Background screening helps employers make informed hiring decisions by verifying a candidate‘s qualifications, work history, education, criminal record, and other relevant background information. Traditionally, these checks have been performed manually, but today automation is enabling significant improvements in the speed, accuracy, and fairness of background screening.
In this in-depth guide, we‘ll explore what exactly automated background screening involves, how AI, RPA and other technologies are transforming screening, challenges with manual checks, and key benefits of intelligent automation for background checks.
What is Automated Background Screening?
Automated background screening uses technology to quickly gather, analyze, verify, and compile background check information on candidates. It aims to bring greater efficiency, consistency, and fairness to the screening process through automation.
Key types of background checks that can be automated include:
- Criminal history
- Employment history and references
- Education verification
- Financial/credit checks
- Driving records
- Drug testing
- Identity verification
- Professional licenses and credentials
Automated solutions may utilize a range of technologies including:
- Artificial Intelligence – Natural language processing, machine learning, computer vision, voice analytics and more can extract insights from unstructured data.
- Robotic Process Automation – Software bots can collect data, conduct verification tasks, generate reports and more.
- Blockchain – Decentralized, encrypted background check data storage enables security and instant verification.
- API integrations – Integration with courts, schools, licensing agencies etc via APIs enables real-time verification.
- ATS integrations – Syncing with the applicant tracking system centralizes all background data.
Let‘s look at some specific examples of how AI is transforming background screening:
- Scanning and extracting data – Optical character recognition scans paper documents like degrees and transcripts and extracts information using natural language processing. This automates manual data entry.
- Verifying credentials – Machine learning algorithms can cross-check candidates‘ stated qualifications against verified databases of institutions and credentialing bodies. This reduces falsified claims.
- Public records access – Web scraping tools, bots and AI mine and extract relevant data from public databases like court records that may contain a candidate‘s criminal history.
According to estimates, manual background screening takes around 5 days on average, while [over 95% of automated checks are completed within 1 day](https://www.jdp.com/blog/4– benefits-of-automating-background-screening#increasedspeed). Next, let‘s examine why manual screening can be so time-consuming and inconsistent.
Challenges with Manual Background Checking
Manually conducting background screening comes with several downsides:
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No standardized process – Without clear guidelines, checks can vary significantly across candidates.
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Time-consuming – Manually collecting, verifying and reviewing background check data is very labor intensive. Average completion times of 5 days are common.
| Manual Background Check Completion Time | 5 days average |
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Difficult to customize – Tailoring screening to specific jobs or candidates requires manual oversight and intervention.
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Inconsistent due diligence – Important aspects may be missed due to human error.
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Prone to bias – Recruiters‘ subjective evaluations of background data can lead to unfair treatment.
For example, a 2018 SkillSurvey study found that manually contacting references only yielded an average of 2.4 responses per candidate. This makes it hard to perform comprehensive screening.
Automation provides solutions to these issues, as we‘ll cover next.
Top Benefits of Automated Background Screening
Intelligently automating background checks offers several major advantages:
1. Faster Screening & Reduced Time-to-Hire
AI and RPA bots can work continuously without breaks to gather, verify, and analyze background check data round the clock. This results in significant time savings compared to manual processes.
According to estimates by background screening provider Checkr, their automation reduces screening timelines by 80%.
Another provider Verifile found that over 95% of automated background checks are completed within 1 day, whereas manual turnaround averaged 5 days.
Faster screening translates directly into reduced time-to-hire. Automation enables organizations to make hiring decisions faster without compromising the quality of due diligence.
2. More Consistent & Comprehensive Checking
Automated solutions apply standardized, thorough screening configured through rules rather than manual processes prone to human oversight. Key benefits include:
- Uniform procedures – All candidates undergo the same systematic checks.
- Configurable rules – Custom criteria can be set for data collection and analysis.
- Continuous operation – Software bots work without breaks to complete all required checks.
- Minimized human errors – Automation performs detailed due diligence consistently.
According to HireRight‘s 2022 survey, conducting education, identity, criminal, and employment verifications together yields a ~30% higher screening completion rate than other combinations. Intelligent automation enables easily bundled verification for improved thoroughness.
3. Mitigated Biases & Fairer Assessment
By minimizing manual evaluation and relying on impartial software algorithms, automation reduces human biases and prejudices that can creep into background screening.
Configurable decision rules also enable nuanced assessment tailored to the position‘s requirements and relevant compliance regulations like the FCRA rather than blanket evaluations.
However, biases could still be perpetuated through the data sources and programming itself. Responsibly developing AI for background checking is essential for achieving truly fair and ethical screening.
4. Smoother Candidate Experience
Automating administrative screening tasks like collecting candidate consent forms enables recruiters to focus on higher-value engagements with applicants.
It also allows candidates to complete requirements online through self-service portals for a more convenient experience.
According to Checkster‘s survey, nearly 70% of candidates prefer an automated background check process as it provides them control and transparency.
Best Practices for Implementation
To maximize the benefits of intelligent background screening automation, here are some recommended best practices:
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Integrate screening into your ATS for an end-to-end hiring workflow. Look for turnkey solutions and configurations.
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Take international and local requirements into account. For example, in Europe GDPR compliance is critical.
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Start with rules-based automation focused on structured tasks and expand into AI as volumes grow.
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Monitor for any algorithmic biases and continuously tune the system. Explainable AI models can improve transparency.
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Enable candidate self-service access via online portals for consent and information upload.
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Appoint internal teams to handle exceptions and overrides flagged by the automated system.
The Future of Automated Background Screening
Intelligent automation is already making significant inroads into streamlining high-volume background screening activities for employers. As the technology advances, the speed, customizability, consistency and compliance of background checks will continue improving.
Emerging capabilities like personalized assessments tuned to indicators most predictive of job success could also emerge. However, employers must remain vigilant that the focus stays on skills-based, equitable screening.
With the right strategy leveraging leading solutions, automated background screening can drastically enhance your talent acquisition while delivering great candidate experiences.
To learn more, explore these resources:
- Guide to Background Screening from Aimultiple
- Automating Efficiency in Background Screening from SAI Global
- Background Checking Buyers Guide from Verifile
Let me know if you need any other information on selecting and implementing automated background screening capabilities!