Background Checks
Employment Background Checks
See how our platform provides simply better employment screening for you and your candidates.
Hire Smarter
Top Reasons Employers
Conduct Background Checks
Background checks help you build a team you can trust, while also mitigating risk and protecting your company’s reputation. Using pre-employment background screening during your hiring process helps you:
- Make fair, informed decisions and hire qualified candidates
- Maintain a safe work environment and protect company assets
- Protect your organization against liability claims
- Comply with federal, state, local, and industry regulations
Easy to Use
Simpler Background Checks. Trusted Results
Building a great team starts with a trusted partner that delivers the easiest end-to-end pre-employment background check workflow in the industry.
- Automated Workflows
GoodHire takes you step-by-step through an intuitive, paperless workflow - Simple To Understand
Hire faster with easy-to-review results and clear record details - Worry-Free Results
Advanced data engineering and industry-leading data sources deliver reliable results with a dispute rate of <0.1%
By The Numbers
For Candidates
Make A Good First Impression With A Candidate-Friendly Background Check Experience
Mobile-Optimized
Candidates enter information and digitally sign consent forms on any device.
Easy Access
Candidates access their results in an online candidate portal designed just for them.
Answers At Their Fingertips
Our online resource center and US-based support experts answer questions and put candidates at ease.
Online Disputes
If candidates spot inaccuracies, they can easily file a dispute online. We’ll notify you both of any updates.
For Employers
Pre-Employment Screening Like You’ve Never Experienced Before
Consultative Approach
Our experts work with you to design a screening program that’s right for your company.
Helpful Support Agents
Our US-based, FCRA-certified customer support team is available for you and your candidates.
Process Transparency
Both you and your candidates receive timely status updates, along with full copies of results.
Compliance Assistance
Our FCRA experts monitor hiring laws and keep you up-to-date, and built-in workflows help you comply.
Competitive & Flexible Pricing
- FREE Adverse Action support, included with all orders
- Custom packages and volume-based pricing
- US-based support, available at no extra charge
For All Companies
Employment Screening For Every Size Business In One Easy-To-Use Platform
GoodHire is easily configurable to fit the way your company recruits. Whether you’re a large company managing screening for multiple locations, or a small business needing to run a background check occasionally, we’ve got you covered.
Add checks to your workflow with pre-built integrations to leading ATS platforms.
Manage recruiting complexities across multiple locations, departments, divisions and/or clients with central control and consistent processes.
Choose from pre-built packages to save time, or design custom packages to fit specific needs.
The convenience of having all our different pre-employment services in one place just makes things so much easier. It cuts down quite a bit of time for our Human Resources Managers.
There’s flexibility there. It wasn’t like, ‘this is our program, like it or not.’ If we wanted to adjust something, we could ask the GoodHire team to throw some engineering at it and update it the way we wanted it
Reviews
Customers Love GoodHire. But Don’t Just Take Our Word For It.
Employment Screening Services
Explore GoodHire’s Background Check Options
We offer 100+ background checks and screening services. Select from our pre-bundled packages, or customize your own.
Options include upper and lower civil courts, as well as federal.
Provides a record of a person’s credit history and past bankruptcies.
Options include national, state, county and federal criminal database searches.
MVR records show license validity and any driving-related violations.
Test for the presence of prescription and illicit drugs.
Verify information provided is true and work experience is sufficient.
Verify education, training, or certification claims.
Added security for the right background check results.
In-depth interviews provide additional insight into a candidate’s work experience.
Check the OIG Exclusion List and SAM, as well as federal- and state-level sources.
INTERNATIONAL BACKGROUND CHECKS
Screen candidates who currently live abroad or who have previous experience outside of the US.
Employment Background Check Laws By State
Select a state below to understand its background check laws.
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- Washington DC
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Learn More About Background Checks
Employers use background checks to verify a candidate’s work history, experience, and education, as well as search for any past criminal activity. Conducting employment background checks helps employers make smarter hiring decisions as well as mitigate risk to the organization, its workforce and customers. As an employer, it’s important to ensure your background check process is consistent, legal, and fair. Let’s take a look at some common questions about background checks and how to use them in the hiring process.
What is a background check?
A background check is a process a person or company uses to check a person’s criminal record, education, employment history, and other past activities in order to confirm their validity and make informed decisions. Whether you’re applying for a job, looking for a new apartment, or purchasing a firearm, you may have to undergo a background check.
GoodHire is an accredited professional background screener and FCRA-compliant consumer reporting agency (CRA) offering background checks for employment—employers use our screening services to make informed hiring and employment decisions about job candidates and employees.
How do background checks work?
Background checks start with verification of an individual’s identity based on the information they provide, including date of birth and Social Security number. Then searches are conducted using a variety of public databases and court records depending on the type of information sought.
In addition to database checks, some searches will require specialists to manually contact employers and other organizations, such as educational institutions. To ensure maximum possible accuracy, GoodHire’s team of specialists manually reviews results with alerts, providing extra assurance that employers are making decisions based on accurate, legally reportable data.
