BB background check process
Wondering if people can speak to the background check process, and if most banks, especially BB, apply the same process (employment record, drugs test, criminal record). I'm going through the lateral hiring process at a European BB in NYC and am curious how this process works. I've read that at some places results come in only after you've started working. I wouldn't want to quit my current banking job and start a new one, only to learn a few weeks into my new job that my background/record check doesn't pass. Are some third parties that the BBs employ for checks more detailed and go deeper than others?
Any insight would be much appreciated.
BACKGROUND CHECK FOR BB (Originally Posted: 12/30/2010)
If you have experience with this scenario or are in HR at a BB, I want your opinion and help.
I have the following criminal record from college, which all had to do with alcohol and being a young, ignorant chap:
7/2007 – Obstruction of Justice – Misdemeanor (Hid from Police at House) 7/2007 – Urinating in Public – Misdemeanor 7/2007 – Drunk in Public – Misdemeanor 2/2006 – Underage Possession of Alcohol – Misdemeanor 7/2005 – Assault and Battery – Misdemeanor (Fraternity Fight in College)
Since then I have been lucky enough to get three years of experience with a MM M&A Firm and distressed debt firm, because those companies simply didn't do background checks because of their size and they were both internship-to-full conversions.
I am starting to interview with BB in NY and want to know if my college criminal history will severely impact my prospects, or if its something I can disclose and discuss. Are there worst people out there that get into BB? Is there a difference across BB's where some care more than others?
NEED YOUR OPINION AND HELP ASAP! THANKS!
That stuff will show up on a background check so when they ask you about it in an interview, at least be honest and take responsibility. You'll really strike out if you try to blame someone else or circumstances.
Also, Since you seem to have been squeaky clean for 3 years, you can say that you've turned a new leaf. The three years of work experience and a clean record will do a lot for you.
There are definitely far worse people out there, and while your record will raise a few eyebrows, trying to hide it will definitely slam pretty much every door in your face (in other words, if the bank does a background check, they will find out and if you lie about it, you have zero shot).
While I wouldn't throw this information out in my cover letter, resume and as an icebreaker during my interviews (yes, I'm exaggerating), if you are directly asked about it, don't deny it, take responsibility for your action, chalk it up to bad college decisions and highlight how you've completely moved past it (which you can support through your current and past positions over the past 3 years).
Good luck.
Finally some honest, great feedback from WSO. Thanks guys!
at least HR will be able to see that you know how to party...
Whatever arrests occurred before age 18 are automatically removed from your record when you reach age 21. You do not need to own up to them because your record gets wiped clean at age 21. Whatever arrests occurred after age 18 remain on your record basically forever until you get a Governor pardon or court order to have the record expunged. The two offenses which may cause problems are "Assault and Battery" and "Obstruction of Justice". This is more because HR is concerned about liability issues. Like, if HR overlooks this arrest and then later on you assault someone in the office, then HR is in thick shit.
Not always true...
From 38k feet it doesn't look too bad - in college, alcohol related, 3 years ago with 3 years of finance experience since. I see the value in having a track record so that is why I chose to work at small shops that failed to do background checks.
Now that I have relocated to NY however, and have been speaking with BB, I will need to be ready for the concerns.
I would hope that the BB is concerned about the underlying reasons why you have caused trouble and whether you have overcome them. Someone with anger issues will snap regardless of whether they are intoxicated or not. I dunno, I suppose you admit it if asked directly.
BB's normally ask you to apply online as a formality where they explicitly ask have you ever been convicted of a crime/felony/misdemeanor. You might want to attach an explanation here just to calm HR down.
If you make it through the screening, your interviewer probably won't ask about it.
Snooki - this is my current delimma. I did not answer this with a yes on a recent BB online app. It seems rediculous to cut myself short from the get go before even being considered for my experience or interviewing by phone. I have a phone screen with BB next week and answered no on online pre-app. I think I am just going to say "I just made the online profile and was going to change it once I looked back at my specific charges" - which I did...................will cross the disclosure bridge when I get there.
HR checks out this stuff but be honest and usually it will be fine unless your some aggressive alcoholic who exposes himself in public.
I am primarily concerned about the assault and obstruction, which were alchohol related and in college
Should I be extremely concerned about this when I disclose it?
July has not been kind to you my friend....
they actually all happened in the call and my attorney got them puched back and pushed back until July
Background Check - Do BB banks look at motor vehicle record? (Originally Posted: 03/14/2009)
Do BB banks look into your motor vehicle record, because I had my license suspended for underage drinking and was wondering if they will search for stuff like that.
