ESS, a national K–12 education staffing company that places substitute teachers and school support staff, runs its applicant background checks through Bchex. Account manager Zach Morgan sends every applicant one link, submits with a button, and usually has results within 24 to 48 hours. He rates Bchex 10 out of 10 on accuracy and turnaround.
The challenge
Applicants stuck in the hiring process while their background checks stayed open.
The result
One link per applicant, results Zach rates 10 out of 10, and alerts after hire.
About ESS
ESS is a national K–12 education staffing company headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. It places substitute teachers, paraprofessionals, and other support staff in school districts. Zach Morgan is an account manager on its Southeast team, where he moves applicants through their background checks.
Success story snapshot
- Results usually back in 24 to 48 hours
- One link for every applicant, one button to submit
- Alerts if something new appears on a hired person’s record
- Typos and data-entry slips fixed fast by support
Fast, but also right
Applicants waiting. While a background check is open, the applicant is stuck in the application process.
No shortcuts. Zach needed results that came back quickly and held up. “You want things fast but you also want them to be correct,” he says.
What changes after hire. A clean check on day one can’t show what turns up later, and people don’t always report it themselves.
If we’re speaking of a scale of one to ten, I definitely give you guys ten.
One link, one button, ongoing alerts
One link for every applicant. “It allows me to have a one-stop link for all applicants to click, follow through with all the information that needs to be submitted,” Zach says. “Once that’s done, then all I need to do is hit a button.”
Ongoing monitoring. After someone is hired, ESS gets an alert if something new appears on their record. “You know about it as soon as you open up Bchex in the morning,” Zach says. “It’s like having an assistant.”
Quick fixes. When he has misspelled a name or entered one wrong, customer service has corrected it quickly so the check could go out.
Ten out of ten
“You guys have been extremely quick with getting those backgrounds back,” Zach says. Results usually arrive within 24 to 48 hours, so applicants don’t get bogged down waiting. “It’s streamlined the process for me.”
Asked to rate Bchex on accuracy and turnaround from one to ten, he gives it a ten. What sets it apart from other providers he has used is speed together with the depth of information in each report.
I think it’s a very useful product that many people should also use.
What other businesses can take from this
- One link, one button. Applicants complete everything from a single link, and the recruiter submits with one click.
- Judge accuracy, not just speed. “You want things fast but you also want them to be correct,” Zach says.
- Keep watching after hire. Ongoing monitoring flags new records people might not report themselves.
* Some numbers come from customer quotes given in 2025. Today, about 85% of eligible Bchex searches come back within 24 hours.
ESS and Bchex: quick answers
- How fast are background checks for education staffing applicants?
- At ESS, usually 24 to 48 hours. Zach Morgan sends every applicant one link, they complete everything there, and he submits the check with a button, so applicants don’t get bogged down waiting. Zach described this in February 2025. Today, about 85% of eligible Bchex searches come back within 24 hours.
- What happens if something new shows up after someone is hired?
- ESS uses Bchex’s ongoing monitoring, so it gets an alert if something new appears on a hired person’s record, including things the person might not report. Zach Morgan says he knows about it as soon as he opens Bchex in the morning.
- What sets Bchex apart for a staffing company?
- For Zach Morgan of ESS, speed together with the depth of information in each report. “You want things fast but you also want them to be correct,” he says. He rates Bchex 10 out of 10 on accuracy and turnaround.
- What does ESS do?
- ESS is a national K–12 education staffing company headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. It places substitute teachers, paraprofessionals, and other support staff in school districts, and it runs its applicant background checks through Bchex.
- What happens when a staffing applicant’s name is entered wrong on a background check?
- Bchex support fixes it quickly. Zach Morgan of ESS says that whenever he has misspelled a name or entered one wrong, customer service corrected it “quickly, efficiently,” and the background check went out.
About Bchex
Bchex, formerly known as Background Investigation Bureau (BIB), is a PBSA-accredited, SOC 2 Type 2 certified background screening and workforce safety company founded in 1995 and based in Huntersville, North Carolina. It has run more than 40 million checks for 2,000+ organizations, including school districts, churches, nonprofits, staffing firms, and employers. The Bchex Safety Ecosystem covers background checks, volunteer screening with SecureVolunteer, ongoing monitoring with Chex365, and visitor check-in with Chexpass.
