1. Can you introduce yourself and talk about your role at First Advantage?
Of course. My name is Joelle Smith, I am the President at First Advantage, a leading provider of global software and data in the HR technology industry. I have been with First Advantage for 7 years. Over the last 5 years I have led the transformation of our product, data, and tech organizations, which has directly supported the modernization of our cloud architecture. Today, my team is structured by bringing together the go-to-market (sales, customer success, marketing), product, and technology teams.
Before First Advantage, I spent 20 years building and selling software, Software as a Service (SaaS) and technology consulting to Fortune 500 companies, with notable expertise in Financial Services, Banking, Transportation, Retail, and Hospitality.
2. Can you walk us through your core services and how they help employers verify identities and protect against fraud?
First Advantage stands out as one of the only companies with a platform and data driven by AI sophisticated enough to serve as the orchestration layer across the work life cycle of an individual. This differentiation helps our customers to protect their brand, build trust, and truly know their people.
One of our newest services, digital identity, is designed to help employers protect against identity fraud by job candidates. We offer digital identity solutions that provide secure and efficient identity processes. Our platform, which integrates advanced AI technology with large proprietary and third-party sourced data, is what allows us to deliver these innovative processes. This combination of AI and data allows us to provide secure and efficient digital identity solutions, to assist with flagging any discrepancies from the information provided by candidates.
3. With identity fraud becoming more sophisticated, digital identity is more critical than ever. What trends are you seeing in the digital identity space, and how is First Advantage responding to these evolving concerns?
We are seeing news around identity fraud everywhere, from the recent Wired article titled “North Korea Stole Your Job”, to Gartner data revealing that one in four job candidates could be fraudulent by 2028. Accompanying the news are trends such as increased use of biometric authentication, AI-driven identity verification, and enhanced security measures to combat sophisticated identity fraud. These stories and trends have led to risk management and brand protection taking a front seat in enterprise boardrooms.
First Advantage is helping our customers to respond to these evolving threats by continuously updating our digital identity solutions to incorporate the latest technologies and best practices. Likewise, by combining AI, automation, and biometrics, we improve the efficiency of our background checks, delivering quick and frictionless experiences to candidates. Our AI-powered mechanisms help drive continuous improvements for our candidate experience, as we strive to help our customer to stay ahead of emerging threats.
4. Your platform serves a wide range of industries and geographies. How do you balance global compliance requirements with the need for fast, reliable background checks?
Balancing global compliance requirements with the need for fast, reliable background checks is a key focus for us. Our platform is designed to adapt to various regulatory environments while maintaining high standards of accuracy and speed. We leverage our automated global background screening products to help organizations across different regions and industries maintain compliance.
5. Technology is rapidly transforming the screening process. How is First Advantage leveraging AI, automation, or biometrics to improve speed, accuracy, and fraud detection?
First Advantage is at the forefront of this transformation. We are leveraging AI to improve the process efficiency of our background checks. Automation helps us process large volumes of data quickly, while biometrics enhance the security and reliability of our digital identity solutions.
In fact, First Advantage was one of the first to market with digital identity fraud solutions in the KYP (Know Your People) markets in the UK, Canada, and Australia, and now that it is front and center in the US where we are uniquely positioned to help our customers across the lifecycle of hiring and onboarding – two critical action points for the 163 million working Americans across the US. Our depth and breadth of products and massive technology and data investments have positioned First Advantage to deliver significant value and risk mitigation to customers.
6. Looking ahead, what are your biggest priorities when it comes to strengthening identity protection and background screening for employers and individuals?
Our biggest priorities include further enhancing our digital identity solutions, expanding our verifications services, and continuing to innovate with our automated global background screening products to help our customers stay ahead of emerging threats and while getting the best possible service from First Advantage.
This interview originally appeared on SafetyDetectives: https://www.safetydetectives.com/blog/joelle-smith-first-advantage/
