Consent signed to report delivered.
Background verification · For hiring teams
Background checks that finish on time
Verification is the step that quietly adds three weeks to a hire, because consent chains stall, registrars are slow and criminal records live at county level. We start the paperwork the day the offer goes out and run the sources in parallel.
- 3 days
- Median turnaround
- 100%
- Written consent first
Why screening is the slowest step
There is no single database. Employment history means reaching a former employer’s HR or their verification vendor; education means a registrar or a clearinghouse; criminal history in the United States is held by thousands of county courts, some of which still answer by post. A national search is an aggregated index, and treating it as complete is how a record gets missed.
Sequencing is what costs the time. Run the sources one after another, waiting for each, and three days of actual work becomes three weeks of calendar. We open every source at once on the day consent is signed, and chase the slow ones by hand.
Packaged per role, never bundled by default.
No search opens without signed authorisation.
What we verify
Scoped per role. A warehouse hire and a controller need different packages, and screening for more than the role justifies creates risk rather than reducing it.
Dates, titles and separation type confirmed with the employer or their verification vendor. Where an employer has closed, we corroborate with payroll records or tax documents.
Degree, dates and awarding institution via registrar or clearinghouse. Diploma-mill institutions are flagged rather than silently accepted.
County and state searches for the jurisdictions someone has actually lived in, plus the national index and sex-offender registries. Findings are reported with dates and disposition, not as a flag.
Identity confirmation, SSN trace to establish address history, and Form I-9 support with E-Verify where the employer participates.
Verified with the issuing board, including current standing and any disciplinary history. Relevant to healthcare, finance, commercial driving and the trades.
Scheduled at a collection site near the candidate, with results routed to the employer. We coordinate; the panel and the policy are yours.
Four steps
Compliance is not a stage at the end. Steps one and four are legal obligations, and getting them wrong is the actual risk in screening.
1Day 0
Disclosure and consentA standalone written disclosure — not buried in the application — and the candidate’s signed authorisation. Nothing is searched before that is in hand.
2Days 1–3
Sources run in parallelEvery source opened the same day and chased individually. You see live status per component rather than one opaque "in progress".
3Day 3
Report and adjudicationFindings reported with dates and disposition against the matrix you set for that role, so the same finding is treated the same way for every candidate.
4If adverse
Pre-adverse and dispute windowPre-adverse notice with a copy of the report and the summary of rights, a genuine window to dispute, and only then a final notice. Records are wrong often enough that this step matters.
What we will not check
A screening vendor that offers to look at everything is selling you liability. These are out of scope by policy.
Credit reports are only run where the role genuinely justifies it and state law permits it. Several states restrict employment credit checks outright, and "we always do" is not a purpose.
An unstructured trawl surfaces exactly the protected characteristics a hiring decision must not consider — religion, health, pregnancy, politics — and once seen, they cannot be unseen by the decision-maker.
Expunged and sealed records, and arrests without conviction where state law excludes them. Ban-the-box timing rules are applied per jurisdiction, not as one national default.
We will decline a package that over-screens for the job. A blanket check on every hire regardless of duties is how a discrimination claim starts.
Frequently asked questions
Questions we get about background verification. Anything else, just ask.
Is this a consumer report under the FCRA?
When screening is performed by a third party for employment purposes, yes — which brings disclosure, authorisation, pre-adverse notice and dispute obligations. We run all four as standard. Where you need specific legal advice on your policy, take it from counsel; we handle the process, not the opinion.
How far back do you search?
Seven years for most components, which matches the general FCRA reporting limit, with state variations applied where they are stricter. Education and licence verification are point-in-time rather than windowed.
What if the candidate disputes a finding?
The dispute window is real, not procedural. We reinvestigate with the source, and county records genuinely do carry mismatched names and wrong dates. If the finding was wrong, the report is corrected before any decision is final.
Can you screen candidates we sourced ourselves?
Yes. Verification is available standalone, without a placement engagement, and plenty of clients use it that way for internal hires.
Do you handle international checks?
For education and employment outside the US, yes, through in-country partners — expect longer timelines, five to fifteen business days depending on the country. Criminal record access varies by jurisdiction and in some countries is simply not available to employers.
The rest of what we do
Most engagements touch more than one of these — a placement usually needs verification, and contract staff need payroll.
Job placementHelping professionals land meaningful full-time roles that turn jobs into long-term careers.
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Recruitment & staffingConnecting businesses with skilled professionals who actually fit the role and the team.
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Talent acquisitionStrategic hiring support to build long-term, high-performing teams.
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Accounting & taxesSeamless payroll processing with full tax and regulatory compliance.
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IT trainingTraining that prepares candidates for real-world tech careers.
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Design the package for the role, not the company
Send us the job description and we will scope what actually needs checking — and what does not.