Will a DUI conviction hamper your career?
The school year has come to a close in South Carolina and you are one year closer to earning that post-graduate professional degree that will allow you to pursue the career you have always dreamed about. But before you spend too much partying this summer and driving home after drinking, remember that if you wind up getting convicted of DUI, your professional career could be over before it ever begins.
FindLaw explains that the Board that gives you your professional license may well not do so when it discovers that conviction on your record.
Background checks
Even if your ultimate career goal does not require you to have a professional license, your DUI conviction could still negatively impact you for years to come. How? You undoubtedly realize that virtually all employers nowadays run a criminal background check on potential employees. When they run one on you, not only will your conviction show up, so will all the following additional information:
- Your court record from the court where you received your conviction
- Your incarceration records from any jail or prison where you served time because of your conviction
- Your driving record from the state where you received your DUI and any other traffic-related conviction
- Your driving record from any state that suspended or revoked your driving privileges due to your conviction
Negative fallout
It goes without saying that all of this negative information could and likely will severely hamper your ability to get any job for which you apply. A DUI conviction represents a serious lack of judgment on your part that potential employers frown upon. And any job for which you apply that requires you to have or obtain a Commercial Driver’s License will be absolutely closed to you because your DUI conviction will preclude your getting a CDL for at least the next decade.
All in all, your best course of action when partying is to either refrain from drinking or use a designated driver, taxi, Uber, etc. to get you home. You cannot risk your whole career with a DUI conviction.
This is general educational information and not intended to provide legal advice.