diff --git a/test/integration/job/job_test.go b/test/integration/job/job_test.go
index 0eda5d76b02..5c3da1096c6 100644
--- a/test/integration/job/job_test.go
+++ b/test/integration/job/job_test.go
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ func TestNonParallelJob(t *testing.T) {
 
 			closeFn, restConfig, clientSet, ns := setup(t, "simple")
 			defer closeFn()
-			ctx, cancel := startJobController(restConfig)
+			ctx, cancel := startJobControllerAndWaitForCaches(restConfig)
 			defer func() {
 				cancel()
 			}()
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ func TestNonParallelJob(t *testing.T) {
 
 			// Restarting controller.
 			cancel()
-			ctx, cancel = startJobController(restConfig)
+			ctx, cancel = startJobControllerAndWaitForCaches(restConfig)
 
 			// Failed Pod is replaced.
 			if err := setJobPodsPhase(ctx, clientSet, jobObj, v1.PodFailed, 1); err != nil {
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ func TestNonParallelJob(t *testing.T) {
 
 			// Restarting controller.
 			cancel()
-			ctx, cancel = startJobController(restConfig)
+			ctx, cancel = startJobControllerAndWaitForCaches(restConfig)
 
 			// No more Pods are created after the Pod succeeds.
 			if err := setJobPodsPhase(ctx, clientSet, jobObj, v1.PodSucceeded, 1); err != nil {
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ func TestParallelJob(t *testing.T) {
 
 			closeFn, restConfig, clientSet, ns := setup(t, "parallel")
 			defer closeFn()
-			ctx, cancel := startJobController(restConfig)
+			ctx, cancel := startJobControllerAndWaitForCaches(restConfig)
 			defer cancel()
 
 			jobObj, err := createJobWithDefaults(ctx, clientSet, ns.Name, &batchv1.Job{
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ func TestParallelJobParallelism(t *testing.T) {
 
 			closeFn, restConfig, clientSet, ns := setup(t, "parallel")
 			defer closeFn()
-			ctx, cancel := startJobController(restConfig)
+			ctx, cancel := startJobControllerAndWaitForCaches(restConfig)
 			defer cancel()
 
 			jobObj, err := createJobWithDefaults(ctx, clientSet, ns.Name, &batchv1.Job{
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ func TestParallelJobWithCompletions(t *testing.T) {
 			defer featuregatetesting.SetFeatureGateDuringTest(t, feature.DefaultFeatureGate, features.JobReadyPods, tc.enableReadyPods)()
 			closeFn, restConfig, clientSet, ns := setup(t, "completions")
 			defer closeFn()
-			ctx, cancel := startJobController(restConfig)
+			ctx, cancel := startJobControllerAndWaitForCaches(restConfig)
 			defer cancel()
 
 			jobObj, err := createJobWithDefaults(ctx, clientSet, ns.Name, &batchv1.Job{
@@ -389,7 +389,7 @@ func TestIndexedJob(t *testing.T) {
 
 			closeFn, restConfig, clientSet, ns := setup(t, "indexed")
 			defer closeFn()
-			ctx, cancel := startJobController(restConfig)
+			ctx, cancel := startJobControllerAndWaitForCaches(restConfig)
 			defer func() {
 				cancel()
 			}()
@@ -464,7 +464,7 @@ func TestDisableJobTrackingWithFinalizers(t *testing.T) {
 
 	closeFn, restConfig, clientSet, ns := setup(t, "simple")
 	defer closeFn()
-	ctx, cancel := startJobController(restConfig)
+	ctx, cancel := startJobControllerAndWaitForCaches(restConfig)
 	defer func() {
 		cancel()
 	}()
@@ -495,7 +495,7 @@ func TestDisableJobTrackingWithFinalizers(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	// Restart controller.
-	ctx, cancel = startJobController(restConfig)
+	ctx, cancel = startJobControllerAndWaitForCaches(restConfig)
 
 	// Ensure Job continues to be tracked and finalizers are removed.
 	validateJobPodsStatus(ctx, t, clientSet, jobObj, podsByStatus{
@@ -522,7 +522,7 @@ func TestDisableJobTrackingWithFinalizers(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	// Restart controller.
-	ctx, cancel = startJobController(restConfig)
+	ctx, cancel = startJobControllerAndWaitForCaches(restConfig)
 