DUI is a felony isn't it, so wouldn't you have court records that show up?
No a DUI is definitely not a felony; murder/ burglary are felonies. And it was underage drinking charge but one of the things they did was suspend my license. If you have nothing constructive to say, please do not post.
Actually there are certain instances where a DUI can be charged as a felony (injuries resulting, multiple offenses, etc).
And if you ask him nicely maybe drexel will apologize for hurting your feelings.
I'm sawry :( Did I hurt your feelings?
Last I checked a felony was anything you could go to jail to for one year or more, and I'm pretty sure you can get a year for dui, depending on a number of factors. But my contributions are not constructive, so I won't waste your time with advice
Wait, they suspended your license for underage drinking and your car was not involved in any way? Very, very fishy. How drunk were you?
Some of my close friends had pretty bad experience w/ underage drinking and none of them got license suspended or even heard of someone getting that punishment.
In my home state you get your license suspended for underage drinking IF you don't do the underage drinking class. I think I've heard it is an auto suspension in PA though.
Most states can suspend the drivers license of an underage drinker, whether or not there was a vehicle involved.
Its very common. I had a couple friends booked for underage drinking in the woods, and they had their license taken.
No. DUI is generally not a felony. If you run somebody over, you're guilty of more than just DUI.
DUI is a felony.....either way your an idiot for drinking and driving.
In NY state if you get a dui and do not cause any harm to others it is a misdemeanor...TRUST ME ON THIS ONE...
PS: if you do have one, be honest about it and most places won't ding you. The only place I heard that dings you for a dui is GS.... I could be wrong but ML, CS, and Citi do not.. If you try and hide the fact, they will find out, and you can kiss your chance good-bye!
God, does it matter? This has no relevance to the original question, he lives in a state like mine (PA) which automatically suspends your license if you are caught drinking underage, regardless of how drunk and even if a car was not involved at all. He did not get a DUI.
To answer your question, I'm pretty sure this will not show up, underage drinking should not show up on the bg check (I don't think) and even if they saw the DL suspension, that by itself shouldn't be grounds for any kind of action. I wouldn't worry.
You'll be fine. A good friend of mine is an analyst and he had something similar happen, and his HR told him that getting busted for underage drinking is nothing - they could give a shit. A DUI is a bit of a different story because of the poor judgment it shows, but you'll be OK if it is only underage drinking.
I assume that the best move would still be to disclose it? The background check that I'm doing specifically tells you to list any felonies AND misdemeanors - I assume that underage drinking (or any drinking citation) would be a misdemeanor.
That would probably be best. I'd check to see if it is a misdemeanor though, it might just be a civil offense
BB Background Check -- Paranoid (Originally Posted: 09/01/2016)
Hey Guys,
Have employment background check for SA at a BB coming up. Under my 'Experience' section on my CV, I have some uni extra-curricular's (e.g. being involved in a campus fund) alongside a few intern experiences. When filling out the forms, I only included my actual employment and didn't include EC's.
On my CV, it is pretty hard to distinguish my work exp's from EC's, so I was wondering if I would be required to disclose info about EC's (reference, contact details etc); and whether it would be seen as a problem that my work exp and EC's are hard to distinguish.
Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated.
sleep easy little man, 100.1% chance nothing will happen. (in all seriousness)
You're way overreacting. Only things that could fuck you are a criminal record or blatantly lying about work experience / GPA.
BB Background check (Originally Posted: 01/20/2014)
I'm a junior with a BB offer in NYC for this summer.
Last year I was having no luck as a sophomore. Due to additional credits from high school, I told a boutique bank in NYC I was graduating a year early and got an SA offer (I could have graduated early, and decided to try and do so). Got the FT offer, but denied it. I specifically e-mailed HR saying that I wanted to pursue additional opportunities. (Also want to spend a full 4 years in school after realizing that college is awesome and working can suck-but did not specify this specifically). HR never got back to me. Now, I have an offer to join a better group at a BB this next summer in NYC. (obviously not graduating a year early any more).
If my BB runs a background check on me before June and calls the boutique bank, would HR screw me? Lol. What's my worst case scenario-not good I'm aware. : (
chill dude it's okay
If you're really worried I would do the following. Email your contacts at the previous boutique that you worked at that you know at the most senior level and feel comfortable with. Literally tell them what you just wrote. You decided to stay in school longer because you wanted to pursue other opportunities, and "maybe" wanted to pursue an extra minor or major which extended your college career by a bit, and you also wanted to take time to think about your future plans as well. Mention you just got an offer at a BB for another SA gig right there in the email as well in division X or whatever it is, and ask for his thoughts on exit opportunities that he knows of in the future or some dumb question. You are now in the clear if the background check calls the boutique bank and they are completely dumbfounded.
