How Long Do Background Checks Take?

A pre-employment background check is an integral part of your hiring process. Taking careful steps to ensure all of your candidates are right for the job will give you the confidence to make final hiring decisions and ensure you get the most qualified employee in the door.

When it comes to background checks, there is one question that seems to make experts adjust in their chairs – how long does a background check take? It’s a difficult question to answer, with many layers. But if you need an answer, it’s this: it depends.

At Barada Associates, we always deliver the fastest and most accurate results. But the depth and type of background check you choose to run can alter the time it takes to complete.

Contact our expert background checkers today for more information on all of our background screening solutions.

What is a Background Check?

A background check is a process that helps an employer review and confirms a prospective employee’s records and application information. An accurate check can ensure that your company hires honest and truthful candidates who are best qualified for the job.

Barada Associates provides many different types of pre and post-employment background checks across a variety of industries, including:

• Employment verification: Reviews information about past employers & performance
• Academic verification: Checks degrees, attendance, and issuing institutions
• Criminal background checks: Reveals any criminal history & criminal records
• Drug & alcohol testing: Ensures your employees are following company, state, and federal substance use laws and guidelines
• Skills/cognitive assessment: Assess whether or not a candidate truly has the skills necessary for the role

When you’re dealing with such a comprehensive group of tests, you will be handling a lot of your applicant’s sensitive personal information. Our software integration services will allow you to access and utilize the results of all your background screenings at multiple touchpoints.

Overall, employee background checks and the information they provide are the best way to find a great new addition to your company. Call Barada Associates for thorough background checks that will help you feel confident in your final hiring decision.

Identifying Your Background Screening Needs

“It depends,” is probably not the answer your company is looking for regarding how long background checks take. But it is the truth. On average, a routine background check on a job candidate will take 48 hours to five business days. Establishing a more specific timeline for a pre-employment background check is difficult because there is an incredibly wide range of checks you can run on a job applicant.

While most people have been on one end of the background check process in their career, oftentimes both hiring managers and job candidates aren’t certain what information will be included in the report.

A complete pre-employment background screening can cover the following types of background checks:

• Criminal Background Check
• Education Verification
• Reference Check
• Drug Screening
• Sexual Offender Registry Check
• Credit History & Credit Checks
• Social Media & Internet Check
• Driving & Motor Vehicle Records
• Professional License & Certificate Confirmation
• Social Security Number Trace

Our selection of background screening services can be tailored to fit your specific hiring goals. When you work with Barada Associates, you will always get the fastest service no matter the combination of checks you decide to run on your candidates.

What Factors Can Delay a Pre-Employment Background Check?

Sometimes there are external factors that can affect our turnaround time on background check results. Normally, these delays are caused by aspects under the employer’s control.

Here are some common factors to consider to avoid delaying your pre-employment screening process:

Submitting Inaccurate or Incomplete Check Request Forms

If the information we receive, such as an applicant’s name, address, or other crucial details, is incorrect, then we won’t be able to produce accurate results. Our team will have to spend valuable time sending forms back to your company to be filed correctly.

Failure to Have the Necessary Authorization and Release Documents Signed by the Applicant

You have a right to know who you’re hiring. But your candidates also have a right to privacy and a right to protect their personal information. For Barada Associates to complete a background check on any individual, your company must first notify applicants and get their explicit permission to conduct the check.

This isn’t our standard – federal law requires that an individual sign release forms before a background check begins. All applicants must also be notified in an individual letter that the background check is going to happen during the hiring process.

Additional Reasons for Background Check Delays

There are less common factors that can extend the timeframe of a background check from a few hours to a few days. These factors don’t rely on your company’s involvement. Other reasons for delayed results include:

• Confusion over names: Background checks search through large databases for every name variant. For example, Bill, Billy, Will, and William. If a candidate has a common first and last name, we must review and cross-check every single record to ensure we have the right person. Including a middle name, ethnicity, or another unique identifier can help make this process more efficient.
• Lack of digital records: Some educational institutions, colleges, and past employers may not have digitized records, or may only provide certain records as hard paper copies. Worse, these entities are not under the same time limit as your company and, as a result, may not prioritize the request for information. Luckily, state and government departments typically have predictable turnaround times.

While all of these factors can delay the delivery of your background check report, working with a professional background check company like Barada Associates will ensure you always get the fastest possible screening solutions.

3 Best Practices for Smooth Pre-Employment Background Checks

Because there are so many moving parts and elements out of your company and your candidates’ hands, making a pre-employment background check go faster is often easier said than done. However, there are a few simple things your team can do to optimize the process.

Gather all relevant information upfront

Often, pre-employment background checks require applicants to provide specific information like former addresses, dates of employment, criminal records, past employment history, educational degrees, and graduation dates. As a hiring manager, it’s essential to collect all this information in one ask from the applicant and keep it all in one secure location.

This will help you avoid any unnecessary inaccuracies that could prevent completing the background check.

Let applicants know what to expect

Even if an applicant has nothing to hide, it’s easy for them to get anxious about the entire background check process – especially if delays occur. Be transparent with the applicant and assure them that delays can happen.

If you’re performing a background check on the applicant, you are most likely considering hiring the individual. So keep the experience as positive as possible for them.

Encourage honesty throughout the process

Whether on purpose or by accident, conflicting information can turn up in a background check. Because of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, there are extreme rules about accuracy in these reports that employers are bound to follow. Ensure all of the candidate’s information is accurate before being reviewed.

Should the candidate find a reason to dispute incorrect or incomplete information in the report, let them know ahead of time that they have the right to do so. While a dispute can delay the process, avoiding one can save both parties time.

Speed Up the Process with Professional Background Check Services

The best way to speed up the process of accurate background checks is to work with a proven expert in background screening and reference checks. At Barada Associates, we ensure that all the required information and documentation to produce a full pre-employment background check is collected and completed.

We also make the results of our checks available online through our gated and secure portal so you can access them instantly. Call our team of experts for superior screening services today.

Contact Barada Associates for Premiere Pre-Employment Background Check Services

When dealing with something as important to the success of your business and employment, you want to avoid working with a second-rate background screening company. With more than 40 years of experience, our team knows how to handle your background check needs. We are one of the nation’s leading background check companies and are eager to help you find the employees you have been dreaming of. Schedule a time to talk to one of our experts today and learn how we can help you through the entire background check process.