There was a time when an employer could simply pick up the phone and contact an applicant’s previous employer to verify employment and related information. Sometimes the employer would provide additional information as to why the previous employee left the company. Similarly, for education verification, the employer could contact the school’s registrar’s office and verify the degree and/or dates of attendance of the applicant.
Today, employment and education verifications are usually outsourced to a third-party vendor requiring the employer, or if using a background screening vendor, to verify employment and education through these entities. Employers are more inclined to hire a third-party vendor to field employment verification inquiries about previous employees.
The verification services are contracted out to the third-party vendor whereby the vendor is provided with the general information about the employee’s working start date, end date, title and, if necessary, the salary information. The verification vendor does not charge the employer providing this information, rather the vendor charges the person or entity seeking the verification information. Therefore, if you use a background screening provider, the provider will add the verification vendor’s charge to your invoice in addition to the screener’s cost to get the information.
Obtaining education verification may also require going through a third-party to verify the degree of the applicant. Although the vendor fee is not as expensive to get the information, nonetheless, it is an extra cost.
Most colleges and universities use a third-party vendor to verify an applicant’s education. The vendor will usually provide the highest degree obtained by the applicant and the years the individual attended the institution. Verifying an applicant’s high school diploma doesn’t require going through a third-party vendor. The background screening company will contact the high school in question and speak to someone in the registrar’s office.
Keep in mind that most, if not all, third-party verification vendors will require the applicant’s signed authorization/disclosure form before they disclose any information. Your background screening vendor will send the signed form to the company verifying either employment or education.
More and more employers are using these types of verification services for a variety of reasons, the least of which is the reduction of workload of its human resources staff. Verifying employment takes time as does verifying education credentials.
Employers mitigate the liability of providing employment verifications by giving the responsibility to the third-party vendor, providing strict instructions as to what information can be released. Providing employment verifications in-house can cause some civil liability exposure if the employee providing the verification information shares too much information, particularly if it is derogatory in nature.
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