How long does the SEC's hiring process take?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The hiring process is moving much faster these days. Because of the budget issues they needed to make offers by 9/30.

I just got verbal offer (they said they gonna extend tentative offer), and was told they are aiming to have an accepted offer by 9/30. Isn't background check etc required before a formal offer can be extended? Given it's already 9/3, I have yet to receive the tentative offer, seems like the goal of wrapping things up by 9/30 is hugely optimistic.

So how long does the background check take? What if they don't complete things before 9/30? We go back to the drawing board and restart the process or would the agency still have funding to go ahead with hiring?

Out of curiosity, what office/division is this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Formal offer is not contingent on background check. The only thing that happens between verbal offer and formal offer is determination of your salary by HR.

Oh so the background back happens after formal offer is accepted? That makes sense.

Do you know what level of clearance is needed for general attorney position at SEC? Is it just public trust? If so, is this process the same as the background check mentioned above or are they two different things? Sorry, the process is so long and murky, I'm just a really confused.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Out of curiosity, what office/division is this?

DC Enforcement.

Formal offer is not contingent on background check. The only thing that happens between verbal offer and formal offer is determination of your salary by HR.

Oh so the background back happens after formal offer is accepted? That makes sense.

Do you know what level of clearance is needed for general attorney position at SEC? Is it just public trust? If so, is this process the same as the background check mentioned above or are they two different things? Sorry, the process is so long and murky, I'm just a really confused.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Out of curiosity, what office/division is this?

DC Enforcement.

Formal offer is not contingent on background check. The only thing that happens between verbal offer and formal offer is determination of your salary by HR.

Oh so the background back happens after formal offer is accepted? That makes sense.

Do you know what level of clearance is needed for general attorney position at SEC? Is it just public trust? If so, is this process the same as the background check mentioned above or are they two different things? Sorry, the process is so long and murky, I'm just a really confused.

How long did it take from when you applied to getting the offer? Did they check references?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Out of curiosity, what office/division is this?

DC Enforcement.

Formal offer is not contingent on background check. The only thing that happens between verbal offer and formal offer is determination of your salary by HR.

Oh so the background back happens after formal offer is accepted? That makes sense.

Do you know what level of clearance is needed for general attorney position at SEC? Is it just public trust? If so, is this process the same as the background check mentioned above or are they two different things? Sorry, the process is so long and murky, I'm just a really confused.

NP here but it's public trust. You still have to fill out all of the information but it's a pretty cursory background check.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
How long did it take from when you applied to getting the offer? Did they check references?

Took 9+ month. They did check references prior to making tentative offer, but as the above poster mentioned, they will do some "public trust" background investigation post-offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
NP here but it's public trust. You still have to fill out all of the information but it's a pretty cursory background check.

Oh that sounds good. I was looking at SF 86 which asked all kinds of detailed information such as all foreign travel for the past 10 years, all foreign contact, etc. I was like "OMG, do I really need to recall all these".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
NP here but it's public trust. You still have to fill out all of the information but it's a pretty cursory background check.

Oh that sounds good. I was looking at SF 86 which asked all kinds of detailed information such as all foreign travel for the past 10 years, all foreign contact, etc. I was like "OMG, do I really need to recall all these".

PP here, just make sure you fill everything in. The contractor for the background investigation (which I think is out of business now) made a big deal about something relatively trivial during my background check interview. IIRC it was something like I put the dates of one job from like 1/10 - 8/12 and the second job from 8/12 - present and they wanted to know how I could be working in two places at once.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

PP here, just make sure you fill everything in. The contractor for the background investigation (which I think is out of business now) made a big deal about something relatively trivial during my background check interview. IIRC it was something like I put the dates of one job from like 1/10 - 8/12 and the second job from 8/12 - present and they wanted to know how I could be working in two places at once.

Oh wow, that's scary. They will ding you for making these trivial mistakes? If so, maybe I should get the investigation all cleared before quitting my current job. I feel I'm a good person, but you never know what little things they are going to ding you for.

So for past jobs, they want you to be precise to the exact dates? That sounds impossible, I can barely remember the month in which I start/quit prior jobs, let alone the exact date. Like, I think I started a job in Jan 2009, but I wasn't sure if it was Jan or Feb. Surely they wouldn't be happy about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

PP here, just make sure you fill everything in. The contractor for the background investigation (which I think is out of business now) made a big deal about something relatively trivial during my background check interview. IIRC it was something like I put the dates of one job from like 1/10 - 8/12 and the second job from 8/12 - present and they wanted to know how I could be working in two places at once.

Oh wow, that's scary. They will ding you for making these trivial mistakes? If so, maybe I should get the investigation all cleared before quitting my current job. I feel I'm a good person, but you never know what little things they are going to ding you for.

So for past jobs, they want you to be precise to the exact dates? That sounds impossible, I can barely remember the month in which I start/quit prior jobs, let alone the exact date. Like, I think I started a job in Jan 2009, but I wasn't sure if it was Jan or Feb. Surely they wouldn't be happy about that.

