Fear of jobs gaps is also about avoiding bad candidates. If someone has a longer gap, there's a chance that he was interviewing the whole time and, during that time, got dozens/hundreds of rejections. So, the lazy heuristic is to assume everyone else was correct and reject him as well.
That's what background check is for.
AFAIK misdemeanors have to be checked at the county level, and a lot of background checks skip them unless asked specifically (hence checking about the gaps).
Funny you mentioned that, i've seen a FB job posting mentioning they are ok with misdemeanor on the record.
I wonder if there's a time they will okay a felony on file.
I believe the city of SF doesn't allow employment discirmination based on that in 2020, so FB would harmonize their hiring rules because they have an office in SF.
Oh for sure - it's weird to be judging based on most misdemeanors. I was commenting on how it's done by those who do it.
A lot of startups (especially really young ones with no hiring process) don't know how to do those.
And I assure you that some startups intentionally choose not to!
Isn't that illegal in California (and many other places) before you've made an offer?