Checkr (which begins at $35) stands out with its down-to-earth take on employment background check services.
With the grit and drive of a modern startup, its company values include lines such as "Get sh*t done" and "Be humble." This approach is as refreshing as the product itself.
Its standard set of screenings was priced competitively at $35, which is not as pricey as its most comparable plan, A Good Employee.com, which runs $49.95.
But Checkr, which wins one of our Editors' Choice designations, was more expensive than the $29.99 Basic plan from GoodHire, the other Editors' Choice winner in our employment background check service review roundup.
Checkr first launched in 2014 and was a graduate of technology accelerator program Y Combinator.
Unlike some of its competitors that are set up primarily as standalone services, such as A Good Employee.com, Checkr is actually designed more as an application programming interface (API) for background checks, built to make integrating background screening into a company's chosen applicant tracking system (ATS) as easy as possible.
Unlike some other services we reviewed, Checkr fits seamlessly into the new, freelance-driven gig economy, which is exemplified by rapid employee turnover in companies such as Lyft and Uber (which, collectively, run more than one million background checks per year).
Using Checkr
The Checkr user interface (UI) is clean, organized, and modern, which is a reflection of its relatively recent development.
It's characterized by black or gray type set against a white background, with reversed white type on blue dashboard menus.
The menus run horizontally across the top of the page and down the left-hand vertical margin.
After logging in and ordering my test package, the UI flipped to show me exactly which screens were included in the package I had selected.
I could have chosen to manually input my candidates' data but, since Checkr is designed to handle high volumes of data, I chose to issue invitations.
I was impressed that I could upload up to 25 different candidate email addresses.
The app gave my candidates seven days to respond to the invitation.
Employers can check the status or request a copy of a report on the Checkr Applicant Portal.
Candidates can also watch an informative video about the background checking process after they have completed their data input.
Estimated completion date was 21 days which, while onerous, was a more accurate completion estimate than what our testing found with GoodHire (29.99 For the Basic Edition at GoodHire).
County court searches can slow completion with any Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA) since the turnaround times can take longer.
This is certainly not as fast as the basic report I ran under A Good Employee.com (49.95 for the Plus Edition at A Good Employee) , but that service didn't dig as deep as Checkr did at this pricing level.
Also, the fact that Checkr provided an estimated completion data at all was nice when compared to services such as SterlingOne with which I couldn't predict turnaround time at all.
Advanced Features
Two of Checkr's features help its clients manage staffing complexities.
The first feature, called "Programs," helps staffing clients manage their cost centers.
This feature is particularly useful for a large staffing firm with multiple business units that's looking to stay organized and select the right background package for different uses.
Users simply create a specific cost center and tie it to a "Geo," which is a physical location for that specific cost center and employee base that is also tied to the background check package requirement for that cost center.
A Geo is also an effective way to manage the work market for a candidate.
Rules vary by state and are very important from a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) compliance perspective since they ensure the data revealed to an employer abides by what can be shown during certain time periods.
The second feature, called the "Positive Adjudication Matrix" or "PAM," is another important tool worth mentioning that helps Checkr stand out among the vendors we reviewed.
The PAM takes the confusion out of how an offense is logged and described, increasing the accuracy of Checkr's screenings and giving human resources (HR) managers more relevant data.
Since there's no standardization of criminal charge nomenclature across counties, few counties input criminal data and court records in a consistent manner.
While one state might input the word "Assault," another might use the statute code for that crime instead.
Furthermore, there's no consistency in how dismissed records are handled.
A junior HR recruiter reading a disposition that says "Null Pross" might not know that Null Pross actually means "Dismissed." (Null Pross'd is the more common abbreviation for the legal term "Nolle prosequi," which means "to be unwilling to pursue" in Latin.).
In fact, Checkr's system contains over 1,900 different variations of "Dismissed" and some are in Latin, not English.
We did not test this feature, but it can be helpful to know that Checkr bridges those gaps by trying to make it easier for users to understand and navigate dissimilar information.
Checkr earns our Editors' Choice nod in part due to its "Programs" and "PAM" features in addition to its competitive pricing and well-designed, easy–to-use UI.
Furthermore, Checkr is accredited by the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS), which is an accreditation that is governed by the Background Screening Credentialing Council(BSCC).
GoodHire and Sterling Talent Solutions are two other vendors we reviewed that are also accredited by the NAPBS.
You can search for other accredited firms in the NAPBS Accredited Firms Directory here.
Pros
Great, easy-to-use, mobile-ready user interface with cool tools like an Adjudication Matrix and Geos that sort data in clear, understandable ways so employers can make decisions with confidence.
The Bottom Line
Checkr is an Editors' Choice winner because it takes a transparent, human approach to how it conducts business on top of maintaining governmental FCRA compliance.
It's built to support smaller companies doing business in a modern and quickly shifting economy, with a UI that's modern, mobile, and multilingual.
