The application · Candidate chair
The box
Before the talk, there is a checkbox. Here is how to think about it.
Indiana has no statewide rule that makes private employers wait to ask about convictions, so many job forms here still ask up front (as of August 2026). Federal jobs and federal contractors wait until they have made you an offer. Two things change your answer: what the question really asks, and whether your record has been expunged. Expunged means a court has sealed it, so most employers may not use it or ask about it.
The application asks: “Have you ever been convicted of a felony?”
Being precise is your friend. Indiana's Second Chance Law says a person whose record is expunged should be treated as if it never happened for most purposes, and an employer may not hold an expunged record against you (Indiana Code 35-38-9-10). If the form says felony and yours was a misdemeanor, the honest answer is no. Answer the question asked, not the question you fear.
Also right, and for many people the better move when the answer is yes. A yes with a growth sentence beats a bare yes, and it beats a surprise later by a mile (Ali, Lyons and Ryan, 2017). Keep the note to two sentences. The interview is where the story lives, not the form.
A false answer is a fresh, separate reason to end the process, and it turns your record from history into a question about your character. Background checks in Indiana will find convictions that were not expunged. If the true answer is yes, your path is a truthful yes plus the strongest interview you can give, or getting the record expunged first.
Now you, out loud
If you are not sure what is on your record, that is the real first step. Write down where you will find out this week.
One way it can sound
“Ask the Indiana State Police for your limited criminal history. Then talk to a legal aid group about expungement before you file. Indiana lets you file only one expungement request in your whole life, so the timing and what you include have to be right. That is a talk for a lawyer, not a website.”
Say it to the mirror, a friend, or the wall. Nothing here records, transmits, or stores anything. That is a promise built into how this site works.
Keep these
- Answer the question asked, exactly, and truthfully.
- Expunged in Indiana means you may lawfully answer no. That is the law, not a trick.
- One expungement filing per lifetime. Get legal help first. This tool cannot give legal advice, and this is the very choice it cannot make for you.