fired from a non-nursing job years ago, how long to declare?

[IHeartPeds87]

Hi. I was a caregiver at a facility for a year and was terminated for a non-patient care related reason (part of our job was to drive people to appointments and such. Well, that year I accumulated more than 4 points on my driving record for a total of six points and I could no longer be on the company's insurance policy, so I was terminated. I was young and didn't realize what a big deal that was and didn't get a rec letter or anything. I have since had two jobs, also as a caregiver where I explained the situation in an interview and it wasn't an issue).

I plan on starting nursing school soon and am applying for jobs at hospitals. I was wondering, how long do I have to check yes to the question "were you ever terminated from a job." Since the question asks EVER does this mean I have to declare this for the rest of my life?

Will I have to declare this even after I get my RN? At that point, it would have been five years.

It's the type of thing where I've noticed something. If there's an application that asks "state reason for leaving" I write "please ask about in an interview" and I haven't had an issue. If, however the job app asks have you ever been terminated, I don't tend to receive call backs.

How would you handle this?

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

Based on your explanation of it being an administrative issue with nothing to do with your patient care--and you have no plans to list them as a previous employer or for recommendations--I would leave it out. I would do that because you never know how the background software on online applications filters them out, and it would be disheartening for you to be filtered out because of something like this.

If you feel especially guilty about that, once you get an interview, you could explain the situation.

I was terminated from a fast food joint in college 20 years ago (hung over w/ no call-no show), and I never checked the box. Didn't want to deal with the crap and being filtered. I've never been terminated from any job since then.

One more thing... STOP SPEEDING, or whatever it was for which you racked up the points!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Most applications request that you complete an employment history that spans the last ten years. If the workplace did not accept Medicare back when you were employed there, it might not surface in a background check.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

Agree with TheCommuter ... I'd plan to have to cope with this detrimental information for at least 10 years.

[bill4745, RN]

Some employers do credit checks which often list your previous employers going back many years, although they don't indicate why you left them.

[IHeartPeds87]

Is there any way to run a background check on yourself so I could see exactly what employers see?

Explaining it in an interview is fine, it's just that I don't want to be automatically eliminated because I check the box when it has NOTHING to do with anything for future jobs...especially ones that don't have you driving patients around?

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

Some employers do credit checks which often list your previous employers going back many years, although they don't indicate why you left them.

You can check your own credit report to see what employers show up. I had a TON of temp/seasonal/short term jobs as well as a few longer-term student-type jobs (2 years in a computer lab, 2 years tutoring in the student center) in school the first time around and exactly zero of them show up on my credit report.

[caliotter3]

Is there any way to run a background check on yourself so I could see exactly what employers see?

Explaining it in an interview is fine, it's just that I don't want to be automatically eliminated because I check the box when it has NOTHING to do with anything for future jobs...especially ones that don't have you driving patients around?

I am fairly certain that the companies that do reference checking will also do background checks at various levels for different fees. I looked one of these companies up one time but unfortunately do not remember the name. Just do an internet search on "background checking".