You don't need to do all that cause nothing will happen though.
Background Check Delays at BB Firm - What is Going On? (Originally Posted: 06/28/2012)
I have recently been hired as a consultant to do a long-term temp middle-office job at a big BB firm in New York. This was, as it may be expected, arranged via a hiring agency.
I was called by the BB firm to submit my fingerprints. I showed up last Tuesday (9 calendar days ago), gave my prints, and filled out their questionnaire attesting that in the past ten years I had not committed any finance-related crime (fraud, embezzlement, larceny, etc etc etc).
This much is true. Not only have I not committed any of those crimes, but I have never been arrested, charged or convicted of anything in my life - not even a speeding ticket or a DUI.
The agency told me my expected work start-day was this Tuesday, for which reason my fingerprints should have been cleared by this Monday at the latest so I could be given the go ahead. IT IS ALREADY THURSDAY 5 PM and I have not heard from the BB firm clearing my fingerprints.
This means that - at the current rate of developments - the earliest I could start work is this coming Monday. This would represent almost a full week's delay from my anticipated start day.
I have been calling my agency and they chalk it up to the large number of employees (summer analysts, summer interns, etc) which account for a larger pipeline of prints to go through. The agency asks me to calm down and just wait it out, and they're getting irked with my calling for updates.
The agency says they have reached the BB firm and that they have said "We know, we just have too many incoming at this time... Sorry, it will get done"... I do not even know if they've done that or if it's some lip service they're giving me, as - it seems to me - they are way too cautious of upsetting the big BB firm.
Does anyone find any sense in this? Does anyone find the summer influx of employees as a believable reason for the delay? Don't the summer people start like in late May or early June? This is end of June we're talking about!
Can anyone tell me what to do next, other than relying on my agency? I have even thought of showing up at the fingerprinting center for the BB firm (in their NYC headquarters, where they took my prints), and asking personally for an update.
Any thoughts?
X Y Z
Relax and have some patience. If you have nothing negative in your history and you didn't lie about anything you should be fine. Large BB's have a lot red tape so certain processes take longer than expected.
chill your nips bro... they always tend to take their time
Background check question - FT offer in BB (Originally Posted: 01/23/2014)
I recently got an FT offer in BB IBD and am going through the background check process. One thing I'm worried about was the unpaid internship I did as a junior at an AM fund. The firm that I worked for was absorbed into another firm and I only worked with one PM, who has since left to start his own shop. I'm worried that if they contact anyone at the firm no one will know who I am (since I only worked for this one guy who left) so they may think I'm lying.
Has anyone had experience in this?
I honestly don't think it will matter. If you told them it was unpaid, worst case scenario is they will ask you to provide a contact, in which case you can find the PM on LinkedIn and ask for his info.
They never asked if it was unpaid or not, I filled out the contact info as best I could but after I posted this I went looking for the PM and I think he went off the grid, deleted his LinkedIn account etc... I provided the contact info of the firm that it was merged into.
What goes into a background check? I did not have to do one for my internship last summer, but will have one for this summer
Not a big deal. At worst, you'll be asked to explain the situation (which is unlikely.)
Will BB really do background check? (Originally Posted: 06/07/2012)
Do they really do background check? When will they do this and will they heading into my school faculty and ask about my GPA?
Yes they do. If you have provided false information on your resume, be prepared to have your offer revoked.
Also...you should change your company status...because there's no way you'll be a first year analyst when you get your offer revoked for lying
Yes. And on top of that, for your securities license, you are required to swear under penalties of perjury that your criminal background, as stated on the forms you fill out, is true and accurate. So they can send you to jail if you lie to the SEC/FINRA.
Yes they do. You'll be asked to fill in forms and the corporate security team/outsourced security firm will do the due diligence e.g. checking with your school, checking your references and former employees. If you did overseas internships, they'll even check the validity of your visa/overseas work permit.
BB FT Background Check (Originally Posted: 03/01/2014)
Say, I get a FT job offer in 2014 mid-August from a BB (where I did not intern). When is the background check supposed to take place?
They usually complete background checks in the couple months leading up to the internship (March / April / May).
Should I assume Feb then?
It's already March?
Talking about next year.
My mistake. Yes, you should expect sometime between February and May.
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