Handing in notice before reference checks?

Sandtree

SandyShores said:

DH's attitude to risk is different to mine, as personally, I wouldn't ever do this, I've always waited for the unconditional offer before handing in my notice.  In the sector I work in, its not unknown for checks to take a month or two, so depending on notice we might not see a new starter for 3 months or more.

Never caused a problem? 

In 25 years I've never once waited for an offer to become unconditional but I know my references will never be a problem and I typically had a 3 month notice period when a perm so asking for the new employer to wait 4-5 months is a big ask... people's recruitment planning is rarely that far ahead.

I recruit typically 1-10 people a year, though many are contractors so a little different, and only once can I remember someone saying they wanted to wait for the references, police check, credit checks etc before agreeing a start date and I have to say it was a big red flag that they had something in their past they hoping to hide and with the doubling of the time before they could start also made them undesirable.

Undervalued

Sandtree said:

SandyShores said:

DH's attitude to risk is different to mine, as personally, I wouldn't ever do this, I've always waited for the unconditional offer before handing in my notice.  In the sector I work in, its not unknown for checks to take a month or two, so depending on notice we might not see a new starter for 3 months or more.

Never caused a problem? 

In 25 years I've never once waited for an offer to become unconditional but I know my references will never be a problem and I typically had a 3 month notice period when a perm so asking for the new employer to wait 4-5 months is a big ask... people's recruitment planning is rarely that far ahead.

I recruit typically 1-10 people a year, though many are contractors so a little different, and only once can I remember someone saying they wanted to wait for the references, police check, credit checks etc before agreeing a start date and I have to say it was a big red flag that they had something in their past they hoping to hide and with the doubling of the time before they could start also made them undesirable.

Except in the rare situation of negotiating a very unusual contract there is arguably no such thing as an "unconditional offer". As I indicated in my earlier post, all an "unconditional offer" guarantees is whatever notice has been agreed. Given that there is little protection against unfair dismissal during the first two years an employer can change their minds and dismiss very easily and at minimal cost.

If you are exceptionally desirable (and usually only in a "head hunted" situation) it may be possible to agree contractual terms for a pre agreed termination package, regardless of fault, or a guarantee that the salary will be paid for a minimum of X months or years. Unless you one of the few that are in a position to agree these sort of terms then changing jobs is always something of an act of faith and a balance of risk against potential reward.

Sandtree

Undervalued said:
Except in the rare situation of negotiating a very unusual contract there is arguably no such thing as an "unconditional offer". As I indicated in my earlier post, all an "unconditional offer" guarantees is whatever notice has been agreed. Given that there is little protection against unfair dismissal during the first two years an employer can change their minds and dismiss very easily and at minimal cost.

Which is all inline with my thinking and experience hence surprised that people state they are adding up to two months to their start date waiting for pre-employment checks to be completed before handing in their notice.

Outside of contractors most people I hire will have a 3 month notice period and to make that 5 months by waiting for screening would be untenable and gives very little security to the candidate unless they have a dark past that they fear will be found out.