So I was supposed to start my internship June 3rd,about a week ago the recruiter sent me the onboarding emails and info and I realized that they haven’t done the background check (didn’t know that they would do that this late as I had signed a consent form for that and thought the process would take care of itself) anyhow, basically no background check would probably equal no internship and for some reason the recruiter and onboarding team are being lazy by just replying “they’re looking into it”.
The thing that really worries me is I have less than 8 business days to have all this stuff ready and these people are taking their time and apparently not looking very concerned.
How did you realize they had not done the background check, and is it your responsibility to make sure they complete all their HR processes? What would happen if you just didn’t address the check and showed up?
They sent a mass email to the interns telling them to complete the drug test and background check emails the background check company sent out.I got in touch with HR who first told me to check my spam folder crap they tell people and now they keep saying they will “look into it” .
They will probably not accept me to work there if I just show up since the background check place has to verify my background first.
7 business days is a short time frame for a background check + a drug test to be verified.
It seems that you should operate under the presumption that they are responsible for turning over this process on time, regardless of delays. Unless you hear otherwise, assume that your internship will start on time as was promised to you. If the background check is really delayed until after your start date, and this absolutely prevents you from working, they should just continue with the check anyway, and allow you to start after it is completed.
For what it’s worth, when my wife started her current job, the firm indicated a 3 week timeline for some background checks, but they somehow did it within a few days as they really needed people to come work. I’m not sure if this is the same as your case.
Do you have a point of contact with the hiring manager or someone in the department? You could try asking them.
Anyhow, the important thing is to not panic / start letting emotions bleed into your your communications with them. Keep operating as if the internship is a go ahead and basically everything Ohai said.
I would plan on just starting on that date and push for it. Maybe nicely ask HR as a sidebar to an existing conversation if they think your onboarding and background check has been hung up because you’re Muslim in a way that seems like it was just a casual thought. Obviously you don’t think so, but you were talking to your Uncle who works in HR law about the situation and he thought maybe that could be the reason you were being singled out. That should set off some alarm bells and get their @sses in gear.
I’m not being 100% serious, I try to avoid being a problem employee and just let these things work out, but it also might be a good way to increase the motivation.
Look, unless they tell you don’t show up, just show up. HR incompetence should not be your problem. In this case, maybe it has the potential to affect you. However, you’re just supposed to go work there and do your job.
It’s funny to me how people thing HR is incompetent, when in reality those people’s issue is probably not a priority for HR.
Anyway, just show up on time. I’d imagine that if the background stuff isn’t complete it is likely they will have you start on the normal date contingent on the successful completion of the background check.
I had a similar stuff happen to me before my internship…only difference being that I didn’t know that my file wasn’t in order. So I showed up my first day, got told that my file wasn’t in order, was let into the building and shadowed my future co-workers for 2-3 days until my file was all set.
So my advice is: just forget about the background check and show up on time.
Ps. SamCryBaby has impressive AF Point stats considering his LVL1 candidate status!