background check (esp. education) for a major asset management/research firm

Water Cooler Careers
#1

hi,

I am a graduating senior and got an offer from a major asset management /research firm (won’t disclose the same, of course). They said they will do background check. I do not have any criminal or credit problems. I believe the way the background check works is that the HR department of the firm contacts a third-party background check firm, which checks my SSN, criminal records, credit issues, education etc. Here’s a series of questions: 1) Does the third party background check firm have access to official transcript? 2) If not to 1), would the HR ask me to send an official transcript to them (the HR)? Would they ask for it after I graduate (May)? 3) If yes to 2), is it fine to send a graduation certificate instead?

Some people say that HR will compare individual courses’ grades and GPA of the unofficial transcript that I submitted during the application process and the official one. Some people say that HR doesn’t really do that and they just want to see if you actually graduated with a diploma. The reason is that my GPA might go down this semester. I am taking many graduate level courses which are so hard :frowning:

#2

If you didn’t have anything to hide then you got nothing to worry about kid.

#3

Did you even read the whole question?

#4

Did you even read the whole question?

#5

Did you lie in your application about your GPA? If not, it shouldn’t matter what they do. Some firms request official transcripts, but others don’t.

#6

Unless the offer comes with the condition that you maintain a certain GPA you should be fine.

As for gaming the HR question… I’m going to ignore that and just say you should take no chances, do what you’re told.

#7

damn kid relax…lol “did you even read the whole question?” as if you’re a paying client and we’re some kind of your indentured servant…no kid i didn’t read the whole thing (maybe klaudine did) but basically unless you lied about the name of college you went to…you’re fine…you’re applying for an entry level finance job not some defense jobs working on next generation smart bombs or senate position.

#8

oh lol okay. that’s what I wanted to here.

I guess government / defence jobs will care more of course,

thanks.

#9

Background check is more of a criminal record check…I doubt it goes beyond that.

#10

Most major firms generally check to confirm criminal, credit, litigation, education and employment history. Education is usually to confirm dates match, degree matches and may look into GPA if a recent grad. When the report comes back, it flags various areas which may mean they could not confirm some piece of info or that some piece of info comes back different. If your GPA goes down due to recent semester you should be able to explain it. I would try not to tank too hard though…

Yeah, I did some government/intelligence stuff after college. Now THAT is a background check. They even used a pseudonym for the initial interview and the phone screen took well over an hour and included such questions as: who is the president of Brazil? Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva. What is his background? Well…he was a shoeshine boy, came from humble upbringing. How did his father die? Um…car crash?