Series: What to Disclose in the Job Interview & What To Keep to Yourself

Episode 313 | Author: Emilie Aries

Should You Disclose Your Criminal Background in a Job Interview?

Interviews are stressful enough on a good day. So interviewing with a criminal record can take your nerves to another level altogether! Are you better off leaving the past in the past and staying focused on your future? Or addressing your record up-front as a sign of honesty and integrity?

Criminal Background Disclosure Interview

Employment Laws on the Books

Thanks to the success of the Ban the Box campaign, a national civil rights movement of formerly-incarcerated people and their families started in 2004, over 150 counties and cities along with 30 states have adopted “Ban the Box” style laws to eliminate the common placement of a checkbox on initial job applications where applicants must reveal if they have been convicted of a felony. Furthermore, the federal government has 'banned the box' in regards to federal employers, though not federal contractors.

Cities and states that have ‘banned the box’ include:

New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Seattle, and San Francisco have removed the question regarding conviction history from employment applications.
As of 2020, Colorado became the 13th state to ban private employers of certain size (in CO’s case: 11 employees or greater) from asking about criminal records in an initial job application, too.
Other states include Hawai’i, California, New Mexico, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

While that’s a great sign of progress for the nearly one-third of the adult working-age U.S. population that has a criminal record, most of these laws still don’t prohibit employers from asking applicants about their criminal record during the interview. And when asked, you are often required to disclose.

So whether or not it comes up on your initial application screen, it’s best to be prepared to address your criminal record in the interview, in case you end up needing to.

How to Discuss Your Criminal Record

So how should you discuss your record in the interview?

Do your best to focus the conversation on your valuable skills and reinforce why you’re a great fit for the position and for the organization.

Bottom line

At the end of the day, employers do have a right to see an individual's criminal record before hiring them. However, the decision not to hire someone based on his or her criminal record must be related to the specific job they’re hiring for. Furthermore, arrest records that did not result in a conviction and records for expunged crimes (that have been removed from a criminal record) may not be used in hiring decisions.

If these exceptions don’t apply to you, be prepared to address your criminal record in the interview if it does come up, either directly or indirectly.

For even more answers to commonly-asked questions related to job-seeking with a criminal record, check out this comprehensive post on WorkplaceFairness.org.