Background checks - before or after offer?
I am in final round interviews for a 2nd year analyst role at a boutique investment bank in NYC. Earlier this year I was charged with a misdemeanor and was given a deferred prosecution (ACD), so it will be totally dismissed and sealed in a few months.
Do investment banks typically run background checks before or after extending an offer?
I am worried that I will take an offer, and then have them run a background check and decide to take away the offer after I have quit my current job. Anyone have any idea on how this works?
This will be run after you get your offer. Take the new job and do not inform your current employer until after the background check goes through.
Makes sense and thanks. How will I know that the background check is clear? I assume there's not a way I can ask without drawing attention to it.
Read the terms/conditions of the background check clearly before you start filling out any information; it'll tell you the specific information this particular background check will look at. Generally, you won't be contacted by the background check company and/or your employer if nothing shows up.
Does anyone know if I will lose the offer for technically having a pending misdemeanor charge (not theft or trust related)? That's the way it appears when I ran a background check on myself until its dismissed formally.
It should happen after you accept the offer. If they're sealed, and you didn't lie on the form about being charged for a particular crime, then you should probably be fine. If you still haven't received word that it has been sealed, then it could pop up. I wouldn't worry a whole lot if it wasn't too crazy of a crime since the company could be understanding.
What was the misdemeanor?
Do you mind giving an update? This is a very confusing issue.
When do background checks take place? (Immediately after offer is accepted? or Much later on?) (Originally Posted: 10/28/2009)
Specifically for Goldman Sachs; when are background checks usually conducted? Are they done immediately after you accept your offer? Or are they conducted much later on? Any insights on this would be great; thanks.
same question here, I think immediately after.
immediately after for goldman. you submit forms and the formal employment application immediately after you accept, but they don't actually start conducting the background check until after you submit your drug test.
You will get drug tested, finger printed and have an FBI background check run on you.
As long as you stop smoking pot a month or so ahead of time and don't get arrested, it doesn't matter when.
When do the drug tests typically take place? Do you have control over that?
Yes you do. I remember when I took an internship at Goldman they let us do the drug test whenever as long as it was before we started (a week before, I believe). You also get to choose where to do the drug test. I just did it in NY so its pretty flexible.
Can't comment on Goldman, but I know my BB started doing background checks not too long after accepting the offer - one of my prior employers called me asking who the hell is calling trying to verify my past employment there, lol.
do you think a civil citation (a violation/not a crime--- on the same level as a traffic/parking violation) for marijuana would be enough to get someone dinged at gs? any insights would be great
When are the background checks? (Originally Posted: 03/17/2010)
I received my offer beginning of Feb, offer said I should receive my background check forms after I hand in my offer. It's now mid March and I haven't received anything. I emailed HR twice already but no response - so I figure they must be too busy to deal with my question.
Should I reach out to HR again or just assume the forms are on their way.
What time/months are generally the forms mailed out? I want to watch out for it as I will be traveling in a month or so.
if it's been a month and a half and still no background check forms, they might have dropped you out of their SA class.
Or they could be lazy and sloppy (they ARE HR after all) and not sent the forms to people yet.
HR seems to enjoy fucking with everyone, what a shame.
Most banks have you fill out the background check forms at the same time as the offer letter. Perhaps your bank is waiting to conclude all summer hiring before doing background checks.
I swear these HR problems are making me paranoid... this stuff is way too important to be botched so many times.
problem solved. for my bank, they mail it out in April.
Yeah, hearing about all these HR problems is making me nervous for no reason...
can anyone comment on the typical timeline of these - particularly interested in SA to FT hire. Is it usually during the weeks directly preceding the start date? I'm asking because I was surprised to be notified that we would be receiving the signing bonus soon, but haven't heard anything about the pre-screening. Is this typical?
Signing background check forms before offer? (Originally Posted: 01/13/2010)
So, I have an interview coming up and HR sent me a bunch of forms like background check, credit check, educational check etc even before my interview. I thought this was all done post offer. Even in my previous internships I had to have the interview first before any forms were mailed out to me.
Why would they do this? It's kind of odd.
Is this with a bank? It's pretty uncommon for a bank to do this, but some other firms do - almost every hedge fund I applied to made me sign a bunch of form pre-final rounds. I'm not sure why - I doubt there's adequate time to conduct a full background check between final rounds and offers.
yea it's with a bank, it's also odd that they have a phone screen which they said I didn't have to do, but come directly for the second round.
btw, since I have to sign the form BEFORE my interview, say if I got in trouble for a minor traffic ticket issue would it be ok to email HR after wards and update her/explain the situation?
I want to put my best foot forward for my interview.
Your minor traffic ticket won't matter at all, I wouldn't call them for this if I were you. You seem to find yourself in some odd situations Lady Eva.
I know - I like to drive fast and have gotten way too many speeding tickets etc before I matured and realized I actually have to pay those off.
MS did this with me, they just wanna get the ball rolling, and eliminate the people who will later piss their pants filling out the forms.
Don't mean to hijack but I have a related question. If you interned at a bank and are returning for FT, what is the background check process?
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