The Right Way & Wrong Way to Get a Job | Salt Lake City Criminal Defense Attorney Tip of the Week

Before we jump into our tip of the week, let’s get something important out of the way: Creativity is great. Crime is not. 

Now that we’ve established a helpful baseline, let’s jump into our weekly advice.

What Doesn’t Work:

Trying to land a graphic design job by spray-painting your “portfolio” onto train cars, billboards, overpasses, livestock, milk trucks, or any other surface that didn’t verbally consent to being part of your brand identity.

While your artistic spirit may be admirable, criminal charges—even the artsy ones—tend to show up on background checks. And that leads us directly to…

What Does Work:

Making sure you can pass a background check.

Most people don’t realize that any time you’re charged with a crime in Utah—anything from speeding to murder—a record of that charge appears online through the court system.

And here’s the part that surprises almost everyone:

• Even if the case is dismissed…
• Even if you’re found totally, unequivocally not guilty…
• Even if your mom swears you’re an angel…

…the record of the charge still exists.

That’s right. In Utah, a background check won’t just show what you were convicted of—it can show what you were accused of. Employers see it. Landlords see it. Anyone who wants to can find it with just a few clicks.

So what do you do if you’d like that record to disappear?

Expungement: The Magic Eraser for Your Criminal Record

If you want a sparkling clean background check, you’ll need to go through Utah’s expungement process. Once a judge signs an expungement order, you can have your charges erased from all state and local government databases. Not just hidden. Not just archived. Erased.

Think You Might Be Eligible?

Utah’s expungement rules depend on:

• The type of charge
• How long ago it happened
• Whether you’ve had other convictions
• Whether you still owe fines or restitution

To check your eligibility, visit the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification’s expungement page. Or just call us—we can translate the legal jargon into normal human language.

Your job prospects should depend on your skills—not that one questionable night involving a can of spray paint and an “artistic vision.” If there’s something lingering on your record that shouldn’t be, an expungement might be exactly what you need to start fresh.

And if you’d like help, Intermountain Legal is right here, ready to defend your future!