I received an offer, but the projected start date passed. Need advice.
So, I recently accepted an offer for a Tax Intern position for this summer. In the email regarding my start date, it says, and I quote: "with an effective start date
on or about Monday, 5/11/2026, pending the completion of the vetting process and with an end date of 8/14/2026. We are excited to have you join our Company and become a valued contributor to the (Company name) Team."
Before that start date, I completed the main pre-employment steps they asked for. Such as a background check as well as the Urine Sample, all completed the same day I received the offer (Really late April). I even checked my background check, and all looks good besides this speeding ticket I got 2 years ago, but that's about it. I signed/accepted the offer, submitted the background check information, and completed the drug screening. Since the "projected" start date was approaching and I hadn’t gotten clear onboarding instructions yet, I was trying not to overthink it, but I wanted to make sure I was still on track. Mind you, the email AFTER I sent her back the signed offer letter, she said something along the lines of "they would like you to start 5/11. However, we cannot confirm a start date until vetting is completed 100%.".
So I waited a couple days to send another email to her till it reached the 7th of May, just to confirm that everything looked good on my end, also because it was getting close to when they wanted me to start. She said ""So and So" will reach out regarding any loose ends. Thank you for checking in and letting us know all looks on target." So about 10 days went by and now we're at today.
Today, May 18, I called her again around 11 AM. She didn't pick up and just texted me “I will call you back.” But now it’s nearly 5 PM, and I still haven’t received a call back. I'm sure business hours are over now.
Before the start date passed, it made sense to wait and assume it was probably a normal HR delay. But now that May 11 has passed and it’s May 18, I figured that I should treat this as an active follow-up situation. So I was thinking about sending another follow-up email?
The part I’m looking for opinions on is whether this is a normal HR delay or a red flag, and how aggressively I should follow up now that my official start date has already passed. Am I overthinking or something? Because I just don't feel like this is normal. I need an analysis on the situation.