Background check lateral to BB
Hi All,
Just received an offer from a top BB in Europe and was wondering if anyone has any insights into the background check.
I'm currently at a well regarded place globally but there has been shit deal flow in our office. For that reason, I have listed one deal that I cannot say I have been involved in at all but written that my involvement was quite extensive. Now, I have been able to discuss it in detail as I have seen and learned the case (probably better than the analyst involved). So as far as the interview process goes, there has not been any issues with that.
I have been stressing madly over whether to take the offer and accept the risk or decline and say it is a bad timing or something similar but that I hope we can stay in touch, and resume contact once I can be more honest with deal experience (which may never happen here)
Now, I do know that this is really a retarded play, so no need to state that. I want to emphasize that I need to make a move soon in some direction, because the deal flow is bad seniors are toxic and the longer I stay, the harder it gets to leave. What I would like to assess is the risk of this backfiring, and primarily during the background check. Worst case scenario I resign from current job and get my offer rescinded - really want to avoid that scenario.
I have a solid experience overall and have several strong internships, went to a target school and have nothing to hide in general, only problem is all deals I have been involved in here have went sideways or died. I have a good cover story to save my face if this would backfire which is that the responsibilities listed is for another deal that died (which is true and verifiable) but that I swapped the name to be able to discuss it publicly. Won't save my offer but perhaps my reputation.
Appreciate your input!
Stupid yes - but likely not a problem since background checks are conducted by a third party and is typically more holistic. Do you have any colleagues who can back your story?
In my experience, background checks are outsourced to a third-party (in EMEA, I think most of the banks use sterling - GS, MS and the likes) - for professional experience verification, they usually check the timeline of your experience and post i.e., if you said that you worked as an analyst from 2024 - 2025, they will verify that) - I have not heard of anyone ever doing a line-by-line check of what responsibilities were in a particular position and scrutinising what a person did in a deal team for a background check - they usually do that sniff test during interviews. If you are in UK and will be in a FO role, I think for the FCA "fit and proper" check, they basically check the dates, positions held and your performance (basically your manager's reports attesting to the fact you are a responsible individual who will not jeopardise the firm's operations and reputation). I only did the background checks for summer and summer-to-ft roles, but I am pretty sure this is standard.
Thanks a ton! Rhimes with what I have heard as well.
Helpful if anyone has experience from lateral hiring at associate level.
No background check company checks what deals you worked on. You’re not prominent enough as an associate for anyone to go any deeper on your experience than firm name, start date, end date, title. Some don’t even check the title. You’ll get away with this, but hope this anxiety you feel right now is teaching you a lesson
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