Top Stories
Top 10 Questions: Background Check Turnaround Times
November 01, 2012 posted by Steve Brownstein
by Tandem Select
We are in the business of helping to hire critical resources. Time to hire is an important measurement for most companies so it is logical that businesses choosing (and evaluating) background checking and pre employment screening companies ask about how quickly they complete the background check.
There are many factors that affect turnaround time (TAT). Some products are available in online environments or in central data repositories. That makes data retrieval quick and easy. In many cases this data comes back within minutes! But not all online sources are reliable enough to use in pre employment screening and some sources simply are not available without actually sending a person to a courthouse or other data site. In those cases, TAT takes longer. Other products - like education verification, reference checking and job verification usually require playing phone tag to collect the information. Background checking companies strive to complete the entire check in 72 hours or less. That is the goal we all push for, but sometimes you will see longer turnaround times. I believe a customer should expect that 90% to 95% of all their background checking orders should be finished in less than 72 hours.
The best companies in the background checking and pre employment screening services industry use a variety of techniques to make sure they make maximum use of the various online sources, while not compromising on quality by using a source that may be fast, but offers incomplete records. In addition, these companies will also deploy a number of tools to improve and streamline the processes that require manual intervention. For instance, using an automated task management systems that makes sure you expedite and track internal work flow helps make sure that a manual process doesn't sit in someone's work queue for too long.
