Inside the Blueprint with First Advantage: Hiring Smarter and Onboarding Faster in 2026

In the year ahead, we think employers will face escalating identity fraud risks, tightening regulations, and the pressure to fill critical roles quickly. First Advantage recently discussed these challenges and the related opportunities on a segment of Inside the Blueprint, a national TV series showcasing innovative business solutions.   

Inside the Blueprint: How It Came Together  

In more than 20 years, First Advantage has grown into a global leader in screening, identity, and verification solutions. In the segment, members of our leadership team explain how our technology and expertise help organizations improve hiring speed, quality, and the candidate experience.  

Shortly after First Advantage acquired Sterling, Inside the Blueprint approached us, seeking to feature innovative HR technology leaders. Their research team identified First Advantage as a clear standout in this space, and the timing was perfect to elevate our unified brand and showcase the advancements we were bringing to the market post-acquisition.  

Throughout this initiative, we partnered closely with the Inside the Blueprint team to ensure they fully understood our business, our values, and the vision that drives First Advantage forward. This true cross-functional effort involved our commercial and regional marketing leaders, legal and product teams, and the leaders who represented First Advantage on camera. Our strong collaboration with Inside the Blueprint mirrors how we operate every day — team-driven, unified, and focused — which is a core element of our success. functional effort involved our commercial and regional marketing leaders, legal and product teams, and the leaders who represented First Advantage on camera. Our strong collaboration with driven, unified, and focused 

While this was a tremendous opportunity from beginning to end, the most exciting part was seeing First Advantage showcased in an entirely new medium. This was our first time on television, marking a major milestone for our brand. This feature provided us a platform to highlight our strengths, progress, and future in a bold new way. Our employees were genuinely thrilled to see our leaders represent us so strongly on screen, in a defining moment that brought pride and energy across the entire organization.  

Key Takeaways from the Segment  

The Inside the Blueprint segment highlights priorities for today’s modern employers: balancing hiring speed, risk mitigation, and candidate experience to compete for top talent successfully.  

Below are the key insights and differentiators discussed in the segment:  

Global Reach and Scale  

First Advantage operates at a global scale, with customers spanning across the world with more than 100 integrations with applicant tracking systems (ATS) and human capital management (HCM) systems. As First Advantage President Joelle Smith notes, “We have 80,000 customers. We do about 190 million screens a year across the globe … and we have over one billion proprietary records.”  

This global footprint empowers customers to maintain consistent screening standards while adapting to regional nuances. It also gives organizations the flexibility to manage high-volume and urgent hiring without compromising accuracy. Our now 96 percent customer retention rate speaks to the power of fast, dependable screening that delivers ongoing business impact.  

What this means for your organization:  

• Global coordination combined with local execution minimizes disruption and ensures a smoother hiring process.  
• Consistent standards across regions keep global hiring processes on track.  
• ATS and HCM integrations streamline workflows, enabling faster decisions when every hour counts in competitive talent markets.  

Technology and Innovation  

The First Advantage proprietary platform and AI-driven tools power screening, digital identity checks, verifications, and more. Additionally, we continually invest in compliance and process improvements so customers can keep pace with change and lead in screening and hiring efficiency. As Joy Henry, EVP and general manager, Americas, of First Advantage, explains, “We will not compromise on technology enablement. We will not compromise on compliance or quality. And with that approach, our customers trust us.” 

Our screening technology innovation isn’t tech for tech’s sake, but a cornerstone of First Advantage’s culture, says Scott Staples, CEO of First Advantage. “Continuous innovation is a core piece of the DNA of the culture of First Advantage. It means challenging things, thinking differently, and putting yourself in your customer’s shoes.”  

The benefits for HR, Risk, and Compliance leaders:  

• Higher efficiency: AI and automation tools reduce friction, accelerate cycle times, and flag anomalies earlier.  
• Defensible decisions: Built-in compliance features and documentation for audits help maintain accountability.  
• Continuous improvement: Frequent product enhancements bring gains in turnaround time, cost, and candidate satisfaction.  

