Volume XI
October 2006

The Employment Verification Request and My Employeescreen 4.0™

By Kelly Lucha, Director of Client Relations

employeescreenIQ introduced our new web ordering system, My Employeescreen 4.0™, in July and there are many exciting new enhancements. I want to share some tips and highlight some of the new website features that relate to the employment verification to ensure the most efficient, timely, and comprehensive search possible.

There are minimum requirements needed when clients enter previous employment history. In the past, only the name of the company and the location were marked as required fields. employeescreenIQ has added the company phone number as a mandatory requirement. We understand that applicants do not always make this information available to you and have added a Google search feature to the ordering page. Clicking on this link will bring up the most common results for the company name using the Google search engine.

In general, the more information employeescreenIQ is given about a period of employment, the less time the verification will take. This includes, but is not limited to data such as employment dates, title, and the name of a supervisor. My Employeescreen 4.0™ allows the web user to share this information by entering the data into the corresponding fields. There is also a new space for the employer’s website, which can be a valuable resource and research tool. Also, the help feature can be used for guidance during the order entry process.

It is important to save the keyed information before proceeding. This can be accomplished by clicking "Save Keyed Information and Add to Order". The saved employment verification summary provides the options to view and/or remove the data. If multiple employers are being entered, the web user can click Add to input more periods of employment.

employeescreenIQ currently offers seven year employment verifications to clients and does not recommend entering periods of employment whose ending date is older than seven years ago. It is difficult to verify information older than seven years because many state laws do not require employers to keep records that long and if the records do exist they are often archived offsite or in a format that is not convenient or easily accessible. The turnaround time of these verifications is historically prolonged and a majority of them will wind up being closed due to lack of verifiable information.

One of the most sensitive topics in the area of pre employment screening is the issue of the current employer. Because of the awkward situation that occurs when a current employer is contacted for verification, but is unaware their employee is interviewing, employeescreenIQ does not recommend contacting a current employer unless express consent is granted by the applicant. My Employeescreen 4.0™ has a disclaimer in the request section instructing clients not to enter the current employer if they do not wish us to contact them. If a current employer is entered into our website, employeescreenIQ assumes consent is granted and will contact the employer. employeescreenIQ cannot guarantee that only a select group of people will find out that we are conducting the verification. Also, please note that the employeescreenIQ researcher conducting the verification is required, if asked, to disclose we are requesting the information for pre-employment purposes.

My Employeescreen 4.0™ also provides our confidential fax number at the end of the ordering process. Although the signed applicant release form is not required to in order to initiate an employment verification, it is virtually always the first thing we are asked for when contacting employers. Turnaround time will decrease if the signed release form is faxed proactively to employeescreenIQ at the time of order to prevent critical path delays while the employer waits for us to obtain the release form.

All companies have different organizational policies and procedures on what information they will share when employment verifications are requested. Because of this the turnaround time of individual searches varies. Keeping this in mind, employeescreenIQ has added these new features to the website to try and keep as many variables constant as possible. The addition of the Google feature and the new minimum requirements will help our Background Specialists find the correct contact person quickly to ensure your employment verification is completed as quickly as possible.

Kelly Lucha is Director of Client Relations for Cleveland-based employeescreenIQ, a best practices provider of pre-employment screening services throughout the U.S. and worldwide. Kelly can be reached at (800) 235-3954 ext. 435 or klucha@employeescreen.com. employeescreenIQ is a 2005 and 2006 Weatherhead 100 Award Winner.