u/cluuuuuuu

I’m graduating with my MSW in two weeks and I’ve recently applied for and was offered a job. I was doing all the onboarding paperwork, which included having your fingerprints taken for an FBI check. I didn’t think anything of it until I opened the results and saw that there were dismissed charges on the report. 

To explain, when I was in college I was arrested at a party because I followed two of my friends into another apartment (where my friend’s sister lived). When I realized his sister was not there, I left and went back to the party. The police then arrived, asked if I had been in the apartment, and I told them yes. They then arrested me and charged me with breaking and entering. The judge just had me attend some alcohol counseling because we were drinking at the party. When I completed this, the charges were dismissed. This was almost 10 years ago. 

I really didn’t think this had any impact on my life; I was serving in the military at the time and this did not impact my service (I still deployed and everything), I got into an MSW program and have held numerous clinical jobs (one of which was a state job) which required background checks and two internships as part of my Master’s. 

How much of an issue is this for me? It has been so off my radar for years that it didn’t even register as a potential problem, but now I’m about to graduate, start a job, and part of me is worried that the rug is about to be pulled out from under me.