EK hire with Dwai

[Machspeed13]

Hello,

I am trying to get a bit of insight/opinion as to applying with EK. I am working on the Emirates application and it asks "Have you ever been convicted of an offence relating to drugs or alcohol?" In my case I have a dwai (driving while ability impaired) on my driving and criminal record. It is a misdemeanor where I live. My questions are;

1: should I answer yes to this on the application?
2: is this something that EK would check for in a background check?
3: would this completely eliminate me as a candidate?

I have nothing to hide about it so I have no problem disclosing it but if the company does not even check for this then maybe it's best left unsaid. Any advice from EK crews would be appreciated.

Cheers

[de facto]

Certainly,certainly and if you drove under the influence while being a holder of commercial licence then most probably.

[yardman]

I know a guy in a similar situation to yours. He was rejected because of it. Furthermore, at present with reduced hiring rates, EK can afford to be picky. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

[ClearedToCrush]

I would have no problem to disclose it to anyone as well if i was in your case. But certainly I would not mention it to the airline.Why would you want to give them the chance not to hire you? We live in a dog eat dog world and certainly there are hundreds of applicants who are ready to take ur job in a split of a second,and i can guarantee you that most or all of them will have a 'good' record without any driving violations. Nowadays it is a fact that big airlines look at human resources as just numbers. So do you think the airline would really appreciate your honesty and hire you? Be smart and keep silent. They are not going to check and they also know that it is not their business anyway what you did 10 years ago even if they put it in their application,this is a profession for adults,we are not in school any more to be disciplined by the teacher for our 'bad' behaviour.

[BigGeordie]

On the other hand, if you don't tell them and they find out about it later it will be grounds for instant dismissal. Do you want to spend the next 10 years looking over your shoulder?

[yardman]

Big Geordie,

If they found out about the DUI 10 years hence at least he would have been a 777 captain for a considerable period of time and therefore be in a better position to get a subsequent job. Furthermore, if they had reason to go digging in his files so thoroughly chances are the reason for it would be of much greater concern than an omission on his EK application.

[ClearedToCrush]

Good point yardman. And also if he really managed to become captain it means he proved his value,knowledge and skills to the company all these years. So even if they find out that he lied why would they want to fire him? For punishment because he lied? I find this very childish,I cannot imagine anyone from management team in a serious company would think that way. Unless he is very 'sadist' and likes punishing people to show his big authority (which is a sad reality in our industry,we have many people with that character) but again in that case i think this is very unlikely because the company will lose more.

[BigGeordie]

I can just picture the interview at the subsequent job:

"So, why did you leave your last employer?"
"Well, I lied about having a criminal record and they fired me."
"Hmmm... So can we ask them for a reference then?"

Actually the issue is not so much what might happen 10 years down the line, it is more the reporting culture that still exists in Emirates. There are employees from just about every country on Earth and in a fair number of those countries it is perfectly acceptable to get ahead by stabbing your colleagues in the back. Indeed it is expected.

All it takes is for somebody in the office, or a junior cabin crew member, to hear a story about a rumour about something that might have happened to one of the pilots once and bring it to the attention of the management because they think it will get them noticed. We have cabin crew who will report pursers for giving them too much time for crew rest so dobbing in a pilot is nothing to them.