I agree with the Mod, go to the interview. You have the chance to explain the circumstances of the offence, instead of just phoning and saying "I have a drink drive conviction." which always sounds bad, until an explanation which can put it in context.
You only have 3 more years to worry about disclosure, unless you are going for a job that requires a DBS check, the conviction will be spent after 5 years from the date of your conviction.
Company insurance is often more tolerant of a drink drive conviction than your personal one. If you think about it, they have 100 vehicles insured, one or two are a risk..... 2% risk factor. But if you want to insure your car, YOU are a risk.... 100% risk factor.
Sell yourself to the company first with your good points....... then drop in the not so good news and see how it goes.
You need to call this employer and explain your situation, here's why:
Companies have strict policies on driving convictions and endorsements where company vehicles are concerned. For example; most organisations will only accept up to six penalty points on an application for a field based role with a company vehicle. In most cases drink drive related convictions are not accepted where a company vehicle is concerned, largely due to fleet insurance premiums being so high. These policies are set by HR and Fleet departments and can not be deviated from. In other words, hiring manager and directors will not have the autonomy to operate outside of these policies during any selection or hiring process. The problem is that they often don't make this clear during the initial stages.
Car allowances can be offered as an alternative to a company vehicle, usually with the following guides and restrictions:
The vehicle must be less than three years old.
At least four doors (rear seats) No Coupe's.
Must be a diesel engine.
Engine size up to 2.5 litre only.
The employee must provide proof of an insurance policy that covers the vehicle for business use. (Employer duty of care policy requires them to check that your insurance policy is correct)
Car allowances usually range between 3 to 5k per year for medium level roles. With 5 to 10k per year for senior management and director level roles. What you need to bear in mind is that a business insurance policy will be expensive with a drink drive conviction. Usually car allowances don't actually cover the full cost of running your own vehicle in a business capacity. Certainly not at the lower end of the scale mentioned. By this I mean that once you have added the monthly vehicle finance and the business insurance policy together; the final amount will usually be higher than what the car allowance nets you after tax and NI deductions.
Fuel costs are usually covered by a fuel card where a company vehicle is concerned, and claimed back on a monthly mileage allowance basis where a car allowance is in place. £0.45p per mile for the first 10000 miles per year, and £0.25 for every mile thereafter. But you have to stand the cost each month until you have claimed the money back and then the process begins again. It's not ideal where heavy mileage is concerned
What you need to understand is that most selection processes run over three interviews; with the first interview often conducted by an internal recruitment consultant or/and a member of the HR team. That initial interview is all about meeting a set criteria before progressing to the second stage. The second stage will be conducted by the hiring manager/managers with an in depth Q&A session; and the third stage will often be a final presentation and/or some competency based personality profiling, to bring everything together. So the first stage isn't necessarily about "selling yourself" it's more about general suitability and cultural fit.
Even at the second stage, or when you are in front of the actual hiring manager; no matter how well you perform, if your conviction is going to be an issue, then it is not something that you can overcome with competence and personality. If it's going to be a problem, then it's going to be a problem. With HR and Fleet departments it's black and white, and you don't want to risk alienating a hiring manager during the selection process in the hope that your winning personality will force a company wide policy to suddenly be relaxed or changed, because that won't happen.
If during the second or third stage you were to be asked why you had not volunteered the information sooner, you would struggle to offer a credible explanation; and that demonstrates a lack of integrity in an employers mind.
Honesty is the best policy, so phone them and let them know. They have asked for a copy of your licence at this early stage for a reason. That reason will be to assess convictions and endorsements. So they clearly have a policy in place.
The other aspect to this is that you don't want to waste your time and money engaging in this process, if this conviction is going to be a deal breaker. You can find out if this going to be a problem with one short phone call.
The reason that I have gone into so much detail is to give you a heads up on any future job applications. Employers don't always make their intentions clear regarding drink drive convictions until they find out about them; and that can often be at the offer stage. I have seen it happen many times before, where a candidate has sailed through a selection process, only for the offer to be pulled once the conviction came to light. I would always advise you to make the HR department aware of the conviction at the earliest opportunity. It demonstrates good integrity, and that can only go in your favour, if the process can continue. If it can't continue, then it's better that you find out in the first instance.
I hope this helps. Good luck with this one.
M