I mean I still got the job, it's just something that came up in the background interview and they were really aggressive about it. On the dates, just make sure your resume and background check form are consistent. It's unlikely they'll check and even if they did you can still just say "oops" it was a mistake. It's not an intense background check like a TS clearance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

PP here, just make sure you fill everything in. The contractor for the background investigation (which I think is out of business now) made a big deal about something relatively trivial during my background check interview. IIRC it was something like I put the dates of one job from like 1/10 - 8/12 and the second job from 8/12 - present and they wanted to know how I could be working in two places at once.

Oh wow, that's scary. They will ding you for making these trivial mistakes? If so, maybe I should get the investigation all cleared before quitting my current job. I feel I'm a good person, but you never know what little things they are going to ding you for.

So for past jobs, they want you to be precise to the exact dates? That sounds impossible, I can barely remember the month in which I start/quit prior jobs, let alone the exact date. Like, I think I started a job in Jan 2009, but I wasn't sure if it was Jan or Feb. Surely they wouldn't be happy about that.

I mean I still got the job, it's just something that came up in the background interview and they were really aggressive about it. On the dates, just make sure your resume and background check form are consistent. It's unlikely they'll check and even if they did you can still just say "oops" it was a mistake. It's not an intense background check like a TS clearance.

I found my dates for a previous job was off by 1 month on the resume. Maybe I will call HR and send in a revised resume just so the forms and resume are fully consistent. Good idea?

Does this "public trust" investigation take place after EOD? If so, how long did this take? Must be stressful to be working and also have this thing hanging over your head.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

PP here, just make sure you fill everything in. The contractor for the background investigation (which I think is out of business now) made a big deal about something relatively trivial during my background check interview. IIRC it was something like I put the dates of one job from like 1/10 - 8/12 and the second job from 8/12 - present and they wanted to know how I could be working in two places at once.

Oh wow, that's scary. They will ding you for making these trivial mistakes? If so, maybe I should get the investigation all cleared before quitting my current job. I feel I'm a good person, but you never know what little things they are going to ding you for.

So for past jobs, they want you to be precise to the exact dates? That sounds impossible, I can barely remember the month in which I start/quit prior jobs, let alone the exact date. Like, I think I started a job in Jan 2009, but I wasn't sure if it was Jan or Feb. Surely they wouldn't be happy about that.

I mean I still got the job, it's just something that came up in the background interview and they were really aggressive about it. On the dates, just make sure your resume and background check form are consistent. It's unlikely they'll check and even if they did you can still just say "oops" it was a mistake. It's not an intense background check like a TS clearance.

I found my dates for a previous job was off by 1 month on the resume. Maybe I will call HR and send in a revised resume just so the forms and resume are fully consistent. Good idea?

Does this "public trust" investigation take place after EOD? If so, how long did this take? Must be stressful to be working and also have this thing hanging over your head.

I work in HR at SEC. The preliminary investigation takes place before EOD. Once you are cleared to work, you will EOD. After EOD, your full background investigation will take place by another agency. Yes, it is hanging over your head while you are working, because if you are eventually found unsuitable, you will be removed from your position. That doesn't happen often though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The hiring process is moving much faster these days. Because of the budget issues they needed to make offers by 9/30.

I just got verbal offer (they said they gonna extend tentative offer), and was told they are aiming to have an accepted offer by 9/30. Isn't background check etc required before a formal offer can be extended? Given it's already 9/3, I have yet to receive the tentative offer, seems like the goal of wrapping things up by 9/30 is hugely optimistic.

So how long does the background check take? What if they don't complete things before 9/30? We go back to the drawing board and restart the process or would the agency still have funding to go ahead with hiring?

Formal offer is not contingent on background check. The only thing that happens between verbal offer and formal offer is determination of your salary by HR.

SEC HR Specialist here. This is absolutely not true. Formal offer is COMPLETELY contingent on initial background check. The full background check is completed by another agency, so that will follow after the formal offer. But you will not receive a formal offer until you are cleared by the security team.

[Anonymous]

I work in HR at SEC. The preliminary investigation takes place before EOD. Once you are cleared to work, you will EOD. After EOD, your full background investigation will take place by another agency. Yes, it is hanging over your head while you are working, because if you are eventually found unsuitable, you will be removed from your position. That doesn't happen often though.

Thanks for this information. I guess one would have to have done something pretty bad to be found unsuitable, like lying about past criminal conviction or something of that nature. I'm just a little nervous about quitting current job, moving family across the continent and selling my house with the uncertainty that some background investigator may find me unsuitable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I work in HR at SEC. The preliminary investigation takes place before EOD. Once you are cleared to work, you will EOD. After EOD, your full background investigation will take place by another agency. Yes, it is hanging over your head while you are working, because if you are eventually found unsuitable, you will be removed from your position. That doesn't happen often though.

Thanks for this information. I guess one would have to have done something pretty bad to be found unsuitable, like lying about past criminal conviction or something of that nature. I'm just a little nervous about quitting current job, moving family across the continent and selling my house with the uncertainty that some background investigator may find me unsuitable.

PP here. That's understandable. The way I see it is, only you know your background. If you KNOW you've done something bad and you know it'll be brought to light, don't make the move. But if you know you've generally had a mild life experience, you should be fine. It's just public trust, not national security.