B-School Verification process

Hello,

I'm interested in hearing about how the business school verification process works. What happens if a company will not discuss the reasonswhy someone left? For example, I've worked at places where they'll only say "This person worked here between these dates, and no longer works here." They won't say if the person was terminated, laid off, or left on his/her own accord. Would this affect admissions?

Also, what should someone put on the application if he/she works at a job that gets three scheduled months off per year (unpaid). You effectively are unemployed, but you still technically work for that company. I don't know how to explain this on an application/resume, but I don't want to just write that I'm unemployed.

generally they don't call to see whether you are terminated. If they do, I don't think your company's unwillingness to cooperate will hurt you. The background check is pretty basic. See here:

123-t58752
(look for "Background Check")

Just write a sentence or two in the optional essays explaining the 3 month scheduled off and don't mention it in the resume or application.

I checked out that link, but didn't see anything regarding whether they check to see if you were terminated or not. Wouldn't it make sense for them to ask, "Why did this person leave"? For one of the jobs on my resume, the employer promised to say that I quit to leave for another job (which is true), but that same day, I was terminated. Depending on who the screener talks to, they may get different responses. I work for a place where HR is very far-removed from the actual business. Does Kroll give you the option of providing a direct number to a supervisor that you worked for, rather than them just simply trying to call HR?

I'm not 100%... but I'm pretty sure if they run into any discrepancy, they'll just highlight it and give the report to the school. Schools will then check it with you again and let you explain it.
I think schools won't suddenly drop your enrollment without giving you any chance to make your case. THey aceepted you and now they want you to enroll. I don't know if this reduces your worry.

However, I can't answer your question as I don't know what is Kroll's approach and everything. I'm worried more that they'll spill my admit to my current supervisor before I tell him that I'm going to school.

If you arent a felon I wouldnt worry about the verification process. If you are a felon, you should be fine as long as you told them that in your application. Seriously, if it was as bad as everyone fears its going to be you would read all about people getting rejected because of it. Anything the company reports that the schools dont like will just cause the school to ask you about it. If you are honest then don't worry.

The only people who should worry are those who lied on their applications and I have no sympathy for them.

So saying I was Larry and Sergey's third partner, who actually developed Google's search algorithms may get me in trouble with the verification?

I agree with you, lying is bad, but sometimes it's a gray area: a company finds out you're planning on leaving and terminates you first, but to avoid a huge conflict, they say you can leave on your own terms. What a manager tells you versus what the HR will say could be two totally different things. How do you defend yourself in a scenario like that?

Isn't it the policy of most HR firms to never release the reasons why people left (termination or on own accord) to avoid defamation suits? Or would they say, "yes, this person was terminated."

for $65 (how much Kroll charges), I highly doubt they do more background check than just call a few places or look at your credit report. Mine was done within 2-3 days, and no one I know was called, just to show you how fast and a non-event this is. And yes, even if there is a discrepancy, they'll just tell the school and the school will ask you to explain. No biggie unless it's a flat out lie.

I'm worried because there is a discrepancy between what the manager who fired me told me he would say to employers/background checkers, and what HR will say. I was involved in a wrongful termination investigation, and I was told by the manager that I could leave on my own accord. But I think the HR dept will say that I was terminated. I don't know how to approach this matter, and I feel incredibly stressed, even though I did nothing wrong, because on the application, I simply stated "left to work somewhere else." I had already secured another job at the time I was "terminated."

i don't see why you're stressed. You said you "left to work somewhere else". Why is that lying whether you're terminated or left on your on accord? Plus, the adcom (if it even gets to that) will ask you about the discrepancy, and as long as you explain it to them just like you did here, you'll be fine.

I'm worried because it may look like I was trying to be deceptive by not clearly stating, "I got terminated." Saying that "I moved on to another job" implies that I left on my own accord, and arguing otherwise sounds purposely deceptive, even though that wasn't my intention.

I feel like an idiot for not checking with the company first to find out what their official stance is on my departure, and now I'm going to stress for months that I'll get in to a school, and then have the admit revoked. I really just don't know what to do.

I don't mean any offense when I say this, but you're crying over spilled milk here. What's done is done. I don't see it as a lie, it's just you didn't explain it fully. It's something so minor that if adcoms check, you can explain it (honestly) to them and they should understand. Even if they don't and you're in trouble for it, it sounds like there's nothing you can do about it, so what's the point of worrying yourself to death?