GoodHire’s process is customer- and candidate-friendly. It uses a user-friendly digital and mobile-optimized process that includes candidate consent, ongoing updates and easy access to information for both employers and candidates.
With GoodHire, both employers (HR teams, hiring managers, recruiters) and candidates receive status updates and full copies of results. A user-friendly dashboard makes it easy to review and understand results so employers and hiring managers can make informed decisions. Candidates also have the ability to dispute any inaccurate information and to append additional information to the results to provide context or explanation.
What is a pre-employment background check?
Employers run background checks to avoid hiring someone who may pose a threat to the workplace or become a liability to the employer. Ninety-four percent (94%) of employers conduct one or more types of employment background screening, according to HR.com.
A pre-employment background check typically takes place when someone applies for a job, but rescreening can also happen at any time the employer deems necessary. For example, an employer may require annual or semi-annual employment drug testing or criminal background checks for their employees to help create a safe and secure workplace.
To run a pre-employment background screen, the employer needs the candidate’s full name, date of birth, Social Security number (SSN), and current or past address, as well as the candidate’s consent to run the check.Typically, a background check for employment includes information and records from the past seven years, although some states go back farther. Learn more about how far back background checks go in your state.
What is a criminal records check?
A criminal background check is often required in situations where a person or organization needs to know about major criminal activity, including violent or sex crimes, fraud, embezzlement, or felony convictions before making a decision regarding employment, adoption, military enlistment, a firearm purchase, and more.
Eighty-three percent (83%) of employers who run background checks are looking for criminal records that may indicate whether the candidate could pose a threat to customers or create an unsafe work environment.
Depending on the industry, such as healthcare, there may be regulations against hiring certain felons if their conviction is relevant to the job.
A criminal record check may include the following record searches, depending on the positions the organization is hiring for, and the industry they’re in:
- National criminal databases
- Sex offender registries
- County criminal courts
- Domestic and global watch lists
- Federal and state criminal records
Background check providers like GoodHire offer a variety of screens that search different databases, including federal, state, and county criminal records in addition to national databases.Looking for a criminal background check? GoodHire is the best background check site for national, federal, state and county criminal checks.
What can be revealed in a background check?
A background check service can reveal a wide range of information about an employee’s past relative to their work history, education, criminal history and more. Since there are many different types of checks available, employers will choose which checks to run based on the positions they’re hiring for and the type of information that’s important for them to make an informed choice.
For example:
- Employment verification to determine whether the employee actually held the jobs they indicated.
- Education verification to ensure the employee received a degree or credentials related to the job they applied for.
- Criminal history background checks to see if there is anything in the applicant’s history that might indicate a risk to the employer, its other employees or customers.
Background screening may also be used to check an applicant’s credit history, determine whether they hold certain professional licenses required for the job, test for illicit drug use, etc.
Which compliance laws do I need to know about?
All employers conducting background checks need to comply with the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), follow Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance, and adhere to state and local ban-the-box laws, where applicable.
The FCRA requires employers to receive permission from candidates to conduct a background check in writing. The FCRA also has requirements related to adverse action rules employers must follow if the report reveals information that may negatively impact the hiring decision.
EEOC guidance seeks to prevent employers from conducting background checks in a manner that could deny equal opportunity to job applicants in accordance with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, based on protected categories such as age, race, color, national origin, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity, as the Supreme Court recently ruled), religion, and disability.
Ban-the-box laws emerged in 1998. Hawaii was the first state to pass a law prohibiting the practice of employers asking job applicants about their criminal history information until after a conditional offer is made. Since then, a number of other states have followed, with a focus on removing barriers that make it difficult for people with criminal records to get jobs.
Compliance laws vary by state; it’s important to be aware of the laws that impact your company based both on its locations and where employees live. GoodHire eases the burden of compliance by automating many compliance workflows, saving you time and giving you confidence that nothing will be missed.
What are personal background checks?
If you’re interested in seeing what employers see when they run your background check, a personal background check can do that for you. Depending on the service provider, you can choose which checks or searches you want to perform, and which ones you don’t need.
For example, you can run a personal background check to see if your name appears in any criminal, traffic, or sex offender databases. You can also do an SSN trace to see where you’ve lived and worked, and to see a copy of your own credit report.
Finding out what shows up on your background check report is a great way to address potential errors you find. It’s common to find mistakes in public records. If you discover and address potential errors before an employer or creditor sees them, you could save yourself from missing out on an opportunity to get a job or borrow money.
Get a background check from GoodHire
The purpose of background screening is to provide helpful information about a person’s history to assess whether they may pose a threat to others or whether they are generally trustworthy, or not.
While a person’s past actions do not necessarily predict their future actions, background checks are increasingly common and are meant to help create more trust and safety in society and the workplace.
GoodHire’s platform is flexible and easy to use. We offer hundreds of background screening options, including criminal checks, employment and education verifications.
The resources provided here are for educational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. We advise you to consult your own counsel if you have legal questions related to your specific practices and compliance with applicable laws.
GoodHire provides simply better employment screening for you and your candidates.
The resources provided here are for educational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. We advise you to consult your own counsel if you have legal questions related to your specific practices and compliance with applicable laws.