Will an arrest for misdemeanor retail theft (first offense) prevent me from getting a job? The application asks about felonys, but will a backround check doom me? The arrest is too recent to expunge.

Yes it will keep you from getting some jobs, if they run a background check, lets say you and 20 other people apply, 10 have bad work records, so if you have a good one, you are ahead of those 10, but if 5 have no criminal records they may be ahead of you