When To Give Two Weeks Notice During Final Background Check
When I arrived at the final interview on-site, HR said "your background check came back great, so we will be able to make an offer if all goes well!' before my series of meetings.
The offer sheet came via email as expected, but has language "contingent upon background and reference check, along with agreed upon start date"
We have nailed down a start date, which is manually entered on the document, but how does the wording play into me giving my two weeks? I dont have anything to hide, but any conditionality always freak me out to some extent.
Is there a way to confirm that all employer initiatives are all set and that there is no more researching/digging to be done? A way to phrase the question to my new firm with regards to respecting the process and confidently giving my 2 weeks?
job offer contingent on background check
This is normal practice for a job offer to be contingent on a background check. However, in the instance described by the OP, it is fair to ask your next employer when to expect the completion of the process so you can give your two weeks notice to your current employer. You should not give your two weeks notice until the third party diligence process is over.
Do I Need to Give Two Weeks Notice When I Quit?
While legally speaking you do not need to give notice, your contract may stipulate a certain notice requirement. Check out the video below for details.
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If you think you're all set you probably are. Way too much thinking here.
thanks for the response.
my follow up for you is this: given the wording on the letter and the conditions i think are important to give notice at my current firm, should i ask my new HR dept if there is a non-contingent letter that follows? or is that excessive?
just playing it safe, as always.
-mr. conservative
You're doing the right thing here. What confuses me is that HR apparently already ran the background check, per your original post? If so, just get in contact with HR and ask if they have completed the background check. If they haven't, then let them know to hold off on contacting your references at your current firm until after the background check clears. After that goes through, then put in your two weeks (if necessary) at your current firm and you can confirm your employment at your current firm at that point.
Sounds like you already passed the background check part of the offer if HR said you were good to go. Definitely too much thinking going on (no judgement, I've definitely been guilty of the same).
Not true. It's highly unusual for a firm to perform a full background check prior to having a signed offer. Sign the offer letter and ask HR if there is a full background check (there likely is). If so, do not put in your two weeks notice until after everything clears.
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It's unusual but I've had it happen before final rounds. Regardless OP obviously shouldn't put in 2 weeks until all the 3rd party due diligence has been completed.
Hey guys
I had to submit a copy of a paycheck for current job and this 3rd party firm apparently reached out to my older company on file; I had indicated not to contact my current employer for obvious reasons
How would you guys phrase this question to hr to achieve peace of mind?
Would you use the term final offer, non contingent? Would you ask if there are additional internal steps?
my other concern is that i need to begin changing my life around for this move. going from NYC to another east coast location, will need to purchase a car, sublet my apt and lock in a place at my new destination.
thinking of phrasing a question to HR in a format such as this:
"Reading through the offer letter numerous times, I see that it is labeled as "contingent". Can you please confirm that all necessary formal processes are complete, as briefly discussed in person, so that I may begin divesting from my current location and position? Thank you for your time!"
Delay the start date. Accept the offer, they do the background check, box your shit up, line up an apartment and when all is good, put in your notice.
A full background check happens when you get the job. Usually outsourced to some company. They call and check end dates, titling, whatever.
Little side lesson for people. Before you quit any job save emails, print shit out, etc. if any title, start/end date discrepancy, promotion date, whatever, comes back as not confirmed you want to back it up. These background check people aren't PI's.
Interestingly, I have already submitted proof of employment to a 3rd party background group, and they subsequently confirmed what I had submitted was sufficient.
Does this change your views at all?
Also, how to confirm background check is done and we've moved past that stage?
Call HR to confirm.
i wound up sending hr a note alongside a signed copy off acceptance asking if the process is now "finalized" given my return letter
this should elicit a satisfactory answer.
Wait until passed background check to give notice? (Originally Posted: 09/27/2015)
Hey all,
I received an offer that is contingent upon passing the background checks. I don’t expect any issues but I’ve heard horror stories how offers were rescinded after a background check so I don’t want to resign from my current employer until I know for sure the offer is final.
What’s the standard practice, two weeks after acceptance or after background checks clear?
Also, if I ask my new job to let me know when I passed the background checks and the offer is firm will that be a red flag and make me look like I am worried they may find something? Is there a good way to ask this question?
Thanks!
There's some good stuff if you search in here.
It's going to depend. If you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Put it in. If it's a reputable place to work at. Put it in.
If you have something to worry about about. Wait till it clears, if it does.
If it's a small shop where they might fire you instantly and you can't go without pay. Don't put it in at all.
I'm in the last spot, got a job offer, have to wait on the background check (have a credit blip on there) but can't risk being let go instantly and not being able to collect my paychecks since my savings become exceptionally sparse over the summer. It helps the company is a very, very small shop with no ties to my next industry, job role or even geographic location.
New company wants me to put in notice before background check is done (Originally Posted: 03/12/2016)
Currently work for a fund in the US and accepted a BB trading desk offer in Singapore. I have a 2 month notice period clause with my current company.
I told the new firm that I don't want to serve notice until I get written confirmation that my background check cleared but they are pushing me to put in my notice and that the background check is just formality (to get the notice period clock started earlier). They noted that an international background check might take longer and they dont want to delay the start date too much. Do I look bad if I stand my ground and not comply?
No, stand your ground.
Of course they want you to, it benefits them but it has no benefit to you. Do not quit until everything is locked down with the new job.
Have seen people get screwed before on background check. It is not "just a formality". Don't give notice until everything is 100% set.
If it is just a formality then get them to put in writing that you are hired regardless of the results of the background check. I think their answer will reveal the nature of the check.
Stand your ground. Make it clear that you believe the background check will be clean, but you don't want to be left jobless because of glitches, mistaken identities etc that you can't clear up.
They like you, they want you and they want you to start earlier. If you stand your ground, what's their position? Their next best alternative is to pressure the background check firm to hurry up. This is the cheapest and easiest option.
The next best option is to withdraw the offer they have made to a candidate that they like and either start the whole job search again (timely, costly, unlikely to produce a candidate who can start sooner) or, if there were other candidates who came a close second, extend an offer to those candidates. Given they like you and are not yet threatening to withdraw your offer, that seems low risk.
If you start getting threats that they will withdraw the offer unless you accept early, then reconsider your position. But not implied or hinted at threats. It will be a direct threat.
EDIT: I'm not sure how they run their employee background checks in Asia, In particular, I'm not sure whether they run them through production line check processes like they have here in the US, or whether they use teams in some of the specialty background check firms who are active in Asia (eg Kroll, International Risk, FTI Consulting, Blackpeak).
If it's the latter, it's pretty easy to get them to hurry up their process. I ran a lot of business through FTI and Blackpeak in my time in Asia (running deep dive background checks on owners of companies in China we were considering investing in, staking out their homes, finding out the names of their favourite mistresses and that sort of stuff) and they are more than happy to speed things up when a client needs them to.
Two Week Notice (Originally Posted: 04/10/2012)
I just received the offer yesterday and put in my two weeks notice at my current job. At what point does the new employer usually check references, request a drug test, etc? What proportion of small-medium firms (few B AUM) even bother with this stuff? Thanks.
I did a pre and post background check at the BB i was at
Thanks Monty, two background checks? Could you please explain how that was?
Won't they usually let you know? I didn't get my previous offers to sign until i passed the background/drug/etc tests
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