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I'm an Italian new graduate who got an offer letter from a top American company.

They asked me to submit a form by a third-party agency to check my Background.

This was the first time I heard about a background check and I am very afraid I have made some mistakes and omissions in the Employers sections.

As a fresh graduate, my work experience in my CV are uniquely Internships, and University projects, an AIESEC Global volunteer experience and my experience as blogger (unpaid).

I thought as "Employer" only my internship employees avoiding the other experience listed above because:

  • In the university project I joined to a Startup to create a business plan for a startup challenge sponsored by my university, but it was without a regular contract.

    • Aiesec it was a volunteer experience in a School so I did not think it was a proper employer

    • Blogger, it just myself and I listed the skill learnings during this my hobby/ and sometime little job ( e.g. Digital Marketing, SEO etc)

I listed these experiences in my CV, but clearly explained the nature of each.

Now I'm afraid I have made terrible mistakes by not reporting those in the background check and I am very afraid to not get the job. I tried to tell this to the 3rd party agency but they always replied me with sort of standard email and seem they don't read what I say.

What do you think should I do? I want to contact the HR of my employer, do you think is a good idea?

Update.

I passed without problems the BC and they did not ask me anything more. My concerns were unfounded :)

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    To be clear, you are afraid that because you didn't list work experience on your CV, you won't get the job? Or did you list something as work experience that you didn't think was?
    – Magisch
    Commented Feb 27, 2019 at 7:46
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    I am afraid because I listed as work experience in my cv and they kinda were, although without regular contact, but I did not consider during the form compilation, Aiesec and the startup as proper employees since there were nor a standard contract
    – peppe Reizan
    Commented Feb 27, 2019 at 8:01
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    Did you make any representation that these were full employee gigs in your CV? People often list volunteer experience in their CVs.
    – Magisch
    Commented Feb 27, 2019 at 8:05
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    I did not write volunteer in the cv but "project facilitator" explaining that was a project against bullying in a school and about the other, aa "Business plan collaborator "for the university project. While in the application made by linked is written clearly that the first was a volunteer project and the other a startup challenge by the university. In anycase I can proof them.
    – peppe Reizan
    Commented Feb 27, 2019 at 8:16
  • I did not write full-time in none of them, but actually the volunteer experience was 2 months of full-time volunteer, I just would like to add those in the background check
    – peppe Reizan
    Commented Feb 27, 2019 at 8:20

4 Answers 4

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I think you are overreacting in the face of a background check. Specific company policies notwithstanding, it doesn't seem like you misrepresented anything. Background checks are mostly done to verify what you've told them: They'll check and probably call around to verify your internships, check your criminal record, etc.

You say you have documentation you can show for each of the items you've put in your CV. Keep this documentation handy, but do not approach them during the background check with it. It's possible that the background check company (depending on the type of check) will contact you and ask for documentation for some of the items you listed. If requested, provide it to them. It's also possible that you'll be asked by the employer later to provide this verification, again, if requested, provide it to them.

Generally from what you mentioned in your comments and the way you listed these experiences, I wouldn't worry too much however. Big companies hire a lot of people and are likely familiar with informal / volunteer like experience like the one you listed and don't expect a HR department to exist that can be called and asked to verify every single line item on your CV.

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  • Thank you! You calmed me down, I lost some sleeps in those days and it was very hard got this offer and lose this opportunity for this my lack of experience would be a nightmare. So you suggest to not tell to the employer HR in all honesty that I did not have submitted those experience ?
    – peppe Reizan
    Commented Feb 27, 2019 at 8:38
  • @peppereizan I'd wait out what they have to say. It's extremely unlikely they'll pull the offer over something like that, and if they have questions, they'll ask you, just keep the documentation ready.
    – Magisch
    Commented Feb 27, 2019 at 12:06
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Don't worry, it's fine.

As long as you didn't grossly misrepresent or lie you'll pass.

They'll potentially call the companies / organisations to see if you indeed were doing the tasks / jobs you said.

It doesn't matter if you were paid or not.

Don't contact tge company or the ones performing the background check, it may look suspicious.

Just eait and should you fail, ask why and if it's an error prove it with your documentation and clarify misunderstandings.

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  • Thank you! So if it should fail you think the company will give me the chance to clarify?
    – peppe Reizan
    Commented Feb 27, 2019 at 11:26
  • @peppereizan sure, usually they do if they're reasonable people. Most often these things can fail because of missing or incomplete or inaccurate information from whatever source they used.
    – DigitalBlade969
    Commented Feb 27, 2019 at 12:31
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Background checks are more so to find out if there is anything that would prevent you from doing your job properly, or makes you susceptible to anything that would hurt the company.

This is a small omission, and they will see that you have mentioned the jobs done as something other than employment. They should have the sense to understand the difference.

So, no. This is not an issue, I wouldn't even try and contact them. If for some reason this causes a rejection, there should be a formal appeal process where you can explain your side of the story, which should cause the check to then pass based on this info.

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Since this is a American company, they are very most likely not doing a background investigation.

In the US, a 'background check' is usually nothing more than checking your credit and verifying you have no convictions that would impact your job.

They don't go out an interview people or verify your story unless a certain, relatively high, security clearance is required.

This is just a formality in most cases. Nothing to worry about unless you know exactly what you should be worried about.

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  • Thank you! I am very clean :). My only worry was about not having fill the BC form in the "employers section" with my university project, volunteer experience and blogger. I already gathered all the documentations in the case they will ask.
    – peppe Reizan
    Commented Mar 1, 2019 at 9:04

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