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I've recently gotten an offer for a job in customer support (on the phone), but they're still doing a background check before it is 100% confirmed. This should be completely fine, but there's still one point I'm worried about.

I'm currently receiving government support because depression made me unable to work for a couple of months. This has all been resolved, but I'm still getting the money. It didn't come up in the interview (as I said, it has been resolved some months ago, and I simply forgot, as it has not been relevant in my life ever since).

Is there a way they'll come upon this? Will they find this information? I'm of course prepared to explain, as best as I can, but I don't see that it's relevant any more, and yet it's stressing me out. I'd really like to have this job, it's a great opportunity, I'm suited for it, and I don't want this past issue to muck it up.

Can you tell me anything about the screening process? Note: I'm in the EU.

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  • Except where/if it has intersected your legal or work history, I don't think anyone will probe your medical history, including psych. You didn't specify country, but in the US at least equal-opportunity laws should help ensure that. I recommend not working about it; the worst they are likely to ask is whether you have any issues that would adversely affect your ability to do this job, and you have an answer ready for that if it does arise.
    – keshlam
    Jul 16, 2016 at 18:42
  • Hey. This is in the EU. Thank you for your answer!
    – Cfdt
    Jul 16, 2016 at 19:00
  • Yeah, the EU isn't a country though. What a background check can legally and ethically include will depend on national laws and the national culture. That said, even if we have that info we may not be able to say for sure as this is borderline off-topic as a legal question since there probably won't be a perfectly true answer.
    – Lilienthal ♦
    Jul 17, 2016 at 0:04
  • In most situation medical/mental records are private matter that are not disclosed in a background investigation. In most circumstances it is protected enough to where nobody can touch it without your permission or your disclosure and you'd also can go as far as stopping what sort of questions they are allowed to ask about you. In a telephone support role I'd imaging they'd be more concerned about your financial/criminal history than if you felt depressed.
    – Dan
    Jul 18, 2016 at 17:03

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It is terribly unlikely that a background check for telephone support would look at medical records. If it did, the authorization form you had to sign would explicitly call that out. I would be shocked if that was the case.

There are vanishingly few cases where an employer would be able to access this sort of information. Maybe if you're doing telephone support for the CIA/ MI6/ <<other top secret organization>> where you need a high security clearance but otherwise almost certainly not.

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  • I'm in the EU. I'd just really like to have the job... and I'm worried something will come up I haven't thought about/don't have an answer for.
    – Cfdt
    Jul 16, 2016 at 19:01
  • I'd need to find the paperwork to confirm; but I'm 99% sure one of the forms I had to sign for my clearance background investigation was a HIPPA waiver.
    – Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight
    Jul 17, 2016 at 1:47

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