No word after background check initiated. (employment verification, references, employer, jobs)

[odessit771]

Hello!

My older brother received a job offer. He signed the offer letter and pre-employment paperwork almost 4 weeks ago. The manager said it will take about 2 weeks for the background check to be completed (he said it will probably be done by 6/6/). He also said it is ok if my brother emails once in a while to check on status. The last time he emailed and received reply was on 6/1. He tried emailing in the past few days and no response. Silence..... It is almost a month now. He knows he passed medical portion 3 weeks ago, and criminal portion on 5/31. I think there are other stuff they were checking as well (references, verifications, etc). This is for the county job. Actually on 6/1 the manager said: he is still awaiting criminal check. However, my brother contacted screening company and they said it was completed on 5/31!

So, what exactly could this mean? Aren't they suppose to notify applicant about cancelling offer if any issues are found? There should be no issues, but this is crazy.


Any ideas? He is going insane...lol What can be done here?

Thanks!

[thebunny]

I would contact the employer over the phone and see. Sometimes even though the check is done, doesn't mean the results have made their way to the employer. Also, once that is all done, the offer does need to be finalized, etc.

[X14Freak]

For background checks, if you don't hear anything it means you are okay for the most part. The background check company will usually contact a candidate immediately if there are any discrepancies so that the candidate can rectify the discrepancy. I know this since I had to deal with this before since the background check company had difficulty verifying my employment with a few of my previous employers. Government jobs are usually incredibly slow for some reason which is why I wouldn't too much.

[odessit771]

and why aren't they replying to emails? (he emailed to 2 people asking for status)

thanks!

[PacificFlights]

If this is a civil service job, they usually have formal steps to follow, This follows that, that follows this, etc. Also there are usually only so many people assigned to the human resource section of the county (even if it looks like everything is being done by that agency there ussually is a central HR dept as well) and they can be overloaded from time to time and things just slow down.

Why are they not responding? maybe because they were so short handed due to fiscal restraints and things have gotten very busy and they are just way too busy untilt hey hire the new staff. Or maybe they were told to put everything on hold pending fiscal reveiews. Or they are just on vacation....

[odessit771]

Thanks!!!!

Are they req'd to inform the applicant if he is rejected (offer canceled ) due to background check?

[odessit771]

Still no word,

do you guys know if the company required to inform the applicant that he is no longer being considered?

i mean - he did sign an official offer letter. but today is 6/28, and the background started around 5/23.

last time my brother heard from them was a week ago. they said that they cannot get a hold of one of the past employers (no wonder it is out of business). my brother was able to provide the contact info for previous manager who would verify everything. however, they have not called anyone. also, he was checking who saw his worknumber records, and they did not check that either....

other then that - everything is cleared (drug, physical, criminal, e-verify) except education/employment verifications.

will they ever say YES or NO. or will they just left the poor man hanging?


is this situation normal/common?

[veuvegirl]

A company is not required to inform you. If you know who did the background check (they usually use a third party) try and contact them. I know my husband had a flag come up on his finacial background because his name is common. That could be a possibility.