Security officer background check

[Harley230]

I applied for a position as a NSO for dominion power.  I have an interview and from what I understand if I get offered a job they will conduct a background check.  Just a little background on my self I have over 10 years of military experience in all aspects of security.  I do not have any blemishes on my record and an honorable discharge from the military.  The only problem is that I have a good amount of debt.  No delinquencies or missed payments but still a good amount of debt.  Will this cost me the job during the background check or since I am qualified and don't have any other issues will they look past it.

[JasonConner]

I recently went through a similar background investigation for another agency, and I can tell you that they don't look at only a single aspect of a person's character; they look at the entire picture.  I can tell you that I had at the time what was, to me, a large amount of debt and delinquencies and a couple other problems from the past.  Despite all that, I still passed the investigation.  The important thing to remember is you have to be completely honest with your investigator.  All they want to know is if they can trust you.  If you attempt to hide anything and they find out later, that will cause big problems.  From what you said about your military experience and honorable discharge, you likely won't have very many problems as long as you are honest.  As far as my own debt and delinquencies, I was just told to pay some of it down, presumably so that I would be less attractive to someone trying to convince me to give them information in exchange for paying off my debts.

[Ksheed]

I recently went through a similar background investigation for another agency, and I can tell you that they don't look at only a single aspect of a person's character; they look at the entire picture.  I can tell you that I had at the time what was, to me, a large amount of debt and delinquencies and a couple other problems from the past.  Despite all that, I still passed the investigation.  The important thing to remember is you have to be completely honest with your investigator.  All they want to know is if they can trust you.  If you attempt to hide anything and they find out later, that will cause big problems.  From what you said about your military experience and honorable discharge, you likely won't have very many problems as long as you are honest.  As far as my own debt and delinquencies, I was just told to pay some of it down, presumably so that I would be less attractive to someone trying to convince me to give them information in exchange for paying off my debts.

This is all correct. Debt won't keep you from getting cleared for a badge, dishonesty will. You should be fine.

[blackb3lt]

This is all correct. Debt won't keep you from getting cleared for a badge, dishonesty will. You should be fine.

I've worked in security for Exelon at Quad for almost 11 years now.  I've never seen debt ever be an issue for the background check.

I'll corroborate with the replies though that dishonesty and inconsistencies can and do lead to unescorted access being denied.   It sounds to me like you have nothing to worry about friend. 

Some companies require pre-employment tests that can eliminate you so to be safe I would inquire about that so that you can prepare if necessary.  We currently require employees to pass NGET before employment and have a basic aptitude test.