Bacground Checks & Records

Hello all,I'm very new to this site. Due to all of what's going on in the country, and with all of the cuts in Medicare and other insurances I lost my job as an Assistive Technology Professional. I was in this career for over 20 years, but now I feel it's time for a change. I have always said that if I ever decided to change careers I would want to become a truck driver for many reasons. Here is my issue, I recently received my Commercial Learners Permit & a company named Veriha that is very close to my home has reached out to me. They said they have an 8 week training, & what they have to offer is almost exactly what I'm looking for. They need me to fill out an application & there are a few questions that have made me nervous. The questions of concern are as follows: Have you ever been convicted of a crime related to drugs or alcohol, & has you driving privileges ever bee revoked or suspended? Here's why I'm a little worried, in the early 1990's (over 25 years ago) I had received some underage drinking charges, and some possession of THC charges. I also has my driving privileges suspended for failure to pay some fines off. When I got my license back the DMV said that because it was over 5 years it would be like I never has a license. Since then I have cleaned up my act, went back to school to become a nurse, but wound up going into a different career path as an ATP providing complex wheelchair equipment to the disabled community. I have kept a pretty clean driving record, just a few speeding tickets (the most recent was over 4 years ago), and have a couple of driving with expired plates, and driving with no insurance violations. My question is should I be worried about these things that have happened over 25 years ago, & should I even bother to list them seeing that it was so long ago? Any advice would be much appreciated because I am very excited about working for this company. Thank you 😊

Welcome to the forum, Christopher.

Although the drinking and pot charges were from a long time ago, you must still list them on your application, unless of course you were so underage that you weren't even 18 yet. Those records would obviously be sealed, so no need for disclosure.

Veriha will most certainly pull a background check and see those charges. Any attempt to omit or hide them will look very bad on your part.

The good news is the charges are so old and benign that they will have little to zero impact on you being hired. Charges like that are nothing unusual for that age group, and are far from indicative of your character.

Any citations or license suspensions will likely have far more of an impact in the hiring decision. However, most applications will only ask about any tickets or accidents within the last 3 years, so you should be safe as long as you've been clean in that time frame.

It's important to read every question on the application very carefully, and only answer the exact question asked.

Example: "Has your license been suspended in the last 5 years?" is a completely different question from "Has your license ever been suspended?"

Pay attention to the wording of every question, and answer honestly without adding additional information that wasn't asked for.

With what you've told us, you'll be fine.

Wecome to the site Christopher. None of us are saints. Here is the bottom line. Answer each question honestly!!! If it says “ever” then list whatever applies. If is says “in the last x years” then only list what applies.

Every company has their own threshholds of what they will accept. Fill out the app completely and honestly and see what happens. You will be given the chance to explain. Some will say yes you were irresponsible but enough time has passed and they will look past it, others are very rigid and will say no. If your stuff is as old as you have listed, someone will give you a shot.

Best wishes in your search and keep us updated

Thank you all so much, that really sets my mind at ease. I have really been stressing about this. I was it my late teens/early 20's when all this took place. Lol guess you could say I was a dumb kid. It never had an impact on me with the medical industry, but I was worried things could be different with the trucking industry. THANKS AGAIN 😊

None of us are saints.

Speak for yourself... didn't you see my halo????