How to Run a Background Check: An Employer’s Guide

Background checks are a core component of the hiring process. Across all industries, employers are searching for candidates who meet their qualification requirements and reflect their values. Hiring speed matters, but risk mitigation is even more crucial, with 42% of employers listing risk as their top priority when it comes to background screening in our 2026 Global Workforce Trends Report. A thorough background check helps organizations get to know their people and build cultures of trust.

The task can seem daunting for employers who understand the importance of background checks, whether they’re building a screening program from the ground up or looking to optimize an existing one. Where do you begin?

This article will provide you with some useful tips for building a background screening program, conducting checks, and selecting the right screening provider to set you up for hiring success.

Designing a background screening program

Before jumping right into background screening, you should assess some key factors to identify your needs. Here are some of the main considerations to take into account as you build your background screening program.

Are you recruiting for entry-level positions, middle management, specialist roles, or C-suite executives? Roles can dictate screening requirements. While some employers may be tempted to stick to the bare minimum for entry-level positions, robust background checks remain key to building workforce trust, especially in positions that are customer facing or involve access to valuable assets and confidential data. Roles that require specialized knowledge typically need both criminal history checks and professional history, education, and credential verifications, while positions with public visibility and major oversight call for in-depth due diligence screening.

What are the regulatory requirements and best practices for background screening in your industry? Specific searches may be needed in some sectors — for example, sex offender registry searches in fields like healthcare and education (which involve working with vulnerable people) and financial accountability checks in regulated industries like finance. Safety-sensitive industries, like industrials and transportation, may call for periodic drug screening and Motor Vehicle Records (MVR) searches. You should work with your dedicated HR and legal teams to design a program that supports compliance with industry guidelines and your obligations.

When it comes to non-regulated positions, it can be difficult for employers to determine which background checks to include. Benchmarking your program against those of your industry peers can help you select effective background checks that confirm your candidates’ qualifications and mitigate key risks.

What will be the timing, volume, and frequency of background screening? When will you complete the initial background check? Some organizations might start with screening right away, while others wait until after a conditional job offer has been extended (a standard practice that is required by many state laws and local jurisdictions). The volume and complexity of background checks matter, and you’ll need to plan ahead and address potential roadblocks if you are hiring at scale over a short period of time.

While background screening has traditionally been viewed as a one-and-done effort, organizations are increasingly moving toward an ongoing monitoring model that repeats key screens at periodic intervals throughout the entire employee lifecycle. Criminal history checks and credential verifications, for example, might be renewed every few years to confirm employees are still qualified and identify recent activities that might be relevant from a risk mitigation perspective.

How will you implement your background screening program? While some organizations still complete some checks (such as reference interviews) in house, background checks nowadays are generally outsourced to third-party background screening providers for faster and more effective processing.

Understanding identity verifications and background checks

The nature and scope of an employment background check and identity verification depend on organization size, industry, and the type of position. Here are a few of the most commonly used services for employers across the U.S.

Identity verification. Candidate identity fraud is a growing concern, with 45% of hiring managers reporting having encountered candidate identity misrepresentation in our 2026 Global Workforce Trends Report. While not part of the background check process itself, identity verification is a crucial step that employers should take prior to screening to confirm their candidates are the people they claim to be.

Identity verification was traditionally completed through visual inspection of a physical identity document, usually in the candidate’s presence. With the rise of remote hiring, this method has rapidly become obsolete. While some employers verify their candidates’ identity through videoconference, this leaves them vulnerable to deepfakes. Increasingly, organizations are turning to digital identity solutions to verify candidates’ identity through a combination of document review, liveness detection, and data intelligence that can be deployed remotely and at scale.

Criminal background checks. U.S. criminal history checks uncover misdemeanor and felony convictions, as well as pending charges. While there is no nationwide criminal records repository, searches can be performed at the federal, state, and county level. A robust criminal background check helps employers mitigate risk and hire workforces that reflect their values and company policies.

U.S. county criminal record checks are conducted by searching the court records in counties or states where candidates have resided, based on their address history. Since the search is name based, a Social Security number (SSN) trace may be included to widen the scope by uncovering candidates’ undisclosed addresses and aliases.

Since there is no single global background check, international organizations may need to perform additional checks in countries and territories in which their candidates work or live, with the process and requirements varying from one country to another. Employers should consult with their legal counsel to identify and understand applicable laws.

Verifications. Employment, education, and credential verifications help organizations confirm key details about their candidates’ professional qualifications. The primary source record is compared to the information provided by the candidate to identify discrepancies.

Motor Vehicle Records (MVR) searches. MVR searches help employers determine if their candidates have a valid license and any restrictions, suspensions, or violations to their name, which is crucial for positions that involve transporting goods or driving a company vehicle.

