Commanders Post at The Warpath - Was Unemployed for 2 days, started new job on Monday

[quote=SolidSnake84;815744]I was nervous about my background check as well when i found out my new company was going to do one on me before hiring. Now, I dont have a criminal record, but what I did have was a resume that only listed the past three jobs i've had, my part-time job that i had on the weekend, and the past two full-time, professional jobs i've had since graduating college. My three jobs span the past 7 years, and I did not list all the other jobs I had since starting work in 2000 at 16 years of age.

I was afraid that they would see all my other jobs on the background check and think i was hiding something, but alas nothing ever happened. I was also worried that when they went to verify my employment, they would get a bad reference from the job i got fired from. Now i dont know exactly how the background check works, or what it consists of, but i am leaning to beleive that it only checks for criminal records, court proceedings/judgements against me, and driving record, etc.. Either that or the person didn't care when they saw all the past jobs not on my application. I've had 10 jobs in 11 years, i know it looks bad, but 7 of those jobs were when i was in high school / college. I also had some at the same time being that they were part time. Since school was out in 2005, i've had 2 full-time jobs. One i was at for 3 months before moving to the last job i had, where i was at almost 6 years..

I do not like the idea of a background check, it gives them too much to discriminate on. If they eliminated background checks, everyone would be on an equal playing field divided into groups by education, work experience, etc..

The way it is now, someone may be much more qualified than me, but say they have a felony on their record from something stupid they did as a kid. (My friend 10th grade lit a mailbox on fire as a prank, he now is a felon for life) Because of that, i get the job that you really should have deserved.[/quote]

Background checks serve a good purpose and help to protect businesses. A convicted felon is not going to necessarily get denied employment based soley on their record, but it all depends on the nature of the business that is doing the hiring.

You don't have to list all your prior jobs on your resume. Usually the last 10 years or so is fine, or the ones that are most relevant to your current career level. You're 27, potential employers now aren't going to care about what crappy summer job you had at 16.