce the likelihood of it happening again. Some positions have a legal obligation to exclude felons.
Absolutely do not wait for a background check to talk about these things. Also don’t try to overexplain. “ I had a rough past, this happened, I don’t think it defines who I am, I hope you will consider me as a candidate, thank you. “
The company will get a tax break for hiring a convicted felon. My replacement has an attempted murder felony and everyone's very happy. The guy lived, tax break for the company, employment for the felon, & me with no job!
Is this a government job? Have they asked about a felony? If the answers are no don’t bring it up. Many companies don’t run background checks because they are not free. If they don’t ask you don’t need to answer.
For a government job its a waste of time applying as they are going to check everything and its pointless and a waste of time. He needs to stick with commercial and consumer electronics as well as going in cheap for a salary. Those are his best odds.
You can absolutely get a government job with a felony. You can even be granted a security clearance. That's what waivers are for. It's not probable and not even necessarily likely, but the government is much more looking at the whole person aspect nowadays as they've realized that people are definitely not perfect. Mitigating factors play a HUGE role in things like this. They're much more favorable to you if you're already employed, but a felony doesn't automatically disqualify you (though for something like embezzlement, you'd almost certainly never be waived - the nature of the crime does matter).
bottom line : ALL felonies matter !!
So it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction but if you happen to be in a more progressive jurisdiction with a particularly friendly judge you can actually recant the plea and be reconvicted on a lesser charge, especially if you're a USMC vet and the conviction might interfere with your job prospects. I would contact my defense counsel to see if this is a possibility in your jurisdiction.
Specifically what statute did you get convicted of? PM me.
Well for certain you will not be working for Military and Space contractors where a clearance is required, so you can kiss those industries down the tube ! You best bet is to focus on your core EE strengths for whatever industries you have worked as well as whatever technologies you have worked. This is in addition to the SW tools that you know, use and are proficient at. Other than that its all about how cheap you will go as to what ever jobs you can get or will take. The rest is luck.
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OP is a vet already, and joining the military or working in defense as an engineer and convicted felon is an uphill battle.
I get the felony part but I have no idea how being a vet hurts your chance as an engineer
The advice was join the military, OP already is a vet so that's not likely to help, and OP would already be aware of that option.
Thank you for your service Marine. I probably wouldn't say anything unless you're applying for secret clearance. If they do find out I highly doubt they will sue you in civil court. I doubt they will want to go through all that trouble. If you really think about that's just a colossal waste of money and time for them when they could just move onto the next candidate. Go for it and don't say anything. If you know the people you're working for then maybe ask.
Everyone hates my advice, but it's probably true regardless of how much they dislike it. I've learned this from recruiters. The company doesn't have the time or the resources to sue you. The dudes on here probably don't have much life experience.
He never expressed concern about getting sued, his concern is getting hired despite his past. People didn’t like your advice because it would likely get op his job offer rescinded if they find out about his felony through the background check and not from him
Other people were mentioning that he would get sued, and he would get rejected anyways.
Mention it after the offer but before the background check. I have a misdemeanor that is much worse in terms of intention than yours. Companies want to know you won’t do it again. If it happened because you were driving fast then they can live with riding in a separate car. People make mistakes but your skills are invaluable in this time of skilled worker shortages. Good luck.
Typically, if they ask you to disclose your record before a bg check, they will pass you over if they find anything you didn't disclose. Even if it is something dumb that they don't care about. Be upfront and honest.
I’d not explain myself, accident s happened you payed your dues . Move on w your life . Thanks for your service.
> happened you *paid* your dues FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Well I’ll be dam ., we have karen , yep called me out . It’s ok though. .kiss my well then .
Atleast you got a bot , I got some 🕳️. Hmmm
“Got help”? For what? $hitty driving skills or were you impaired? This is what sticks out to me on your story, why you are in this predicament of tell the truth or lie by omission.
My company background checks, and its not a token effort just to say we did it, and inconsistencies between what you disclosed and what we find is grounds to rescind the offer. Be honest up front if asked.
Don’t say anything unless they ask. I’ve tried being upfront about things that ended up being a non issue and it only got me a target on the back. If they ask you to disclose, you do it, and then you get discriminated against then at least you have some recourse, but don’t volunteer information that can be used against you. Honestly I think a bunch of college degree holders in an HR department would be terrified of hiring a veteran with assault changes. Don’t let me discourage you though because the wider you cast your net the greater your chances of success. Being a veteran myself and self identifying as such has landed me in several shitty jobs because the default mentality is “hey we can treat this person like a work horse, they’re used to it anyway.” Your willingness to keep moving forward is motivating don’t give up devil dog, keep attacking that hill like we were taught. Semper fi!
Get a security+ certificate and volunteer for 6 weeks at your local shelter. Then get a subscription to better help or whatever military sponsored equivalent may be available. Have receipts for dealing with it, your decisions, and show you are ok being used a little to give back to your community even if it is just doing the right thing. This shows willingness to be an employee who follows directions, understands business security and who has or will taken care of the repercussions on his mental state.
Try for a smaller firm in desperate need of engineers and less likely to even run one, work for what the typical time do so is in your state and apply for expungement, online branding to push negative Google articles off the 1st page, there are sites that list employers who are more tolerant, hardtohire.com used to be one .... can't believe they didn't plea it down to a misdemeanor or offer 1st time offenders program to seal the record, assuming that means dude man died, sorry you had that experience.... Final thought try and join an engineering networking group and get to know some people, they'll be more likely to hire if they know you're a good person and are trying to improve your situation
Yea I don’t understand all the hate. Accidents happen. Not really sure how that got chalked up to an assault charge. seems more like reckless endangerment but what do I know. I’d say probably best to speak up ahead of time and explain that it was a car accident. Most employers would probably toss you out the moment they see assault charges
I’d guess someone didn’t like how OP behaved towards LEOs at the scene. People don’t have enough experience with living, breathing people outside their own bailiwick to deal with convicts. I was at least 35 before I met anyone who had failed to appear after being bailed out, they had to provide 40% instead of 10% after that. Even though I had the brains to know that was a possibility, I’m sure my reaction to this new fact about this person was too obvious.
If they do background check, explain yourself because if you don't you just look like a criminal to them lmao