How To Get A Job Despite A Less-Than-Perfect Past 03-03

How To Get A Job Despite A Less-Than-Perfect Past

Larissa Faw, Contributor

Mistakes happen. A college prank turns into an unexpected night in jail. A night at the prom results in a DUI. It doesn’t take much to transform a youthful indiscretion into a criminal record. Or, young adults find themselves over their heads in debt. Their credit history is so horrible that they can’t even qualify for a cell phone contract.

And now these individuals find themselves searching for employment in extremely challenging times. Forget about receiving a job offer, it’s just as hard to land an interview. Ten years ago, an applicant submitting 300 resumes would receive 30 callbacks. Today, there is a 1% hit rate, meaning 300 resumes receives three callbacks, says Darnell Clarke, corporate hiring manager and author of Employmentology: A Practical Systematic Methodology of Finding Employment.

With 96% of HR professionals saying their companies perform background checks on applicants, according to the Society for Human Resources Management, how do those with less-than-perfect pasts compete with perfect applicants?And they are out there. There are those who have stellar backgrounds, with 4.0 GPAs, faultless credit scores, and zero skeletons in their closets. These are the ones hiring manager prefer when it comes to prospective employees.

Nonetheless, there is opportunity in adversity. For one, what was once considered a red flag may not be that way today. One in two hiring managers surveyed by CareerBuilder have hired someone with a criminal record. Poor credit isn’t as shocking as it may have been 10 years ago thanks to the recession. A majority of Americans want to legalize marijuana. Plus, an arrest for hacking may actually help someone get a job in a few sectors. “Employers may say a person is guilty of poor judgment, but they are likely to be lenient. Times have changed,” says Jeff Shane of Allison & Taylor, an agency that provides employment verification.

At the same time, in today’s tight job market, the odds are stacked against anyone who may have spent time before a judge, even if it’s only for a minor-in-possession or bankruptcy charge. HR managers are looking for any reason to disqualify candidates. “If I have to select between someone with a squeaky clean background and someone with a shady background,” says Clarke. “There’s no question I am going with squeaky clean. That’s just how it is.”

Still, there are tactics to help level the playing field. One important step for all job searchers is to run their own background and reference check. “Do your own due diligence first,” says Shane. “Any employer with a social security number can find out your entire life. You may think the only bad thing you have is a parking violation, but [our database] finds that 70% of background checks have some type of data error. It could be financial, criminal, or tax related, but employers are just going to disqualify you from consideration. They will never tell you why. I advise everyone to run one at least once in their life to confirm nothing is bogus.”

This self-investigation is also critical because some infractions don’t make it on to these reports. “You don’t want to poison your own well intentionally,” says Shane. “There are ways to get crimes expunged from your record. Bankruptcies drop off after seven years. You don’t want to bring something up that the employer would never know about.”

Applicants may also want to adjust their list of employers to more hospitable prospects. Smaller firms are less likely to run complete background and credit checks, and younger managers are more accepting of “youthful indulgences.” It may be changing, but at the moment, most major corporations seeking white-collar positions remain traditional and stringent. These companies are not amused by off-color jokes on Twitter or drunken festivities posted on Facebook. And this power is largely in the hands of judgmental Baby Boomers. “They expect the people they hire to talk and act in a certain way. They have a different set of standards [that demand perfect backgrounds],” says Clarke.

There’s also a right — and wrong — way to confess misdeeds, say HR managers. Never lie on the job application, and use whatever space to explain what you learned from the incident. Potentially damaging information doesn’t need to be on the resume, but it should be addressed during the first phone or in-person conversation. “You have to bring it up. Don’t let me find out,” says Clarke. These experiences can demonstrate how to overcome challenges and persevere, which are both prized attributes among corporate executives. “Just show confidence and fortitude, and let me know you made a mistake,” says Clarke.

Yet, regardless of whether a job applicant has a skeleton or two, Clarke says the most effective way to get a job in today’s market is simply to ask for it. “I have hired [hundreds of] people, and only one has ever said to me that they want this job. Think about it: if you pass someone on the street searching for something on the ground, you are likely to pass them by. But if they stop and ask for help, you will help them out. Same thing applies to a job. Say to them that you want it, you are the best fit for the position, and they will not be sorry.”

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