employeescreenIQ is a Cleveland, Ohio-based pre-employment background-screening company established in 1999 by Jason Morris and Les and Nick Fishman.

The company offers a variety of employment-screening services to mid- and large-sized companies with clients around the world, including in North and South America, Europe and Asia.

employeescreenIQ employs an in-house verifications and criminal research staff, in addition to maintaining a network of court researchers. The company also works with more than 8,000 patient service centers for substance-abuse screening.

Unlike many background-screening services available on the Internet, employeescreenIQ does not rely on aggregate databases that are often undependable. Instead, employeescreenIQ utilizes a nationwide network of more than 3,500 court researchers who conduct in-person research directly at each county courthouse where a prospective employee has resided – a practice endorsed as the most effective method of obtaining such information. All criminal hits are reviewed by the company’s team of criminal researchers to verify that the content is both thorough and accurate. employeescreenIQ also employs an in-house team of background specialists who verify past employment and education. Today, the company has completed more than one million background checks.

Accessed via its Web site, www.employeescreen.com, employeescreenIQ provide clients with customized consumer reports that may include countywide criminal record searches; social security number tracing; federal criminal record searches; motor vehicle records; substance-abuse screening; sexual offender registry searches; civil court record searches; pre-employment credit reports; employment verification; education verification; professional license verification; workers compensation claims searches; statewide criminal record searches; national criminal record database searches; reference/supervisor interviews; Homeland Security searches; and I-9 employment eligibility verification.

In an effort to enhance its capabilities and better serve its clients, employeescreenIQ now provides screening services on a worldwide scale, working with clients around the globe. The company is Safe Harbor-certified by the U.S. Department of Commerce, allowing it to transmit private information across international borders in compliance with European Union and Global Information Exchange regulations. Currently, the company is able to conduct criminal record searches in 175 countries and provide verification services for employment and education in more than 200 countries throughout the world. employeescreenIQ offers international clientele a Homeland Security Check which cross-references applicants against known Terrorists and Fugitive databases.

After 9/11, demand for employee background screening exploded. Research indicates companies are doing more to check potential employees these days, and as much as 50 percent of companies are outsourcing at least a portion of their employee background screening process.

Since 2001, employeescreenIQ has seen 1,885 percent revenue growth and 1,350 percent employment growth. Today, employeescreenIQ has thousands of clients representing an array of industries, which include banking, financial, fleet management/transportation, government, grocery, insurance, hospitality and retail.

employeescreenIQ is a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners, a non-profit trade organization created in 2003 to advocate quality in the industry. Morris has recently completed his term as the organization’s co-chair and remains on its board.