Advice for bank background check

[Paramore99]

Hi would like to ask for advice I resign while pending investigation for gross misconduct basically sent work to personal email working in a bank I was not suspended or terminated also compliance and IT department was investigating the case . Work there a few months under recruitment agency. There was no update from the investigation side so I'm not sure if the investigation continued after I left the company I was just offered another HR admin position for another foreign bank . This other job is a contract role . I wanted to ask if it's better for me to reject this offer as there is a possibility they will call the previous bank for reference check even though I work there for short period of time ? Please advice as I do not want to make wrong decision. Maybe I should just avoid working in banks and go for other industries ?

[ULA]

Whatever industry you go to work in, most proposective employers will ask for a reference from your previous employer.

[Paramore99]

Yeah thats true but was wondering besides dates of employment and school certs for reference check will they reveal these investigation details ? well my manager at that time did mentioned that although i had a pending investigation she would have no issues renewing my contract as she felt that i met her work expectations. Its just that she said the investigation part was out of her control as another department was investigating that case.

[ULA]

I cannot say what your previous employer will set out in any reference request and in any event that may be dependent on what is asked by any prospective employer. Whatever happens the information they provide needs to be factual.

[theberenger]

Personally, I would suggest that the fact you only worked at the bank for a short period of time would make your new employer more likely to pursue a reference for you. If I'm interviewing candidates and they've only worked somewhere for a short period of time I always expect them to account for that, because it sticks out as a potential red flag.

In terms of the reference content, as ULA says, it only needs to be factual. If your new employer was to ask something like "Have there been any concerns over PARAMORE's performance or conduct in their time working with you?". Your current employer can, in generic terms, say "There have been concerns which are currently subject to internal investigation" without revealing any more detail than that.

If your new employer is also in the financial services sector, I would be amazed if they didn't pursue full references for you. In your case, you may find it beneficial to work for 6 months or a year in a different, less sensitive, field to get some distance between you, the investigation and the financial services industry. There's no reason why you couldn't continue to study finance-related qualifications or courses in that time to keep you fresh. The fire-break in your employment history might be what you need.