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Hi, everybody,
I got two job offers, one from Hitachi and the other from EY. Both companies asked me for a Basic Disclosure, My criminal record expires in about 5 weeks longest, but it is possible it got expired already.
I told both employers that I have a criminal record and they both withdrew the offer – Hitachi told me that it would be difficult to put me on clients’ projects because of my criminal record (difficulties to pass the security checks and travelling abroad) and EY told me that because I was in prison, I have employment gaps in my CV which I did not disclose. By the way, both companies claim not to discriminate ex-offenders. And none of the companies carried out much of a further assessment of my situation : I was not invited for additional meeting to discuss my situation, I was not asked to provide circumstances of the offence and other details, only when I got imprisoned and for how long (I do not remember this information because then I was so depressed, always tried to forget that experience, my case was very complicated and I qualified for many amnesties and early release).
To my knowledge, there will be no problems for me travelling abroad because I got caught in a law that is applicable only to the UK, I don’t know any other country that has such an interpretation of the law. There will be no problem with the clients checking my background because I will start with the company only after my criminal record expires and the leading companies in the industry where I am working do not discriminate against ex-offenders. And I worked while I was imprisoned. The only problem is that prisons never confirm or reject this statement, it is only validated via my MP who previously helped me to resolve one case with non-employment discrimination. Finally, I worked with a few charities after I was released, so again it shows my good character.
What can I do in my situation? To my knowledge, both companies have a written policy on recruitment of ex-offenders, but they did not follow it.
Thank you.
I got two job offers, one from Hitachi and the other from EY. Both companies asked me for a Basic Disclosure, My criminal record expires in about 5 weeks longest, but it is possible it got expired already.
I told both employers that I have a criminal record and they both withdrew the offer – Hitachi told me that it would be difficult to put me on clients’ projects because of my criminal record (difficulties to pass the security checks and travelling abroad) and EY told me that because I was in prison, I have employment gaps in my CV which I did not disclose. By the way, both companies claim not to discriminate ex-offenders. And none of the companies carried out much of a further assessment of my situation : I was not invited for additional meeting to discuss my situation, I was not asked to provide circumstances of the offence and other details, only when I got imprisoned and for how long (I do not remember this information because then I was so depressed, always tried to forget that experience, my case was very complicated and I qualified for many amnesties and early release).
To my knowledge, there will be no problems for me travelling abroad because I got caught in a law that is applicable only to the UK, I don’t know any other country that has such an interpretation of the law. There will be no problem with the clients checking my background because I will start with the company only after my criminal record expires and the leading companies in the industry where I am working do not discriminate against ex-offenders. And I worked while I was imprisoned. The only problem is that prisons never confirm or reject this statement, it is only validated via my MP who previously helped me to resolve one case with non-employment discrimination. Finally, I worked with a few charities after I was released, so again it shows my good character.
What can I do in my situation? To my knowledge, both companies have a written policy on recruitment of ex-offenders, but they did not follow it.
Thank you.
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