Sorry if I sound a little harsh, and I totally understand the anxiety that you and all the other applicants are going through during this season (was there like you just a year ago), but in the grand scheme of things, I think you'll be fine. Now stop worrying and go make yourself some apple cider.

Yes, you are right. What's done is done. It's just that thought of doing all this work, and getting my hopes up so high, only to be called on something I didn't purposely lie about. It was simply a gray area. How would one go about explaining to the adcom?

If it comes to it, just tell them the details behind what happened and, if necessary, see if your former manager would agree to tell them his version (which hopefully matches yours).

If it concerns you that much, why don't you get a written affidavit from your old manager to fax or send to the school when the school contacts you?

I am not sure what kind of company releases sensitive info like reason for termination. It's basis for lawsuit to release info like that. Therefore, I don't know a single company that actually does that.

Clear Admit had a nice post today on their blog about this very subject.

Check it out:

http://blog.clearadmit.com/

Awesome Raabend!

Clear admit site posts get pushed down and lost.

Here's excerpt:

Admissions Tip: Understanding Background Checks

With a slew of schools releasing the last of their R1 notifications in the coming weeks, we know that many of our readers will be asking about the background checks conducted by leading programs. Here are some quick facts to help explain the process:

1) What are background checks?
Background checks involve the verification of information that a candidate has provided in his or her MBA applications. Although the process varies from school to school, it usually includes checking that an applicant attended the undergraduate (or graduate) school(s) that he or she claims to have attended, received the grades indicated and earned the GMAT score reported. It also involves the verification of the candidate’s employment history, job titles, starting and ending dates and salary/bonus information. Finally, some background checks involve contacting recommenders to verify their support and confirming applicant involvement in community activities.

2) Do all schools conduct background checks?
When do they do this? How do they have time? Many of leading MBA programs like to verify the information that has been provided by applicants. This is typically done only for those applicants who are admitted, since there is no sense in expending resources to verify information for applicants who do not make the cut. Most background checking occurs in the spring - after decisions for most rounds have been released and students begin sending in their deposits. In many cases, the schools outsource this function to a professional risk consulting firm like Kroll.

3) Why bother with background checks?
Don’t the schools trust me? The purpose of background checking is to protect all stakeholders of the MBA program (students, faculty, staff, alumni) from those who would falsify their backgrounds to gain an unfair advantage in the admissions process. Some schools opt to investigate the backgrounds of a relatively small sample of randomly selected admits, hoping that the mere possibility of a check will give applicants incentive to be as honest as possible. In a way, this measure therefore serves to increase the adcom’s trust in its applicants.

4) What about very minor discrepancies?
It’s natural for admitted applicants to get anxious at this point in the process, wondering whether their offer of admission might be rescinded if, for instance, the ’start date’ for an old job is one week earlier than the start date that HR reports during the background check. The good news is that most schools report any discrepancies back to the applicant and give them a chance to explain a plausible mistake. Having said that, it of course makes sense to do your best to verify all of your information before applying to school, so that you can be certain that the data you report is accurate. Should any potential issues come to mind after submitting, you might consider preemptively contacting the adcom if the error is serious enough.

5) Won’t the background checking process alert my employer to the fact that I am applying to b-school?
Since the process typically takes place long after you’ve been admitted, this ideally won’t be an issue, as most applicants give their employers ample notice and take some time off before school. Having said that, the schools still try to conduct the checks in a discrete fashion, consulting with your HR department to verify your dates of employment and salary - but not necessarily revealing that you are heading to business school.

6) How can I ensure a smooth background check?
While the obvious answer is to be honest in your applications, it’s also important that you don’t fudge anything out of laziness (a common occurrence). Dig up those old W-2 forms or check with former employers in order to present the committee with the most accurate information you can.

Good luck to everyone anxiously awaiting word from their R1 schools and, of course, those targeting R2 as well![/color]

Youre right Nin, I def should have posted the text! Good idea!

Thats why you have all these great admits and I was waitlisted

I can read that, lol

Here's my question. I definitely did not lie on my apps. Not having heard about these background checks, however, I simply estimated the annualized salaries I've made in my past part-time jobs. I have now double-checked them, and for one job I see that I overestimated my annualized salary by about $5000 and my hours by about 10 hrs/week. Do you guys think this is something that will come up in the process? Should I e-mail my schools to let them know the more accurate information? It seems a little ridiculous to correct such a small error, but I'd rather get it out of the way if it's going to raise a red flag on my admissions file.