Background Screening Blog

Let’s take a quick count – how many individual login pages do you visit on a frequent basis at work? On top of your organization’s internal systems, you may have a wide range of platforms specific to your HR role including payroll applications, background check dashboards, employee benefits systems, and more. This can result in feeling of disjointed hiring, onboarding, and employee maintenance workflows – not to mention so many open browser windows. But many organizations have already figured out there are ways to simplify some of these with single sign-on solutions through integrations. One common way this is done is through integrating background checks with your ATS.

Topics: ATS Integration, Efficiency, Employment Background Checks, Candidate Experience

Spring is in full bloom and it’s a great time for spring cleaning and maintenance. During this season, so many of us take time to give our homes a refresh, get annual checkups, or detail our vehicles – all to prepare for the summer sunshine ahead. Maintenance in your HR world is just as important. Insurance renewals, refresher training courses, tax and marriage status updates, performance appraisals. Updating employee documents is just part of it. The idea of employee maintenance and updates carries over to background screening practices too by updating employee background checks. Recurring screening solutions may help address critical fail points that could occur if staff are left unchecked for long stretches, including: Recent disciplinary actions, offenses, or crimes. Change in licensure status, including an expired professional or driver’s license. Reports of federal system abuse, or worse.

Topics: Employment Background Checks, Recurring Screening

In part one of our series discussing visible signs of effective background checks, we highlighted how itemized invoices might indicate the overall result of a program. By looking beyond using a bill for payment purposes, you can get details on how broad your background checks really go. Now we will take a look at how these areas may signify the effectiveness of a background screening program:  Management reports from your screening partner Your final background check results

Topics: Employment Background Checks, Employment Verifications, Academic Verifications, Technology

If you were tasked with putting together an elite racing team, you’d scour the globe for the best drivers. You’d put them through rigorous tests, checking their driving skills in multiple environments. You’d examine their speed, their safety record and their ability to remain calm under pressure. But chances are you’re not looking to build a team of drivers anytime soon. In fact, you might not have any driving positions at all. So, when candidates apply to your company, you probably don’t even think about checking their driving record, let alone their lap times on a closed track.

Topics: Employment Background Checks, Driving Records

When you look at activities in your life it’s pretty clear when something is working. You know your washer and dryer are doing its job when your clothes are clean. Your coffee pot is keeping up with (high) demand when it makes a hot cup for you in the morning. But some things are less clear. How about your background check program? How do you know when your process for screening candidates is really successful? As important as this is, most of us don’t even think about it until a formal program analysis is requested – maybe once or twice a year.

Topics: Employment Background Checks, National Criminal Database Search, Social Security Trace

At Verified Credentials, we have all departments housed under one roof. Everyone working together in the same place means we can walk down the hall to discuss solutions for our clients in person. With internal teams, what you get is: Quicker decisions from real-time, in-person meetings, and no lag times to schedule conferences with off-site locations in other time zones to get the job done. Overall synchronicity of service with better training and consistent processes, avoiding disjointed programs or operations that could cause errors or quality issues. Better relationships with people who know you and your business well, avoiding confusion for candidates and your staff.

Topics: Employment Background Checks, Candidate Experience, Technology

Work smarter, not harder. We’ve all heard the phrase and it’s certainly a great goal, but how do you actually do it? Well, if you’re an HR professional, working smarter means finding new ways to streamline your hiring activities, including pre-employment background checks. By automating portions of your screening process, you can: Save time Reduce errors and gaps of information Devote more energy to your other responsibilities 

Topics: Report Scoring, Efficiency, Employment Background Checks, Candidate Self-Service

We’ve seen a lot in 35 years. The landscape of background screening has changed drastically: from when Verified Credentials was founded in a one-room office with a typewriter and two phones, to a powerful engine of information connected with people and technology we are today. The result has been an astonishing push into the future in a matter of years.

Topics: Employment Background Checks, Company News

As an HR professional, you’re tasked with making sure every new employee is the right fit for your company. You need to verify that candidates will meet your company’s standards, which is why you conduct background checks. You may even perform recurring checks periodically to confirm that the employee still aligns with your company’s standards. While searches and verifications in your background check packages may remain fairly constant, new ways to manage background check processes can lead to areas of improvement. When was the last time you reevaluated the quality of your pre-employment screening processes?

Topics: Efficiency, Employment Background Checks, Candidate Self-Service, Employment Verifications

Sex offenses are among the most serious crimes a background check can uncover. Recently, we have heard from some HR professionals who thought they are doing enough to find sex offender records with local and national criminal searches. In some instances, they expect a National Criminal Database Search, with all of its vast sources, to include all sex offender registries and sources. That is not always the case. With that misinformation in mind, a separate sex offender registry background check may seem redundant.

Topics: Employment Background Checks, National Criminal Database Search, National Sex Offender Registry