The Affordable Truth About Candidate Work Histories

Hiring the right candidates is crucial for any organization's success, but the costs of thoroughly vetting applicants can quickly add up. 

Employment verifications, the process of confirming a candidate's work history details, often come with a hefty price tag – one that many employers may be overpaying. 

Major third-party employment data vendors routinely charge between $10 to $120 per verification request made. For businesses hiring hundreds or thousands of applicants, these excessive fees can snowball into hundreds or even thousands of dollars. 

How about any customization or enhanced data searches? You guessed it – more surcharges tacked on.

But what if there was a cost-effective alternative that could provide employment insights without breaking the bank? 

We'll explore a smarter, more economical approach to employment verifications that can save your organization substantial costs while still ensuring thorough candidate vetting. 

What Information Can Be Verified?

Employment verifications can uncover a wide range of details about a candidate's previous jobs and work history. The key pieces of information typically verified include:

• Job titles and positions held.

• Start and end dates.

• Reason for leaving each role (voluntary or involuntary termination).

• Eligibility for rehire.

• Salary or compensation details (if your state allows).

Depending on the specific request, additional data points may also be gathered, such as:

• Gaps in work history.

• Job responsibilities and duties performed.  

• Performance ratings or feedback.

• Disciplinary actions or issues encountered.

It's important to differentiate between the information accessible through an internal human resources (HR) verification versus a third-party service. 

Internal verifications done directly with a former employer's HR department can sometimes provide more comprehensive details, including performance assessments and the circumstances around the employee's departure.

Third-party verifiers, on the other hand, often have limitations on the depth of information they can access as they rely on data provided by the employers themselves. However, they can still reliably confirm core employment facts like job titles, dates, and compensation.

Regardless of the verification method, the key advantage is gaining an objective, fact-based understanding of a candidate's true work experience – something that can be difficult to discern from resumes and interviews alone.

How are Employment Verifications Performed?

The process of confirming an applicant's work history is crucial, yet can be complex and resource-intensive. 

There are two main approaches organizations can take: handling the tasks internally through your HR department or outsourcing to third-party providers. 

Each method has its own advantages and considerations in terms of costs, efficiency, and access to data.

Internal

Many organizations handle employment verifications internally through their Human Resources (HR) team.

This approach involves HR personnel directly reaching out to an applicant's previous employers to request and confirm details about their work history.

Some benefits include the ability to have open discussions for accessing comprehensive employment data, a direct line of communication with former employers, and potential cost savings by avoiding third-party fees.

However, the internal process can be highly time-consuming, especially when dealing with numerous applicants or uncooperative previous employers. 

You need decisions made fast, but your HR staff may have limited resources that are needed to thoroughly investigate claims.

If your HR team isn’t able to obtain employment information from past employers themselves, chances are the data is contained within a third party database.

In that situation, your team is forced to use the vendor and pay their fee.

Third-Party Employment Data Vendors

The other option to verify employment data is to utilize third-party vendors like The Work Number, Certree, or Experian. 

These companies have amassed vast databases containing the work histories and records of millions of employees across different organizations.

While these databases contain extensive information, the costs involved are often too expensive for many employers, especially those processing high volumes.

The Cost of Third-Party Employment Verifications

While handling employment verifications internally can provide some cost efficiency, the alternative of utilizing major third-party vendors frequently comes with a significant price tag.

The costs associated with these third-party vendors are influenced by several factors:

• Number of past employers that need verification per applicant.

• Requests for ancillary details beyond basic job titles, dates, and salaries.

• Expedited turnaround times for receiving verification reports.

• Bundling employment verifications with other background screening services.

We did tell you the fees can snowball.

While package pricing may be available for bulk requests, any additional customization or enhanced data searches routinely incur surcharges, further driving up the costs.

For cost-conscious employers, these excessive third-party verification expenses can be difficult to justify, especially when more economical solutions exist. 

By partnering with CI, you can access comprehensive employment information through enhanced reference verifications without the extreme pricing of major employment data vendors.

Introducing Enhanced Reference Verifications

We understand the importance of thoroughly verifying employment histories while also being mindful of our clients' budgets. 

That's why we offer a cost-effective alternative to the expensive fees – our Enhanced Reference Verification.

Unlike data vendors that charge fees per-verification, our Enhanced Reference Verification focuses on contacting the professional references your applicant directly reported to. 

This approach allows us to gather comprehensive employment details at a fraction of the cost.

By leveraging reference-based verifications, we provide a smart way to confirm key facts like titles, dates, duties, responsibilities, and more – all without paying premium prices.

Our customizable inquiry ensures you receive the specific insights you need through tailored questionnaires and knowledgeable interviews conducted by our experienced team.

Don't let excessive third-party fees derail your employment verification efforts and hiring decisions. 

Contact us to leverage the cost-effective power of our Enhanced Reference Verification to gain high-quality information without breaking the bank.