This article provides critical insight on which questions to ask when looking to hire a new background check company. We will explore these four satisfaction drivers: turnaround time, quality of results, customer service and ease of use.

Consider these key things before signing on with a new background screening company.

Question Guide:

Turnaround Time (TAT)

• Determine how each vendor calculates TAT. This is a key piece of information required to begin an evaluation of a background screen vendor's TAT.
• Nail down the TAT for the jurisdictions in which you do business to assess real TAT for all locations.

Quality of Results

• Don't ask about the percentage of criminal hits without context otherwise it's a useless piece of data.
• Don't put too much weight on the "how many" question after a certain number.
• Zero in on the specifics regarding quality.

Customer Service

• Seek out granular data on customer satisfaction and customer service resolution stats.

Ease of Use

• Focus on the functionality that you and your clients need to work efficiently.
• Get a rundown of all functionality with a list of features that are most important.
• Focus on a stable foundation of required functionality rather than one off features that seem innovative but would not be improve the four key drivers of satisfaction. Every technology feature should be assessed as to how it impacts the four key drivers of satisfaction.