Ready to Order Your First Background Check With Checkr?

After your Checkr account is created and credentialed, in just a few steps, you can initiate a candidate’s background check. Once your candidate provides their personal information, Checkr reports can be completed quickly.

Whether you’re looking to start your first check, or are curious about Checkr’s background check process, we’re here to help guide you through your first checks with Checkr.

Employers have to make just a few simple selections from their Checkr Dashboard to get started on their first background check order.

1. Begin background checks for one or more candidates by clicking the “Order background check” button.

2. Select where the candidate will be working. Hiring laws, fair hiring guidance, and disclosures vary by location, and regulations may change. Checkr’s compliance engine automates some areas where manual work can lead to errors to help enable compliance with applicable laws.

3. Select a package. Checkr offers different background screening options to meet the needs of your background check policy, hiring criteria, or industry regulations. To simplify the process, we offer three pre-bundled packages:

Basic+

Essential package

Professional package

If you want to learn how to select and customize packages to fit your screening needs, read more here.

4. Add on screenings, if necessary. You can further customize your package selection by selecting additional screenings. For example, employers hiring for a position involving driving may require a driving record (MVR) check or companies hiring for highly regulated or specialized roles may use professional license verification to confirm eligibility.

5. Enter candidate email addresses and click “Send Invitations.” Employers can add up to 200 candidate emails, or upload a CSV file with up to 5,000 candidate emails.

Once the email invitation is sent, you've officially ordered a background check. Candidates can now begin their part of the process.

Checkr offers transparency so that employers and candidates alike are informed throughout the process. From easy-to-complete forms, disclosure, and authorizations that help enable compliance, error detection to avoid delays, and automated workflows to speed the process, here’s what job candidates can expect from the Checkr experience:

1. Candidate receives an email or SMS invitation from Checkr. The message contains a link to a Checkr-hosted page where candidates get step-by-step guidance to begin the screening process. The message also features your company’s name and logo (optional) to provide peace of mind the communication is legitimate.

2. Candidate provides personally identifiable information (PII). Each screening requires different information, but most candidates provide their name, Social Security number, birth date, and current postal code.

3. Candidate acknowledges the applicable disclosures, including state-specific documents, and authorize their consent for you to conduct a background check. These documents help enable compliance with Federal Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) rules.

Once the candidate submits this information, Checkr begins to generate a report. Candidates are then able to easily access status updates and report progress through the candidate portal.

Checkr's candidate portal gives candidates clarity into the status of their background check, making it a key part of a seamless and intuitive experience.

Our mobile-optimized portal enables job candidates to easily check on their report status and any additional action that must be taken, while Checkr ETA, a unique product feature, provides a date for the estimated completion of county searches. This transparency helps both you and candidates plan next steps accordingly, such as start dates or other onboarding tasks.

Should candidates have questions or need help, our Candidate Help Center and built-in FAQ feature helps candidates address their concerns. When more assistance is needed, our FCRA-certified, candidate-dedicated support team is available via chat, phone, or email. By reducing candidate contact rates, employers are able to screen, hire, and onboard candidates more efficiently.

After the background check invitation is sent to the candidate, the Checkr Dashboard enables employers to easily track a report’s progress from invitation to completion. The status column provides Checkr’s designations of clear, pending, consider, suspended, or canceled. You can also update your account preferences to receive email notifications through the process.

Once the report is complete, employers are able to make a hiring decision based on their company's adjudication matrix (which can be easily customized in your Checkr account) and background check policy. Should you initiate adverse action, our built-in compliance tools simplify the process and support individualized assessments. The adjudication column lists your company’s final decision in how you proceeded with the candidate.

Checkr makes it easy to add pre-employment screenings to your hiring process, offering many background check options to fit your needs. Our advanced platform provides fast turnaround times and automated workflows to eliminate manual processes, while our intuitive dashboard enables easy review and efficient adjudication while supporting fair hiring.

Log in to your Checkr dashboard to order a background check.

New to Checkr? Get started.

About the author

As VP of Product & Customer Marketing at Checkr, Bryan is responsible for educating current and prospective customers about the value and use of our products. He is passionate about understanding the needs of companies and candidates who use Checkr, and helping them get the most from the platform.