For years, employment verification remained one of the more burdensome aspects of conducting pre-employment background checks. Luckily, thanks to recent technological advancements, that’s beginning to change. Here’s how these developments can benefit your company and streamline its hiring processes.
The Importance of Employment Verifications
Before background checks became standard practice for HR departments, employment verification was king. Now, employers have plenty of other ways to vet prospective employees when making hiring decisions – criminal background checks, education verifications, social security number checks, etc.
But employment verification is just as valuable as ever. Applicants can put whatever information they like on their resume or job applications. Verifying the provided information is vital. While companies are including more educational requirements in their hiring practices than ever before, actual work experience remains critical.
The Rise of Consumer-Permissioned Data in Disrupting Employment Verifications
Today, most Americans do a lot of their business online. That means that data is available and easily accessible for organizations who want to use it. Consumers benefit from this data exchange every day. Lenders use it when applicants wish to refinance their homes. Workers benefit from it whenever they use third-party tax preparation software. And finally, tech is pushing the world of employment verification into the modern world.
Third-party vendors can now easily pull information about job applicants directly from their payroll provider’s database. In as little as 30 seconds, you can send applicants to an app that logs into their payroll provider and sends you the employment verification information you need in a convenient, trustworthy, easy-to-read report.
Keep in mind; this method is relatively new. The trick is working with a provider who knows how to access this information while complying with data privacy laws. You also want to work with a provider who maintains strong relationships with the top payroll providers. This gives them access to a vast web of employer information, making it far easier to verify applicants and contact HR departments quickly. This saves time and money while providing more accurate results than the old-fashioned method of manually checking an applicant’s employment history.
The Case for Outsourcing Employment Verifications
It’s estimated that about 35% of employment verifications can be completed entirely using automatic tools (like The Work Number and other solutions). However, the remaining 65% need some manual work. This ratio varies by industry.
Automatic verifications take almost no time at all. But the manual tasks involved can be time-consuming and burdensome. Completing automated checks in-house while outsourcing the manual tasks can be highly efficient.
Your company’s HR department can quickly complete the automatic checks without any outside help, then pass on the remaining work to a third-party agency that can handle the more in-depth, time-consuming aspects of tracking down past employers. This frees up your HR department’s time to focus on higher-value tasks.
For more information or to request a quote, reach out to First Contact HR today.