Drug & occupational health screening. Often used in safety-sensitive industries, drug and alcohol screening helps employers detect substance use and build safer workplaces. Candidates typically visit a collection site to provide a hair, blood, urine, or oral fluid sample which is then sent to a laboratory for screening. Third-party screening providers can facilitate the drug screening process by providing a wide range of screening services, simplifying online scheduling, and keeping a Medical Review Officer (MRO) on staff for better support.

Social media searches. Social media searches can help employers gain insights about their candidates’ online activity that would not be uncovered through a traditional background check. Hiring managers sometimes conduct these searches themselves by searching for their candidates’ online profiles. But this practice can potentially expose them to discrimination claims, since social media sometimes includes data about protected characteristics. Third-party screening providers can help mitigate this risk by filtering out irrelevant and protected details from candidates’ social media overview.

How background checks are conducted

Once you’ve selected the searches you will include in your screening program, you’re ready to start conducting background checks. Here is an overview of the key steps of the screening process.

Selecting the required checks

Determining which background check services are appropriate for each candidate is the first — and sometimes most challenging — part of the screening process. Hiring managers must select job-relevant searches that will help them evaluate each new hire’s qualifications while balancing speed and risk considerations.

To simplify the selection process, employers should work with their legal advisors to put in place a background screening policy that defines which verifications and background checks should be completed for each role. Consistent screening practices promote fair hiring, while helping employers find candidates who reflect company values and meet job requirements.

Designing screening packages for each role or category of roles can simplify hiring managers’ decisions. For example, you might create separate packages for entry-level positions, specialized roles, and C-suite executives that take into account their respective risk level and responsibilities. While you must make the ultimate selection based on your hiring timeline and risk tolerance, your background screening provider can supply you with benchmarking resources and industry best practices for a more informed decision.

Providing notice and consent

In the U.S., background screening falls under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). This law requires employers to notify candidates and obtain their consent before procuring or completing their background check report. Some states and jurisdictions may also have additional consent and notice requirements.

Employers should work with their compliance and legal teams to implement the relevant disclosures and authorizations. Ideally, these requirements should be integrated directly into the background screening process to avoid involuntary omissions. This can be done by using a screening platform that automatically presents candidates with the relevant documents the employer has supplied before the background check begins.

Running the background check

Most background checks are conducted by searching the primary source of information or their designated third-party source. Criminal history checks, for example, are completed through a search of court records, while employment and education verifications generally require getting in touch with former employers and institutions. Other checks might involve searching public records or social media websites.

Tracking down sources can be time consuming; details provided by candidates aren’t always accurate, and businesses may not provide HR contact information in publicly accessible locations.

One of the benefits of conducting background checks through a third-party provider is that you don’t have to track down sources of information yourself. Background screening providers keep databases of contact details and requirements for major employers and institutions, accelerating the verification process.

Making a decision

Once the check is complete, you still need to evaluate the report, make an informed hiring decision, and inform successful candidates of the outcome. If an employer is considering disqualifying a candidate due to the background check, they should initiate the pre-adverse action notice process.

Some jurisdictions have fair chance hiring or “Ban the Box” laws restricting employers from making hiring decisions on the basis of criminal record data. Hiring managers should work with their dedicated legal teams to draft adjudication policies and guidance that support compliant hiring.

Choosing a background screening provider

Designing a screening program and running background checks may sound daunting, but you don’t have to do it alone. An experienced background screening provider can provide you with industry guidance and help you design screening packages that meet your requirements.

Look for a background screening provider who can:

• Offer you a one-stop shop for your identity and screening needs — including identity verification, background checks, onboarding, and monitoring services — to help you meet your staffing deadlines while helping to mitigate workforce risk throughout the entire employee lifecycle.
• Use a combination of smart automation and human review to accelerate key screening tasks without compromising report quality.
• Provide you with verticalized support, with packages and guidance tailored to your industry-specific needs and requirements.
• Integrate with your HRIS or ATS of choice to provide convenient, user-friendly experiences for both your hiring managers and your candidates.
• Share compliance resources, benchmarking tools, and industry best practices with you to help you stay on top of regulatory updates and market trends.

As a leading background screening provider in the U.S. and around the world, First Advantage provides organizations like yours with quick, efficient background checks that streamline screening, support more informed hiring decisions, and help employers build trusted workforces. Through proprietary verification data and intelligent automation, we help you screen and onboard faster, completing 90% of U.S. criminal searches within one business day.¹ Our industry expertise and compliance resources help you design screening programs tailored to your needs and navigate a complex U.S. regulatory landscape.

Interested in learning more? Contact us.

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