Background check question.

What do they look for when they do a background check? I have worked at CP in tha past and am wanting to return this fall as a Screamsrter. over the winter I did something stupid and got a Misdemeanor petty theft charge in ohio first offence ever. (shoplifting) it was a very stupid thing and please dont scold me on that. Im sure there are jobs at CP I would be inelegable for but im hopeing as a screamster this fall ill be fine as long as I dont have a volient crime. Dose anyone know?

Your best bet is to be completely honest on the application. I believe there's a spot on there to explain what happened if you do have a misdemeanor or felony on your record. I know having something on your record doesn't automatically preclude you from getting hired, so be honest and hope for the best.

^

I hate to say this, but this is a dumb answer. Do not include any more negative information then you have to on your application. There are many different ways companies do background checks. Background checks can be expensive and time consuming. The real question is, how much money the park spends on vetting its seasonal employees? Although I cannot give you an exact figure, I'm sure it's not much. I know the park has hired convicted felons only to fire them only after someone told the park the person was a felon. There is no magic computer that brings up ever persons wrong doings in the past (at least that employers have access to). The chances that the park would find a misdemeanor theft charge are slim and slimmer still that they would fire you over it if you were working in a job that had nothing to do with the offense.

Believe me, they will do a background check, and they will find it. Better to be honest on the app and hope they overlook it than to lie and be almost certainly turned down.

If you put the shoplifting conviction on your application it may not disqualify you from a job but it will certainly move your application to the bottom of the stack. The managers are busy and do not want to waste time (for seasonal employees) listening to explanations as to why you have a conviction when they can hire someone who doesn't have a conviction. Most of the time, if any background check is done at all it is after the person is hired. You do not owe an employer anything before they hire you. Make them do there job and find the conviction on their own. Worst case scenario is that they find the conviction and don't hire you. It will be the same result if you give them more information than they need to know. A shoplifting conviction has nothing to do with being a Screamster. You have nothing to lose if you omit any mention of a criminal conviction.

As I mentioned before, background checks can be expensive. Background checks can be done locally, adjoining counties, statewide, or nationally or any combination. The larger the search, the more expensive they are. I can assure you, it is incredibly unlikely that any background check the park does will not catch a shoplifting conviction unless the offense happened in the same town (or municipal court jurisdiction) that you live in.

Honesty is not always the best policy when you are trying to find a job. Your job is to sell yourself to an employer and make them want to hire you, nothing more. It is their job to do their due diligence when hiring someone. Everyone lies or at least exaggerates on their applications or resumes. If you believe what Chief Wiggum is trying to sell you, then it makes no difference whether you omit the conviction from your application or tell them about it. Either way, the managers will have to decide whether you are worth hiring with the conviction or not.

The bottom line is, you got yourself into a jam, there is nothing you can do about it now. Don't make things harder for yourself than you have to. Do you walk up to perfect strangers and say "Hi, I'm CPdude221. I have a petty theft conviction, want to hang out?" Then don't do that to someone you are trying to impress enough to give you a job. Especially, when there is only a very slim chance that they will even find the conviction in the first place.

Rule of Thumb NEVER lie on an application EVER! If you lie on an application even the smallest that is instant grounds for termination. My uncle worked for a company and was just about to retire they looked back at his records and found that he lied about his age so they fired him and he lost all his retirement benefits.

No one is saying lie. Omission or stretching the truth are a different story. It may be a fine line or just vocabulary to some but it makes a difference. If an application ask if you have been convicted of a crime and you leave the question blank, you did not lie. If the company later tries to fire you because of it, you would have good grounds to get your job back if you wanted to fight. Even if you do get fired later, what did you lose? A seasonal job you probably wouldn't have gotten anyways, not a career. Do you want to control your own destiny and enjoy your summer doing a job you like or do you want to leave the decision in the hands of someone who could care less about you and will likely hold a stupid mistake that is none of their business against you?

Omission on your application is lie. There is NO DIFFERENCE.

Not true, omission could mean many things. You say potato, I say potAto. Maybe you were going to come back to the question later and forgot, maybe you didn't understand question fully, maybe you just didn't see the question because you were distracted, maybe your pen ran out of ink and you didn't notice the box wasn't checked.

Nothing says you have to help HR or the hiring manager do their jobs before you are hired. It's their responsibility to do their due diligence. If they don't (and they usually don't) it's not your fault.

The PointGuru said:

Honesty is not always the best policy when you are trying to find a job. Your job is to sell yourself to an employer and make them want to hire you, nothing more. It is their job to do their due diligence when hiring someone. Everyone lies or at least exaggerates on their applications or resumes.

The PointGuru said:
No one is saying lie.

I think the original poster is smart enough to know he has to put this on his application, but what he seems to be asking is if anyone knows if this fact will keep him from being a Screamster this year. If know one knows or if no one who knows is willing to answer I would say put it on the application (you still have a few months till its up. If you have worked there in the past, I would give them a call, if everyone gets hired and you haven't heard anything, got nothing to loose from doing it. Good luck!