 	// Ensure Job continues to be tracked and finalizers are removed.
 	validateJobPodsStatus(ctx, t, clientSet, jobObj, podsByStatus{
@@ -585,7 +585,7 @@ func TestFinalizersClearedWhenBackoffLimitExceeded(t *testing.T) {
 
 	closeFn, restConfig, clientSet, ns := setup(t, "simple")
 	defer closeFn()
-	ctx, cancel := startJobController(restConfig)
+	ctx, cancel := startJobControllerAndWaitForCaches(restConfig)
 	defer func() {
 		cancel()
 	}()
@@ -651,7 +651,7 @@ func TestOrphanPodsFinalizersClearedWithFeatureDisabled(t *testing.T) {
 
 	closeFn, restConfig, clientSet, ns := setup(t, "simple")
 	defer closeFn()
-	ctx, cancel := startJobController(restConfig)
+	ctx, cancel := startJobControllerAndWaitForCaches(restConfig)
 	defer func() {
 		cancel()
 	}()
@@ -683,7 +683,7 @@ func TestOrphanPodsFinalizersClearedWithFeatureDisabled(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	// Restart controller.
-	ctx, cancel = startJobController(restConfig)
+	ctx, cancel = startJobControllerAndWaitForCaches(restConfig)
 	if err := wait.Poll(waitInterval, wait.ForeverTestTimeout, func() (done bool, err error) {
 		pods, err := clientSet.CoreV1().Pods(jobObj.Namespace).List(ctx, metav1.ListOptions{})
 		if err != nil {
@@ -733,7 +733,7 @@ func TestSuspendJob(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			closeFn, restConfig, clientSet, ns := setup(t, "suspend")
 			defer closeFn()
-			ctx, cancel := startJobController(restConfig)
+			ctx, cancel := startJobControllerAndWaitForCaches(restConfig)
 			defer cancel()
 			events, err := clientSet.EventsV1().Events(ns.Name).Watch(ctx, metav1.ListOptions{})
 			if err != nil {
@@ -784,7 +784,7 @@ func TestSuspendJob(t *testing.T) {
 func TestSuspendJobControllerRestart(t *testing.T) {
 	closeFn, restConfig, clientSet, ns := setup(t, "suspend")
 	defer closeFn()
-	ctx, cancel := startJobController(restConfig)
+	ctx, cancel := startJobControllerAndWaitForCaches(restConfig)
 	defer func() {
 		cancel()
 	}()
@@ -815,7 +815,7 @@ func TestNodeSelectorUpdate(t *testing.T) {
 
 			closeFn, restConfig, clientSet, ns := setup(t, "suspend")
 			defer closeFn()
-			ctx, cancel := startJobController(restConfig)
+			ctx, cancel := startJobControllerAndWaitForCaches(restConfig)
 			defer cancel()
 
 			job, err := createJobWithDefaults(ctx, clientSet, ns.Name, &batchv1.Job{Spec: batchv1.JobSpec{
@@ -1182,11 +1182,17 @@ func setup(t *testing.T, nsBaseName string) (framework.CloseFunc, *restclient.Co
 	return closeFn, &config, clientSet, ns
 }
 
-func startJobController(restConfig *restclient.Config) (context.Context, context.CancelFunc) {
+func startJobControllerAndWaitForCaches(restConfig *restclient.Config) (context.Context, context.CancelFunc) {
 	informerSet := informers.NewSharedInformerFactory(clientset.NewForConfigOrDie(restclient.AddUserAgent(restConfig, "job-informers")), 0)
 	jc, ctx, cancel := createJobControllerWithSharedInformers(restConfig, informerSet)
 	informerSet.Start(ctx.Done())
 	go jc.Run(ctx, 1)
+
+	// since this method starts the controller in a separate goroutine
+	// and the tests don't check /readyz there is no way
+	// the tests can tell it is safe to call the server and requests won't be rejected
+	// thus we wait until caches have synced
+	informerSet.WaitForCacheSync(ctx.Done())
 	return ctx, cancel
 }