Persuaded old lecturer to cut notice period to begin with providing pass out (9)

I haven't cracked this one yet — but the brilliant team at Fifteensquared have:

Persuaded old lecturer to cut notice period, to begin with, providing pass out GOT (=persuaded, as in I got him to help ) + O (=old, as in OT) + {L (=lecturer) in [SEE (=notice, spot) + P <eriod> (“to begin with” means first letter only is used)]}