Background Check - Federal Government Employment Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hello all,

I'm currently undergoing a background check for a job offer that I recently received and accepted with the feds. I won't say which department or office. However, the background check is quite intrusive, and last week, I was informed that they will eventually want to contact my current employer. For various reason, I'm pretty certain I will be asked to resign when my current employer is contacted, and finds out that I've accepted a new position. I'm trying to figure out what to do because I'm still in the "tentative offer" phase where my job offer can still be revoked for any number of reasons. Has anyone here dealt with this problem before? Any recommendations or advice?

[andythefir]

Is it a suitability review or a background check? Did you fill out a SF 85 or SF 86?

[Anonymous User]

I did the sf86

[Anonymous User]

Have you told them that your current employer will ask you to resign and asked if they have a workaround/suggestion? My fedgov office always makes super clear to people who’ve accepted offers that they shouldn’t give notice until they get cleared, so I think your situation would be familiar to them. Is there someone at your current employer that you can direct them to who wouldn’t give you away, so to speak? (Though they probably want a supervisor.)

It’s a tough situation because I doubt the feds will have much flexibility on actually talking to your employer - if that’s what the check requires, that’s what it requires. But they might be able to do it last, when you know there aren’t any other issues, so maybe feel more comfortable taking a little leap of faith? (Assuming your current employer wouldn’t say anything that would sink your candidacy.)

[Anonymous User]

Have you told them that your current employer will ask you to resign and asked if they have a workaround/suggestion? My fedgov office always makes super clear to people who’ve accepted offers that they shouldn’t give notice until they get cleared, so I think your situation would be familiar to them. Is there someone at your current employer that you can direct them to who wouldn’t give you away, so to speak? (Though they probably want a supervisor.)

It’s a tough situation because I doubt the feds will have much flexibility on actually talking to your employer - if that’s what the check requires, that’s what it requires. But they might be able to do it last, when you know there aren’t any other issues, so maybe feel more comfortable taking a little leap of faith? (Assuming your current employer wouldn’t say anything that would sink your candidacy.)

Thanks for your response. My understanding of the process is that nothing my supervisor can say can really sink my candidacy unless it has to do with me being some sort of a security risk. So I am at this point preparing to do just what you've said, i.e. ask that my current supervisor is spoken to last, and then hand in my 2 weeks if/when I clear all other hurdles with the background check. This is really all I can do I think, because I am 150% sure I will be asked to resign the moment my supervisor gets word that I've accepted other employment.

[Anonymous User]

My less intrusive federal government background check that was supposed to take 3 weeks was at week 6 by the time I withdrew my acceptance. During this time they contacted my then-current employer after being explicitly asked to tell me before doing that. That was a fun surprise. Expect and plan for the worst.

[Anonymous User]

Yeah, unfortunately, one problem is that, at least for DOJ, the background check is all done through the central hiring authority, OARM, rather than by the people who will actually work with you and want to hire you. And given how many people they have to process (as well as government culture), they don't have a lot of incentive to be flexible, even if the people who will work with you will want you to be. The upside is that no one gets any unfairly special treatment; the downside is rigidity.

So one thing I'd note is that if you want to talk to them about checking with your current employer last, make sure that you're speaking directly with the people at OARM so you know for certain how they're handling it, rather than go through the people in the office where you'd actually be working. I think there's supposed to be some kind of duty line with OARM that people can call to get advice about the suitability process, which I've heard is actually kind of helpful (but I can't guarantee that).

[andythefir]

If you ask, they should give you a heads up when it’s time to give your employer a heads up. That’s part of the waiver to get in the door while your full background check clears. They will talk to your direct supervisor again as part of that full check, but you will hopefully be already inside the government by that time.

[Spitfire86]

The process is imperfect--you don't get your Final Offer until they verify with your supervisor that you work where you said you work. But, you don't want to tell your supervisor until you've accepted that Final Offer. Unfortunately, if you want the job, you'll have to let them contact your supervisor. It can spoil any plans of delaying the announcement but that's what you have to do for the security check. For me, it was the very last thing they did in my security check before giving me my Final Offer a couple days later. They also confirmed with me when it would be ok to contact my supervisor, so I informed my supervisor two days before they called and gave my notice.