Laid off while interviewing for an external role, do I disclose this to the company I am interviewing with

I have been interviewing for an job opportunity at a PE fund since mid July and have recently been invited to a final round interview which is next week. My bank discovered I was interviewing for an external role and as a result I was let go last week. My question is should I disclose this to the PE fund during the final round unless directly asked? My current thought process is not to disclose it as I have had multiple rounds of interviews with the PE fund while employed at the bank. The only worry I have is if this will come up on a background check if I were to get offered the job? Would an employer background check reveal that I was laid off and the date of said lay off? The PE fund knows that I am confidentially interviewing so will not expect background checks from my current employer.

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Of course... they can legally fire you for wearing a weird shirt to work. Unless they fire you for a protected discriminatory reason (i.e. firing someone solely because they are pregnant, or solely because you are from Canada) they can do whatever you want. Almost everyone in the US is an at-will worker.

OP, do you have severance, and if so when does your severance end? That is your last employment date - just try to get an offer before then. Say you have another offer and ask if they can accelerate if you need to.

 

The quote on quote reason HR gave me was "I was interviewing during working hours, which is a violation of firm policy". I mean in banking working hours technically never end and I did not have a specified hourly shift in my offer letter. Is it possible that a background check will reveal that I was let go.

 

i do not recommend using this as your excuse because I've never heard of anyone being fired solely for interviewing with another firm. Especially a non-competitor. No one is likely to believe this story. 

If its truly next week, I would consider not not saying anything. See if your bank will help you in this respect. Any later however, and you'll have to disclose

 

If I do not say anything will a background check reveal that I am no longer employed? I do not believe that my bank reports this information to public databases and I do not plan to provide any references from the bank because I am interviewing "confidentially".

 

When they run a background check, which they nearly always do, they will have a third party check your employment and education history. If you are not employed, the third party will discover that and disclose it to your new employer. The definition of employed is based off of your last employment date set by HR rather than your last in office date. HR often gives a ~1 month grace period between these two dates to soften the landing. If you fall outside this period, you definitely should disclose before they find out for themselves.

 

Would you recommend waiting to inform my prospective employer about this after receiving a potential job offer, but before the background check?

 

Ended up getting a new role with a 40% compensation increase covering a sector which seems like a much better fit for me. Funny how these things tend to work themselves out.

 

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