Can I get a personal loan if I just got hired?

Lenders use employment stability as a proxy for income reliability. The standard underwriting question is whether the borrower will still have income when payments start. A brand-new hire technically has near-zero employment tenure at the new employer, which raises perceived risk.

What helps: a prior multi-year W-2 history (especially in the same industry), a salary increase rather than a lateral move, and at least one pay stub from the new role. Some lenders will manually review applications with strong prior history despite short tenure at the current employer.

If you're between paid-leave and a confirmed start date, wait until you have one pay stub before applying. Applying too early often produces a hard inquiry and no approval.