Background checks: Dismissal - Underperformance
In a bad situation now and don't know what to do, feel like it's ruined everything.
I took an internship to just earn some money on the side in the Finance function of a large company. The hours ended up being IB-level because the team was small and the pressure was high (let's say it was similar to Tesla).
I was essentially being paid min wage (paid $1.5k a month but working IB hours), I got burnt out and started to push back on certain tasks.
Lo behold, a week later, get roped into a meeting with HR and told I am being fired for underperformance.
Now because it was only an internship, is it still okay to just say "end of contract" or something like that during background checks?
How would banks view this if it comes up i.e. if I am honest? I feel like that would result in my offer being pulled. As I know some firms ask from the start if you've been fired or terminated before, and even if you have, performance related probably looks the worst as opposed to laid off.
I tried to talk to my manager but she wouldn't listen (i.e. what if I resign now). Also, FYI, I had no performance reviews previously - so no warning signs that something bad might happen and I should quit.
Would appreciate any advice as I have a background check coming up for an FT IB role at a MM bank.
Firstly, sorry about this situation – sucks but shit happens.
You aren't fucked. There are 2 types of reference checks firms do:
Based on this, you are completely fine when background checks come into play (just don't give anyone from that firm as a professional reference). Also, since you worked at a corporate (which I presume isn't FCA regulated ), that the FCA regulatory references may not apply to them anyway. Even if it does, as long as you didn't do anything relating to misconduct/gross misconduct you will be fine.
Firms are very apprehensive about giving any info apart from the normal employment dates and title due to chance of lawsuits occurring (defamation etc).
Regarding what banks will say, you are legally obligated to report all work experiences. Its an internship, so peoples first instincts wont be to say he got fired. In background checks, just state the last day you worked there (not the one in the contract since it ended earlier than expected) and dont say more.
If anyone asks about that internship in the future, be very vague and just say something along the lines of internship ended and move on. You cannot lie if someone (somehow, very unlikely but still) found out that you got fired. However, that is assuming someone does find out. Hopefully that never happens, and till that day, just hide the truth as I mentioned above. However I reiterate, if it gets found out at any point, DO NOT LIE about it. Just avoid the topic if someone asks unless directly confronted with the facts.
If a firm asks in one of those standardised forms (which have hundreds of yes and no questions) if you ever got fired or whatever, i would advise to say no here. If you do the "morally correct thing" which is say yes, they will rescind the offer 99% of the time (think of it this way, why would they take the risk of someone who got fired before as an intern (no offence) vs the hundreds of candidates they have on the waitlist?).
If you say no and they don't find out (most likely outcome) then great you have your IB offer.
Worst case scenario here is this, you say no and in the future the firm finds out that you got fired for x reason, therefore lied on your form and fires you. This is a bad situation, but still pretty much the same as the above (with the exception of that it might stain your FCA record since you will be FCA registered at that point).
There is no right or wrong answer towards the last part of my reply. Up to you on how you want to handle this but I would advise just saying no here.
There is the option of just omitting this internship from your record completely, but to do this you have to completely erase it from your CV, LinkedIn and never say that you worked here to anyone (and hope that anyone who knew that you worked at this place doesnt tell your new employer). This option would not work if your prospective new employer already knows that you interned there of course.
If anyone else has any advice regarding the forum point/omitting the internship, please pitch in to help OP.
Good Luck OP - hope that was helpful.
Genuinely, thank you so much for your advice. This is extremely helpful!
As a hail-mary attempt, I am thinking of emailing the head of the department, to see if they can have a change of heart on the official classification e.g. changing it to resignation (worth a shot if I appear sincere enough but probably makes me look selfish).
I know these posts sometimes sound fake i.e. embellishing the truth but part of why I feel so wronged by this is that, I worked hard for the first 2 months and only slowed down in the last month. My manager knows I've worked weekends and on public holidays, so it's not like I was missing daily meetings and ignoring team messages.
Should never have taken the role, wish I could name & shame but no real advantage at this point in time.
Now to persevere and hope for the best.
Yes do that. be quite open on why you are concerned about this (future implications on career etc) and also throw some of the blame on them (dont bend over backwards as they will see that they are 100% correct and not do anything). It does not make you look selfish at all.
If that doesn't work, you can always take the internal appeal route (though this is pretty annoying and not worth it unless you got fired for a misconduct reason).
For now, you are 100% okay in all scenarios except if you get a written form from the bank which states "Have you ever been fired for any circumstance". That's it.
If you are able to solve it directly with the company to say you resigned, great.
If not, you can do one of the 3 options above. All of which will depend on your moral compass and ability to stomach risk in the future (risk of this ever getting found out, which from my view is very little given this is a corporate firms all across the globe are very wary of stating reasons for leaving, unless for a regulatory requirement as I stated above)
This also goes in your favor. If you completed at least 2 months as this implies, 2 months is a perfect length of time for an internship. That’s a “June 2023 - August 2023” type internship which doesn’t raise any red flags or questions. Nobody would ask “why did he only intern 2 months” they’d assume it was ~8-10 weeks.
Would be different if you were, say, fired after 3 weeks, and someone might wonder “why is his internship June 2023 - June 2023”?
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