Checkr (which begins at $35) stands out with its down-to-earth take on employment background check services.
With the grit and drive of a modern startup, its company values include lines such as "Get sh*t done" and "Be humble." This approach is as refreshing as the product itself.
Its standard set of screenings was priced competitively at $35, which is not as pricey as its most comparable plan, A Good Employee.com, which runs $49.95.
But Checkr, which wins one of our Editors' Choice designations, was more expensive than the $29.99 Basic plan from GoodHire, the other Editors' Choice winner in our employment background check service review roundup.
Checkr first launched in 2014 and was a graduate of technology accelerator program Y Combinator.
Unlike some of its competitors that are set up primarily as standalone services, such as A Good Employee.com, Checkr is actually designed more as an application programming interface (API) for background checks, built to make integrating background screening into a company's chosen applicant tracking system (ATS) as easy as possible.
Unlike some other services we reviewed, Checkr fits seamlessly into the new, freelance-driven gig economy, which is exemplified by rapid employee turnover in companies such as Lyft and Uber (which, collectively, run more than one million background checks per year).
Using Checkr
The Checkr user interface (UI) is clean, organized, and modern, which is a reflection of its relatively recent development.
It's characterized by black or gray type set against a white background, with reversed white type on blue dashboard menus.
The menus run horizontally across the top of the page and down the left-hand vertical margin.
After logging in and ordering my test package, the UI flipped to show me exactly which screens were included in the package I had selected.
I could have chosen to manually input my candidates' data but, since Checkr is designed to handle high volumes of data, I chose to issue invitations.
I was impressed that I could upload up to 25 different candidate email addresses.
The app gave my candidates seven days to respond to the invitation.
Employers can check the status or request a copy of a report on the Checkr Applicant Portal.
Candidates can also watch an informative video about the background checking process after they have completed their data input.
Estimated completion date was 21 days which, while onerous, was a more accurate completion estimate than what our testing found with GoodHire (29.99 For the Basic Edition at GoodHire).
County court searches can slow completion with any Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA) since the turnaround times can take longer.
This is certainly not as fast as the basic report I ran under A Good Employee.com (49.95 for the Plus Edition at A Good Employee) , but that service didn't dig as deep as Checkr did at this pricing level.
Also, the fact that Checkr provided an estimated completion data at all was nice when compared to services such as SterlingOne with which I couldn't predict turnaround time at all.
Advanced Features
Two of Checkr's features help its clients manage staffing complexities.
The first feature, called "Programs," helps staffing clients manage their cost centers.
This feature is particularly useful for a large staffing firm with multiple business units that's looking to stay organized and select the right background package for different uses.
Users simply create a specific cost center and tie it to a "Geo," which is a physical location for that specific cost center and employee base that is also tied to the background check package requirement for that cost center.
A Geo is also an effective way to manage the work market for a candidate.
Rules vary by state and are very important from a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) compliance perspective since they ensure the data revealed to an employer abides by what can be shown during certain time periods.
The second feature, called the "Positive Adjudication Matrix" or "PAM," is another important tool worth mentioning that helps Checkr stand out among the vendors we reviewed.
The PAM takes the confusion out of how an offense is logged and described, increasing the accuracy of Checkr's screenings and giving human resources (HR) managers more relevant data.
Since there's no standardization of criminal charge nomenclature across counties, few counties input criminal data and court records in a consistent manner.
While one state might input the word "Assault," another might use the statute code for that crime instead.
Furthermore, there's no consistency in how dismissed records are handled.
A junior HR recruiter reading a disposition that says "Null Pross" might not know that Null Pross actually means "Dismissed." (Null Pross'd is the more common abbreviation for the legal term "Nolle prosequi," which means "to be unwilling to pursue" in Latin.).
In fact, Checkr's system contains over 1,900 different variations of "Dismissed" and some are in Latin, not English.
We did not test this feature, but it can be helpful to know that Checkr bridges those gaps by trying to make it easier for users to understand and navigate dissimilar information.
Checkr earns our Editors' Choice nod in part due to its "Programs" and "PAM" features in addition to its competitive pricing and well-designed, easy–to-use UI.
Furthermore, Checkr is accredited by the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS), which is an accreditation that is governed by the Background Screening Credentialing Council(BSCC).
GoodHire and Sterling Talent Solutions are two other vendors we reviewed that are also accredited by the NAPBS.
You can search for other accredited firms in the NAPBS Accredited Firms Directory here.
Pros
Great, easy-to-use, mobile-ready user interface with cool tools like an Adjudication Matrix and Geos that sort data in clear, understandable ways so employers can make decisions with confidence.
The Bottom Line
Checkr is an Editors' Choice winner because it takes a transparent, human approach to how it conducts business on top of maintaining governmental FCRA compliance.
It's built to support smaller companies doing business in a modern and quickly shifting economy, with a UI that's modern, mobile, and multilingual.
