I used to work at a company called MAXIM Systems that was acquired by Accenture in 2007 to build up the defense business for the company. We had our own background check system, which included the ‘pee in a cup’ variety so we did not have to do a separate background check when the acquisition occurred.
I do know of someone in our company at the time who was a trainer that held a high level security clearance and lost it because of a drunk driving conviction, but he did not otherwise get fired as a result - just transitioned to another job that didn’t require the clearance.
I suspect if the job you are applying for does not require a security clearance, it won’t be a problem, and even if you ARE applying for one with a security clearance, if it is not a felony and that is the only issue you have for the last seven years, you will probably still get it.
I will say that I agree that HR is never your friend. They are interested in protecting the company first and foremost. You are a new potential employee so don’t expect them to stick their neck out for you or make exceptions to any rules they have. If the application didn’t specifically ask about DUIs, or it only asked about felonies (and yours was not), then NEVER offer up that information as it can only hurt you. The company that the HR department uses may or may not find the record, they may or may not report it to HR, HR may or may not care, or the hiring manager may or may not care. If you admit it right off, you might be talking yourself out of a job. Besides, the worst that will happen is that you won’t get the job if they find it (in which case you wouldn’t get the job if you admitted it either). If it was me, I would wait to see if they found it, and then just admit it was a stupid mistake, you’ll never do it again and haven’t had anything else happen since then, and you didn’t think you had to disclose a minor misdemeanor since it wasn’t a felony. That’s certainly less risky than just blurting it out and hoping that somehow gets you consideration from an organization that doesn’t owe you anything.
Hell, if I was HR, I might toss you out for the honest admission because I’d wonder “Is this ALL this guy has done? My background check company might miss a sex offender conviction he didn’t mention and then I’ll get in trouble as an HR person for hiring someone who was a ‘admitted criminal’ if there is another issue down the road. I can’t risk that”
Got my copy of my background check today (since I asked for one).
*“Where court results indicate that records were found be aware that even though some or all of the identifiers in the court records found match the identifiers you provided, this is not conclusive proof that the record(s) belong to this individual…”
*
Then goes on to say that matching court records didn’t fit the reporting criteria set by my company.
Hey, congrats. You found my Divorce records. Thanks for making it sound more ominous than it is.
Depends. My current job (ending July 31 because I become an employee August 1) is hourly, no sick or vacation time. I have insurance through them, but it costs about 80% more than it did on my last (employee) job and looks to like it will be cut by at least 40% when I get hired on.
I have been a salaried/benefits ‘consultant’ in the distant past. Just depends on how much experience you have, how marketable your skills are and how much money they can make off of you. In that past job I was in a pretty sensitive position with the client, so they wanted to make sure I was comfortable and not going anywhere.
I’m in HR (and used to work for one of Accenture’s competitors) and I’ll say it’s very unlikely that a single DUI conviction would cause them to rescind your offer, especially since it is not job-related.
Also, if they have not asked you, do not volunteer the information. Although it might not be applicable here, in general recruiters hate it when applicants provide them with information that they are legally not allowed to use in hiring discussions, because it can expose the company to accusations of discrimination if the application is denied.
And that sometimes the information is correct but the report is written in such a way as to make the most innocent of findings sound scaaaaary. Instead of saying “we didn’t find anything relevant,” they started with a “there may be other people with the same name” written in the most obscure language the writer could come up with, followed by an equally-convoluted “we found something but it wasn’t relevant” (Chimera’s divorce proceedings, which is the only thing they found, aren’t a criminal matter).
Good news, Accenture has good benefits & pay. Bad news, Consulting branch is a meat-grinder. Expect to be traveling (fly to job city Sunday, work 10-hour days Monday-Thursday (driving a rental car), fly back Friday night).
domain_pain - At the time that MAXIM Systems was acquired, their name was changed to Accenture National Security Services (ANSS), which was a part of the Accenture Federal group. Other than trade-shows, I did not travel, and even then, it was less than five times a year. I was based in San Diego and had only a handful of 2-3 day trips to Chicago, Colorado Springs, and D.C.
There were definitely a lot of 10 hour days, but that was in the home office working on proposals. It really wasn’t that bad. I only left the company because I knew I could get more money working for a small business and make a greater impact with them.
As it turns out that was a mistake as I picked the absolute WRONG company to work for, and got out of there working for two other small businesses that were also run by poor management, so I went back to another large business.