As a recruiter I have heard every excuse you can imagine. I guess you could say I am a scorned women when it comes to reasons for leaving jobs, reasons for being unemployed too long and reasons for criminal backgrounds. I am a highly sympathetic person by nature but have been burned a few too many times. Most of the excuses start with "well, you see what happened was...".... let's just say about 99% of BS comes out after that line. The one that still haunts me was interviewing a 20 year old young man that was FAR too intelligent to be willing to accept a $8+/h pay for a role that typically pays double that. That scorned woman light bulb lit up and had me probing to find out more. He checked "no" on the criminal history box of the application but my gut said otherwise. I had him complete the background authorization and I reminded him that if something comes up and he did not disclose it, he would be banned from employment. Well... my gut was right and I found out he is a registered sex offender that raped a 3 year old!!! He is simply waiting to get a job with an employer that will not do their due diligence. I was SICK I tell ya! Now think about the time and costs an employer and candidate endures if a candidate gets to a second interview only to find out end that they are not able to be employed. So this rant is in response to some new legislation (below). New House Bill Would Ban Employers from Asking about Criminal Background in Initial Application Rep. Hansen Clarke, D-Mich. has introduced a bill preventing employers from asking about criminal background until making a conditional job offer. The “Ban the Box” Act is a reference to the check box on an application form indicating whether the applicant has been convicted of a crime. The bill does include a provision for certain jobs to which “the granting of employment may involve an unreasonable risk to the safety of specific individuals.” The bill, Clarke said, is a reaction to the need to address people who have conviction records who have a difficult time finding jobs, which leads to hopelessness and results in more crime and poverty. Clarke said similar legislation has been passed in the states of Massachusetts and Minnesota.