Why We Participate

The Professional Background Screening Association’s (PBSA) conference gives us an opportunity to connect with other industry leaders, join informative lectures and learn about new and upcoming laws. This helps us as we strive to constantly enhance your screening process and empower you to identify strong candidates quickly.

We’re Here To Serve You

At the conference, we heard talk about litigation, class actions suits and related issues. These aren’t fun topics, but they are great reminders about why we take so many steps to provide:

• Accurate data. When starting a background check, we don’t rely on just a name. We utilize as many identifiers as possible to help return an exact match.
• Reportability. We do not include arrests that didn’t lead to convictions, offenses that are out of scope or anything that should not be considered during the hiring process.
• Compliance. Our team keeps up with new laws and regularly reviews our procedures to confirm they are current and complete. PBSA conferences are also a great opportunity to gather information we can use to create educational resources that bolster your compliance efforts.
• Connectivity. One of our most important goals is to connect you with highly qualified candidates who can contribute to your continued success.

Your Screening Triumvirate

There are three key players in the background screening process: Employers, Consumers, and Consumer Reporting Agencies (like Backgrounds Online). When your organization has an opening to fill, you cast a wide net to find the most qualified personnel. That’s where we come in – our role is to help you confirm each candidate meets your requirements and doesn’t pose an undue risk that could result in a negligence claim.

We can all work together efficiently to achieve the same result:

1. You reach out to us with screening requests as soon as you’re ready to proceed,
2. Your applicants provide the data we need to get started,
3. We offer superior guidance and transparency to the people you’re screening and comprehensive background checks that accelerate your hiring process.

The Need For Identifiers

Accuracy is essential to the screening industry. Over the last few years, we’ve seen courts in California, Michigan and other locations limit or prohibit searches using personal data. However, these searches are an integral step toward ensuring we obtain records for the correct person.

We continue to support PBSA efforts that ask these courthouses to allow searches using personal data points. To supplement those efforts, we work with a variety of trustworthy partners to help ensure we continue to supply current, reliable data about job seekers who live and work anywhere our clients are hiring.

Avoiding Willful Negligence

One of the most common topics covered at PBSA and other conferences is the need to avoid any possibility of negligent hiring claims. Simply running background checks every time you hire is a massive step in this direction. By consistently screening all applicants, volunteers and contractors, you demonstrate your dedication to reviewing FCRA compliant reports and following federal, state and other laws.

At Backgrounds Online, we leverage proprietary technology that allows us produce reports efficiently, enhance the applicant experience and help you identify strong candidates while demonstrating due diligence.