Misdemeanor and Getting Job in Corporate Finance
Freshman year (about 3 years ago) I purchased an item on-campus for a cheap price. The police found the guy who sold the item to me and a couple of weeks later the police came and talked to me about it. Because the price that I paid for the item was so cheap, they said I must have known that the item was stolen. I was charged with the lowest level of receiving stolen property (misdemeanor). I was so embarrassed and I didn't want to tell anybody about the issue, I accepted the charge. The case was over quickly and I received a month of probation with no further restrictions. This conviction is eligible for expungement in 2018.
Sophomore summer I got an internship at a private advisory firm (IB, valuation, restructuring, litigation) and disclosed the issue and it didn't keep me from getting the internship.
Junior year I received a summer internship offer to join a corporation (think a public company such as Cardinal Health or CVS) in their finance department rotational program. I turned the offer down, but left on good terms, and went to a private investment management firm for the summer. I disclosed the issue to the investment management firm and it didn't keep me from getting the internship.
Now, I am recruiting for full-time positions since I will be graduating this coming June. I reached out to the corporation I turned down Junior year for a finance department rotation internship and went through the full-time interview process. Today, I received a full-time offer to start this June. I have to make a decision how to proceed.
1) Should I disclose the conviction before accepting the offer?
2) Should I accept the offer and disclose the conviction?
3) Should I decline the offer and move on because public corporations don't accept people with this background in their finance rotational programs?
4) If I do disclose, should it be an email or a call? In the past, I have emailed and then they called me for a follow-up.
5) Should I disclose to HR or to the people I interviewed with? The job offer came from a call from HR, not the people I interviewed with. I have a little bit of built up rapport with the HR Manager who I talked to a few times last year and this year, and the Finance Manager I interviewed with last year and this year. At the Investment Management firm, I let the person know I interviewed with and he talked to HR and it wasn't an issue. Freshman year, I told the HR Manager and it wasn't an issue. From an embarrassment perspective, I'd rather HR know than my Finance Manager, but not at the cost of losing the job.
Did they not ask for it misdemeanor/felony disclosures on the application? I'd just wait for them to ask if not. If they do, be upfront and say it was a mistake and it won't happen again.
No, on the application it only asked if I would be willing to submit to a background check if I received a job offer. I answered, yes, of course.
That sucks. If you submit for a background check you need to (assuming you get the job) discuss the matter with the hiring manager - don't let them find out from HR b/c they will likely eliminate you and the decision will be made before you have a chance to defend yourself.
Assuming this happened in a college town or wherever it happened for that matter, I would write the judge a letter (and keep writing until he responds or track him down) and ask him if you can get it expunged - have some good community service / good gpa / etc. to show that you've turned things around. Explain it's hampering your job prospects - you never know, he might cut you a break.
My thought was to email the Finance Manager next week, before accepting the offer, and lay out the details briefly and welcome a phone call and/or demonstrate willingness to provide references.
I'm talking a hand-written note on nice paper. You need to get that taken care of - that is going to be a HUGE black-eye on your job prospects.
I would write all those involved a thousand times if it would change anything. From what I understand, their hands are tied by law to wait a minimum period of time before they can get the conviction "taken care of." That minimum period of time doesn't occur until 2018.
A judge has a lot of discretion - I'd almost hire a lawyer and get him to try and convince the judge. Not to keep busting your chops - but I think finding a job w/ that on your resume is going to be nearly impossible in any corporation where you have to be screened by HR and don't know someone personally at the company that can vouch for you.
Misdemeanor & Corporate Finance (Originally Posted: 10/05/2016)
Freshman year (about 3 years ago) I purchased an item on-campus for a cheap price. The police found the guy who sold the item to me and a couple of weeks later the police came and talked to me about it. Because the price that I paid for the item was so cheap, they said I must have known that the item was stolen. I was charged with the lowest level of receiving stolen property (misdemeanor). I was so embarrassed and I didn't want to tell anybody about the issue, I accepted the charge. The case was over quickly and I received a month of probation with no further restrictions. This conviction is eligible for expungement in 2018.
Sophomore summer I got an internship at a private advisory firm (IB, valuation, restructuring, litigation) and disclosed the issue and it didn't keep me from getting the internship.
Junior year I received a summer internship offer to join a corporation (think a public company such as Cardinal Health or CVS) in their finance department rotational program. I turned the offer down, but left on good terms, and went to a private investment management firm for the summer. I disclosed the issue to the investment management firm and it didn't keep me from getting the internship.
Now, I am recruiting for full-time positions since I will be graduating this coming June. I reached out to the corporation I turned down Junior year for a finance department rotation internship and went through the full-time interview process. Today, I received a full-time offer to start this June. I have to make a decision how to proceed.
1) Should I disclose the conviction before accepting the offer?
2) Should I accept the offer and disclose the conviction?
3) Should I decline the offer and move on because public corporations don't accept people with this background in their finance rotational programs? 4) If I do disclose, should it be an email or a call? In the past, I have emailed and then they called me for a follow-up.
5) Should I disclose to HR or to the people I interviewed with? The job offer came from a call from HR, not the people I interviewed with. I have a little bit of built up rapport with the HR Manager who I talked to a few times last year and this year, and the Finance Manager I interviewed with last year and this year. At the Investment Management firm, I let the person know I interviewed with and he talked to HR and it wasn't an issue. Freshman year, I told the HR Manager and it wasn't an issue. From an embarrassment perspective, I'd rather HR know than my Finance Manager, but not at the cost of losing the job.
You should accept the job and disclose it only in the background check forms. There will likely be an area for you to explain it. Some background checks will only ask for felonies in which case you don't need to disclose at all. Also the background check may only be to check previous experience/confirming graduation in which case they won't do a criminal check, you will still have to disclose because you likely will not know what the 3rd party will actually check. I doubt that this will keep you from getting the job but there is no need to shine extra light on it if you have a good explanation.
Thank you for your comment!
Accept the job (if you want it).
Disclose it on your background check.
Sign up for direct deposit. You'll be fine.
Thank you!
Quick addition to the already good advice - make sure when you disclose on the background check forms that it was for property and that you did not know it was stolen at any point before the police came to you. That should be the extent of any disclosure you would need to make since the company can pull any and all case records if they really want to.
I agree with the advice above. It will most likely be a non-issue. The only potential snag I would see is if you were applying at an FDIC insured institution due to the FDIC's Section 19. However, once your conviction is 5 years in the past, an applicable institution wouldn't even have to apply to the FDIC to allow you to work there.
You gave no hint of this, which is good, but as I'm sure you know, do not lie on any background check forms. Lying is probably worse than most offenses. Do not take that in a condescending way, would just hate to see a qualified monkey lose out on a gig for something minuscule. Good luck, and good work on what sounds like a very productive job search.
Thank you very much for your comments and words of encouragement!
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