Combatting Identity Fraud  

The Inside the Blueprint segment highlights the rising threat of digital impostors and deepfake-enabled impersonations in interviews and onboarding. Smith shared: “AI has grown to enable people to create fake identities and synthetic profiles that allow them to pretend they’re someone else in a job interview. It’s actually hitting all enterprises right now.”  

And if bad actors are hired, the risk escalates rapidly. Smith adds, “Once they become an employee, they usually get credentials to a company laptop, to the e-mail server, to systems and if they’re a technology worker, to the code base. These are the types of things that the identity fraud solutions we’ve developed are attacking.”  

First Advantage’s identity fraud solutions counter these risks with multi-layered verification capabilities, including:  

• Video liveness detection to confirm a real human is present.  
• ID card hologram analysis to spot tampering.  
• Early-stage identity checks to prevent downstream delays and reduce material risk.  

As a result, customers can address identity-fraud more proactively and focus on background checks for legitimate candidates.  

Customer-Centric Culture  

Our success starts with responsiveness and teamwork. As CEO Scott Staples puts it, “When our customers need something, we rally to them… and we don’t just rally with one or two people. We rally with a team.”  

Another cornerstone of our approach is understanding industry-specific challenges. Henry adds, “We’re organized in verticals. We believe it’s really important that we understand how our customers work, how they make money, and what the impact of ‘time to fill’ is.”  

This deep alignment allows us to anticipate customer needs and tailor solutions that reflect each customer’s priorities, whether it’s speed for high-volume hiring or compliance for regulated industries.  

Localized Experience  

We adapt communication tools and practices to fit regional norms. As Rolf Bezemer, First Advantage GM International, explains, “Where in the U.S., text might be relevant, in Europe, we are using WhatsApp, but when we communicate in China with our candidates, it is more on WeChat and Messenger.” 

This highly adaptive approach ensures candidate interactions feel natural and culturally appropriate. Bezemer adds, “With the help of AI and all the work that we have done with our Click. Chat. Call. proposition, we now can make those interactions with customers and candidates extremely unique and specific in their local language, practice, and culture.” Using preferred communication channels helps candidates complete forms and upload faster, which directly shortens turnaround timelines.  

Speed and Candidate Experience  

A fast, smooth onboarding process is critical in highly competitive industries, such as healthcare and transportation, where delays can cause employers to lose top talent to competitors. “These candidates are very much in demand. So we really want to make sure that they can get through the process really quickly,” says Aaron Cook, EVP, General Manager, Americas, at First Advantage. Cook adds, “So if it’s not a fast, smooth, easy experience, they have the option of going somewhere else.” 

The goal is to hire quickly without compromising quality or compliance. Here’s how First Advantage solutions make it easier:  

• Digital identity is verified early in the process.  
• Smart workflows minimize back-and-forth with candidates.  
• Integrations reduce manual and duplicative workflows.  
• Clear, localized candidate communications improve completion rates

Driving Smarter Hiring Forward  

The insights shared in Inside the Blueprint point to the critical hiring priorities of speed, risk management, and a candidate experience that wins talent. These priorities matter more than ever as hiring challenges intensify. Identity fraud is growing more sophisticated, compliance rules differ across regions, and candidates now expect near-instant responses.  

To address this reality, First Advantage offers: 

Global scale and expertise: We operate worldwide and adapt to local regulations and cultural norms, giving customers the reach and flexibility needed for consistent, compliant hiring.  

Innovation to help enable protections your business: Our multi-layered identity verification and AI-driven detection tools are designed to address modern identity-fraud threats before they impact your organization.  

Speed that wins talent: Streamlined workflows enable fast background checks. They help candidates move quickly from offer to start and give your organization a critical advantage when hours can make the difference in competitive markets.  

A culture that puts you first: “Our team of dedicated customer success partners works with our customers around the globe. They speak the same language. They understand what keeps [customers] up at night. They understand what type of candidate experience they’re trying to create,” noted Henry.  

Ready to See More?  

Discover how First Advantage is helping employers hire smarter and onboard faster in 2026 and beyond. Watch the full Inside the Blueprint segment, then share your feedback or pass it along to your network. 

Contact us to learn more about how to enhance your hiring process.  

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