ICIMS Partners with First Advantage for Faster Integrations

The hiring world has undergone significant transformations over the last few years, driven by technological innovation. Once a promising but peripheral newcomer in the HR space, AI has become a mainstay of modern Talent Acquisition workflows, replacing time-consuming manual processes to accelerate hiring and drive efficiencies. Identity verification and background screening remain areas where organizations sometimes lag behind, highlighting not only a process gap, but an opportunity for growth. 

At Collaborate 2026, we sat down with Alan Tockerman, Strategic Alliance Director at ICIMS, and Harris Bornstein, Vice President of Strategic Alliances and Channel Partnerships at First Advantage, to talk about the role of seamless integrations in simplifying screening and driving successful hiring outcomes for Talent Acquisition teams. 

A holistic approach to hiring 

Some organizations continue to rely on separate systems to complete identity verifications, background checks, and onboarding paperwork. They might, for example, have hiring managers verify candidates’ identity through in-person document review, conduct the required background checks through their third-party screening provider’s independent platform, and submit and track I-9 documentation through their HRIS.  

However, far from taking place in a vacuum, hiring and screening activities involve multiple interconnected workflows. When they adopt a fragmented approach to workforce management, Talent Acquisition teams increase their administrative workload, lose visibility into the hiring process, and run higher risks of miscommunications and errors. 

This is where First Advantage’s integration with ICIMS proves particularly valuable for organizations by consolidating identity verification, background checks, drug screening, I-9 compliance, and monitoring with other hiring-related workflows. Users can log into ICIMS to order background checks, track the status of their files, and receive a link to the final report, overseeing the screening process through the same platform they use to track job applications and manage their workforce. 

Tockerman says, “Seamless integrations help organizations connect their background and hiring workflows. By reducing manual efforts, organizations increase their accuracy and success rates.”  

Hiring at scale without sacrificing compliance 

As organizations grow, they become more complex. Talent Acquisition processes that once involved a few recruiters now call for multiple teams and stakeholders. Workflows that were adequate for screening a small pool of local applicants can fail to scale for large-volume hiring across borders. Regulatory requirements have become more complicated and more stringent, with potentially costly consequences for non-compliance. 

New challenges continue to emerge. Fueled by AI and deepfake technologies, candidate identity fraud is growing, with advisory firm Gartner estimating that 1 in 4 candidate profiles could be fake by 2028.  

While important for companies of all sizes, streamlining hiring, screening, and onboarding processes, including technologies, is even more crucial for enterprise organizations as they move at high speed and volume. To help mitigate fraud-related risks, many organizations are adopting an identity-first approach, verifying candidates’ identity before proceeding with further background checks. Through First Advantage’s partnership with ICIMS, identity verification can be integrated at the start of the screening process, which means Talent Acquisition teams no longer have to rely on manual verifications or separate third-party applications to manage candidates’ identities. 

Building workforce trust over time requires more than a one-time investment in a pre-hire background check, especially for large organizations. Post-hire monitoring gives employers insight into their employees’ current credentials and activities, enabling them to better assess risks and confirm regulatory and job requirements are being met. Like identity verification and background screening processes, First Advantage’s monitoring services can be ordered and tracked directly through ICIMS to facilitate ongoing, seamless review. 

“By integrating identity verification, background screening, onboarding, and monitoring processes into a single centralized location, organizations have better visibility into their workforce at all stages of the employee lifecycle,” says Harris Bornstein.

Reducing friction within the HR tech stack 

“First Advantage’s partnership with ICIMS was started to remove friction from the hiring process,” Tockerman explains. Through years of experience, First Advantage and ICIMS have developed a strong understanding of the features customers want in an integration, from the perspectives of product, recruiters, and candidates. In collaboration, First Advantage and ICIMS collect feedback from customers to understand their needs, address their pain points, and help them support their regional and global compliance requirements. 

Beyond the quality-of-life improvements it brings to Talent Acquisition teams, the positive impact an effective integration can have on candidates should not be underestimated. The findings from our 2026 Global Trends Report are clear: background screening is viewed by most candidates as a benefit, with 7 in 10 stating that background checks increase their trust in an organization. A thorough background screening program signals to candidates that their potential employer cares about fair hiring practices, regulatory compliance, and workplace safety. 

However, realizing the benefits depends on effective implementation. Disorganized, time-consuming, or opaque screening processes can turn a potential asset into a liability, eroding trust and discouraging potential employees. This is where First Advantage’s integration with ICIMS shines. Through the ICIMS platform, Talent Acquisition teams send an invitation to candidates prompting them to complete the identity verification, background screening, and onboarding processes. Candidates can complete the required information anytime, anywhere, through an intuitive, mobile-friendly experience that avoids common roadblocks, such as the need to fill out paperwork in person.  

Bringing value to Talent Acquisition teams 

For employers, our trends report found that both risk mitigation and speed are top priorities when it comes to background screening, not a tradeoff. First Advantage’s seamless integration with ICIMS helps organizations support this dual mandate, consolidating workforce management and screening workflows within a single centralized location for faster hiring, improved visibility, and more efficient background checks. By integrating screening into other workforce management processes, First Advantage’s partnership with ICIMS improves both employee and candidate experiences and supports faster, more confident hiring. 

 Click here to learn more about our partnership with ICIMS. 

Interested in setting up a First Advantage integration with ICIMS? Contact our experts. 

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