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Note: I’m from India and I did mention in my job application MSc (IT) and BSc

I had cleared an interview sometime in June 2017 and after waiting 4-5 months I was released an offer on 15 November 2017 which required negotiations and eventually was approved by my new employer

I got my revised offer letter on December 19, 2017 with joining date February 19, 2018. On that letter it is stated “as confirmation of your acceptance, you are requested to sign the duplicate copy of the offer cum appointment letter and annexures and submit within 7 days” I had signed this offer letter and the authorisation letter for background verification.

In the last week of November, I had a call from HR asking for MSC IT certificate. I told them I had impending projects, so my highest qualification would be BSC and provided all documents needed including 10th 12th and degree marksheets along with certificates. Again, in the last week of December I was asked same question and my reply was no different.

A week before joining the new workplace i.e. 12th February 2018, their HR called me asking for MSc certificate, I was stumped, after the same conversation they asked me to re-initiate background verification process adding all details including old job details. This time I was told to remove the MSc from my application and submit again. For the past one week I have been submitting the same documents to different HR’s in the company. On 15th I received a letter from them sub: Extension for the date of joining, its been revised to March 1, 2018.

My hiring manager wanted an early start and was pushing me to join early February. I don’t know if my hiring manager know everything, HR might have blamed background verification

I strongly feel its HR negligence and in breach of contract as they had 2 months to do the background verification. once a candidate has accepted an unconditional offer of employment then a binding contract exists between employer and candidate, even if the candidate has not yet joined.

What should I do, Im stressed, anxious and not in a financial situation to cover up 2 weeks or how ever longer they would take. Should I email HR manager and my (future) line manager for the compensation?

More to add- The situation is even worse than before – I was given 5th March as joining date, since its different state I planned my travel on 4th to find out that hotel stay was only booked from 5th not 4th, on my own expense stayed in different hotel and completed induction on 5th but was advised not to join and stay in the company hotel until BGC is complete. 9th March I was told that the agency doing verification hasn’t heard back from 1 of my former employer, I spoke to the lead directly and requested for reference which was done same day. Today I became anxious and contacted service delivery manager who interviewed me and to be my surprise she wasn’t aware of any this.

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    Never hand in your resignation letter until you've signed on the dotted line saying both parties (Yourself and the company you are joining) have accepted you are joining the company. Sorry for you current situation, but make sure to learn from it in future!
    – Draken
    Feb 19, 2018 at 9:21
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    both my new employer and me agreed on date and signed off all document, so what else could I do?
    – Ivy
    Feb 19, 2018 at 9:25
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    Sounds like a HR screw-up. Definitely speak to your new manager, he's your ally in this.
    – rath
    Feb 19, 2018 at 9:30
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    @Ivy If at all possible, do not sign off on a starting date until the offer is completely unconditional, with any background check complete. Until then, all you tell the new employer is "I will be able to start x weeks after the background check is complete." where x weeks is your notice period.
    – Patricia Shanahan
    Feb 19, 2018 at 10:06
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    If you signed an official contract with a fixed starting date, you might be getting paid despite not being able to work yet; you might want to look into that either with your manager or an attorney.
    – Erik
    Feb 19, 2018 at 10:09

1 Answer 1

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First, Background Checks (BGCs) are serious matter in services sector of Indian IT industry. The point is this; if you mention something during BGC in terms of previous work experience (for last 5 years), educational qualification etc. you are required to have the documentation. Which in your case you do not; you don't have the degree certificate for your Msc (IT). In your job application you mentioned Msc(IT), HRs understanding is that you have completed your Msc; unless you have mentioned 'awaiting completion', 'awaiting project completion'. Logically speaking, for all you know you may not get the degree in the end, right?

In your case, I did not think HR neglected, they must have sent your documents to the BGC agency and it would have come out RED due to absence of your Msc certificate. That is the reason they have asked you to replace your highest qualification as Bsc and not Msc.

As for the compensation, you are really in no position to ask for it as, legally, you have misrepresented facts; though probably HR will not pursue the matter that way, it is in many ways, simple case of mix-up. Just take the 1st March joining date and don't push any further, by then your BGC would probably come out GREEN.

Till then, borrow money from friends; go home and comeback ... just don't ask for compensation; it just won't work.

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  • I completely agree, but why did they ignore me completely when I stated impending projects in November and December, they had plenty of time, I could resubmit everything again before going to the agency It is act of negligence from the recruitment HR who heard but ignored and Im being penalized
    – Ivy
    Feb 19, 2018 at 14:19
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    @Ivy You learn a lesson here. Do not ever put in any official document anything that you do not have yet.
    – Nobody
    Feb 19, 2018 at 14:52
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    @Ivy, no one here is accusing you of lying, what scaahu and I are trying to point out is that you have unintentionally landed up in a situation of tactical misrepresentation. I don't think the outcome would be anything serious, except that you have to wait a bit to join. In any case, you would do well to keep scaaahu and Draken's pointers under consideration. Yes, take this as a learning experience.
    – Ironluca
    Feb 19, 2018 at 14:57
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    @Ivy, you were interviewed in June 2017, offer released on Nov 2017, renegotiated and re-released on Dec 2017. Then, you write a mail to them on Jan 2018 that you are yet pursuing MSc(IT) and have not completed it (verbal communications do not matter in between). The fact remains, that during application and intervening months you did not inform anyone, the HR did not pull your offer letter though, just asked you to wait till 1st March about 10 days. I do not know your background or compulsions but getting stressed now will not help; wait, go on 1st March and join your work.
    – Ironluca
    Feb 19, 2018 at 16:27
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    @Ivy If your application mentions that you have something and in reality you are still obtaining it, this is by definition you misrepresenting yourself. HR isn't going to check every aspect of your application because they assume that you have been truthful in it, as you should always be. It would have been fine if you had explicitly mentioned you were still obtaining the qualification but by doing it like you did, you implied you already had it. A lie by omission is still a lie. No matter what you mentioned verbally.
    – Cronax
    Mar 14, 2018 at 12:18

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