Clearing the Top 3 Hurdles of Employment Verifications

When you want to vet job candidates thoroughly, those get-to-know-you validations may come by way of an employment verification. It can give you a look into how that candidate is as an employee — confirming that they may be a good fit, or not, for your organization. On-the-job insights can be a loaded with value, but you may experience hurdles on the way to find out if that candidate is experienced, qualified, and a cultural fit for your team.

Hurdles on the road to verifying a candidate's work history may come in different forms, but most commonly are rooted in the verification process, such as the workflow and what is done to prepare the order. The good news? You can cut through the red tape for some operational methods that may cause unnecessary incomplete or delayed verification results. We've identified potential solutions to jump three possible hurdles you may encounter when you verify current and past job experience.

Hurdle #1 – Incomplete Information

Limited information can create a challenge for employment verifications. Much like how collecting information upfront like full name, date of birth, and social security history aid in completing background checks overall, verifications have their own set of criteria that can lead to a smoother process. Resumes can be an excellent source for information specific to the candidate's job history, but consider asking for more extensive details including:

• The full, legal employer name. Acronyms or abbreviated names may be unmistakable to the candidate, but not to an outsider.
• The exact physical address of where the candidate's worked. Businesses often have more than one location, and a certified source might be hard to pin down.
• The contact information of the manager or HR professional currently at the organization. A direct line to a certified contact may mean less calling around.
• The corporate phone number and business type. A backup solution if the certified contact isn't available.
• The title, the reason for leaving, and ending salary (if permitted).

Using a candidate portal to collect more information before the verification process begins is the easiest way to set yourself up for success. Turnaround times and the need to go back to the candidate for additional information may decrease too.

In the event additional information is required to verify work experience, with Verified Credentials, you can set preferences in your account for candidate communications. Want us to let you facilitate information requests to the candidate? No problem! Need your screening company to act as an extension of your brand? It’s as easy as pre-authorizing us to request additional information directly from the candidate if needed. How you want this to work and what communications you require is your choice.

Hurdle #2 – Limited Attempts

It's great when we can verify work history on the first try, but how often does that happen? It's not unheard of to make two, three, or more calls to get a response from a previous employer. But what happens when your screening provider has a standard protocol to stop making attempts after that third try? It could result in you paying for a service that goes unfulfilled or paying more to keep it open.

Consider a solution where you aren't forced to accept "unable to verify" results when, in fact, a few more attempts could have got you over the finish line. At Verified Credentials, we don't limit attempts. Instead, we keep trying to verify the information until you tell us to stop. In operating this way, we complete more verifications, and according to our data, successfully completing 99.7% of verifications.

Hurdle #3 – Employer is No Longer in Business

Our employment verifications are typically only confirmed with a certified source such as current HR, personnel, or payroll staff. And in some cases, businesses may have their information recorded and stored with a third-party service. So, when a previous employer has closed for business, it may appear to be the end of the road to verifying that work history. A "closed business" status is a rare occurrence, with only 1.7% of employment verifications completed by Verified Credentials over the last month. However, when there's no clear certified contact, what choice do you have? Even if they may not be your ideal means of verifying a candidate's work history, there are a few potential solutions you might attempt with a shift in your typical protocol.

While not a source we consider "certified" to speak on an individual's employment history, the Secretary of State is a potential option to confirm if a business did exist at one point. While you will not gain insight into the candidate, you can determine the business status and confirm that it has closed.

In the case of a closed business, employers might opt to verify past employment with a "non-certified" source. Non-certified contacts might be the candidate's previous manager who can serve as a reference that they were employed and offer details on their performance.

Employment verification hurdles are just that – and hurdles are meant to be jumped. Slight modifications to your verification process could help overcome these common obstacles and give verification success rates a good boost. Incomplete results may still happen with verifications, but hard-to-reach employers might be on the other end of that next phone call. So, keeping your verification process going is the single most powerful change you can make for better verification success rates. Despite what you may have heard, the protocol surrounding employment verifications can prioritize your preferences to deliver more results faster. Just ask us.

Are you frustrated with incomplete work history verifications? Contact us to learn how unlimited verification attempts could give you more complete results.