Good advice. A good way to go about it is tell them you're start date needs to be a 2 weeks after they confirm that all conditional components of their employme

Good advice. A good way to go about it is tell them you're start date needs to be a 2 weeks after they confirm that all conditional components of their employment offer are satisfied. Don't elaborate on background checks. "all conditional" is broad and doesn't signal that you think something may come up in your BG check. If they ask, tell them it's simple risk mitigation on your part (just like theirs). If they absolutely want you to start early, come up with an egregious cash cost to terminating you within the X length of employment for any and all reasons including conditional background checks (they likely won't do this, but it aligns with your financial risk story)