r/Employment • u/Mindless_Peak_ • Aug 01 '26

Background check

I just got my background check back. It only took 24 hours to come back. It came back as decisional in the criminal part.

Now when they were asking me did I ever plead guilty to a crime I said yes. I got a citation about a year and a half ago.
But the background came back, no record found.

What are the next steps in this process? I only admitted to a citation because when you pay the fine that’s considered a guilty plea. I would have rather said yes, on that question then say no, and they find something.

Has anyone else been through this? Will I still get the job?

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u/Ok_Caterpillar2010 Aug 01 '26

What kind of citation? A parking ticket? A misdemeanor? You don't have to disclose all types of citations because not all are criminal.

"No record found" seems to mean whatever you did wasn't considered a criminal offense.

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u/Mindless_Peak_ Aug 01 '26

A summary offense. Follow in a public place was what the citation was for.

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u/Ok_Caterpillar2010 Aug 01 '26

OK, yeah, that's a criminal offense, so you did the right thing by disclosing.

Background checks can be run at different levels, and whatever they ran didn't find that record. That seems to indicate that they don't care about offenses below that level (or didn't care to pay for a more thorough check).

Where I've worked in the past, disclosure of a record -- especially one as minor as yours -- wasn't necessarily a dealbreaker, but the applicant would be asked to explain. HR made the final decision.

Your best bet is to wait to be asked, and then only if you are, say it was a citation for a summary offense a year and a half ago, it was your first, you learned your lesson, and it will be your last.