It's worth noting that in the UK, convictions become 'spent' (so that you don't have to disclose them when asked) after a certain period of time that varies with the severity of the original sentence. But for some crimes (>48 months in prison) they never become spent. And for some jobs, the 'spent' status does not apply. Those include working with children, joining the police or security services, and a variety of other things.
jtheory|12 years ago
It was grueling for her to discuss it -- she was trembling and wringing her hands, and it was suddenly obvious why she had been strangely nervous during the entire first part of the interview -- and difficult for us to sit and hear it; not because her crime was awful (her punishment did not involve jail time) but because she was clearly being put through the wringer.
Honestly, it was a factor in us choosing to hire her; otherwise she was fairly even with the other candidates we interviewed, but we were impressed that she was going into a line of work that would require her to make this same confession to strangers many, many more times in the future.
It felt really wrong, regardless. Especially after that experience, I think there should be an expiry date for mistakes like hers.