I lie is a lie no matter how big or small it is. Tell the truth on the app tbey will find out eventually

Again, no one is saying anyone should lie on an application. How much truth you tell or how honest you are is an entirely different matter. There is such a thing as being too honest. If your girlfriend looks fat in her pants, do you tell her she does?

The undeniable fact is that people lie or at least stretch the truth all the time on applications. People who have criminal convictions lie on their applications all the time, get hired, and nothing happens to them. When your trying to get a job, nothing says you have to be Mr. / Ms. goodie two shoes.

Only CP HR knows exactly what their hiring / background process is and they are not going to tell. You can choose to trust me or not when I speak in general about background checks (even though I assure you I know more than most). There is only a very slim chance that a minor shoplifting charge would show up on any background check CP does on its seasonal employees. You can choose to sabotage your chances of getting a job by being too honest or you can be smart and only provide information that you want to provide.

I can't give you CP exclusive data but I have done my share of background checks.

They take anywhere from 3-5 days, sometimes longer (upwards of 3 weeks or more!) if there's a large influx of requests, to process by an outside company. Usually it just looks to see if you have any kind of criminal record, if not then there's no problem.

Even if you have something on your record just make sure to place the info on the application, I have known people who have had info in their background check that they did not put on the application and they later got fired for lying on their application.

Most standard background checks are just criminal and do not involve credit, though I have seen times where they do! Also some companies consider the reference and job history check as part of the background check.

Just be honest. If you omit and it is found out, then they have every reason to terminate your employment. Plus, if you omit it you will always have it at the back of your mind wondering if/when it will come to light. You're supposed to be having a blast while working there, not worrying about covering your tracks / past. Be upfront - honesty is fairly refreshing in an interview.

If they decline offering you a position due to your past, then the job really wasn't yours to begin with.

By telling someone to leave information off their application, YOU ARE TELLING THEM TO LIE. PERIOD.

It's LYING.

If the application states that you need to divulge criminal offenses and you don't, you are lying.

There is no "grey area" here. You either are completely truthful, or you lie. One or the other.

The application asks point blank "have you ever been convicted of or pled guilty to a felony or misdemeanor? If yes, explain." So yah, "omission" in this case would be straight up lying.

It is nice to see that there are so many honest people in the world. Very uninformed but honest. Last I checked, this is America. People have rights to remain silent and to not incriminate themselves. These are constitutional rights and do not just pertain to law enforcement, it goes for employers as well. You may think an employer has more authority than law enforcement, but you would be wrong. Omitting information by not including it on an application is not lying. If you don't believe me you can ask any lawyer you want to or the thousands of people who have had their jobs returned to them after they got their jobs back after being wrongfully terminated. So I agree, there is no "gray area", it is not lying, just smart.

If you were fired from a previous job because you were a bad worker, nothing says you have to put that employer in your work experience. It is entirely up to the individual filling out the application to determine how much information they want to divulge. If you want to increase your chances of getting hired, you just don't give an employer negative information about yourself. That is not lying, just the right thing to do.

An omission and a lie are not the same thing; you can tell because they are not the same words. If the application asks if you have run afoul of the law in the past, answer truthfully. If it doesn't ask, you are under no obligation to include it (legally, morally or otherwise); for all you know they don't even care.

if it doesn't ask than yea no need to put it but most's and Cedar Point's app dose. most say check this box if you have been convicted or plead guilty to a misdemeanor or felony, if yes give details. Leaving that blank is saying you have not and is a lie. Not all crimes will keep you from employment. Best be honest and up from. I know people who work in HR (not at Cedar Point) but they said most of the time as long as it doesn't directly effect the job they will still interview and consider for employment. From hearing them talk the worst thing you can do is put "Will discuss in interview" seeing that you assume the worst and who wants to be alone in a room with a murder or rapist, so those are not even looked at.

Thank you for perfectly illustrating my point even though you didn't mean to. What if the person was convicted of murder? Should they put that on the application? Exactly, how does being convicted of murder directly effect almost any job at the park? Unless the person is a serial killer that gets their kicks out of throwing people off of roller coasters, nothing (actually, now that I think about it, they may make a really good Screamster). The point is HR and hiring managers have a way of making excuses because they don't want to do their job. If you say yes that you were convicted of a crime, you will not be hired unless the manager is desperate for workers, you have a skill set that is far above most other people, or you know someone.

If you leave the question blank, it is not a lie. It should be a huge red flag to the interviewer; but, it is usually over looked because the interviewer isn't paying attention. As I mentioned before, I know of several felons that were hired by the park (no they didn't say yes on the application, the park missed them on the background checks) their offences included Aggravated Trafficking in Cocaine, Identity Theft, and Misuse of Credit Cards (that person worked in a gift shop in the park). Most people finish the summer and are never found out. What did these people lose by not checking the "yes" box on the application, nothing? What did they gain, a job, because who would want to sit in a room alone with a drug dealer or a thief?