Customer Help Center

Industry-wide, the average background check takes 3-5 days. Checkr’s ETA tool provides an estimate of when the Candidate’s report should be complete. While these estimates are highly accurate, they are not a guarantee. In a small number of cases, delays of 3+ weeks may occur. In these situations, unfortunately, Checkr is not able to expedite the process.

The most common reasons for a delay:

• At least one county on the County Criminal Record Check requires a clerk to search for physical records.
• There are delays at county courts due to court staffing and backlog challenges, such as seasonal hiring spikes or COVID-19. 
• Additional research is required to ensure potential records are a match to the candidate. Additional research is often required when: 
  • The candidate has a common name; and/or
  • Public access to the identified potential record(s), such as the full date of birth (DOB), is limited by the relevant courts.
• An Exception has occurred and the candidate has not responded to our request for additional information. 

Next steps:

• When delays occur at the county court level or when additional research is required, no additional action is required by the customer. Checkr is not able to expedite the process. The report will complete after all necessary information has been properly evaluated.
• When Exceptions occur, candidates are prompted to submit additional information. In addition to the email sent to the Candidates requesting this information, Checkr also provides the following ways to help resolve exceptions:
  • Encourage your candidates to visit the Candidate Portal frequently to check on the progress of their report. Any active exception, and a link to resolve it, will appear when they first log in;
  • Send your candidates the link provided in the exception in the Checkr dashboard, and instruct them to follow the instructions provided to resolve the issue; and
  • Click the link on the report, and enter the requested information on your candidate's behalf.

Additional resources:

• County Criminal Records Check 
• Exceptions: Addressing data discrepancies in reports
• How long do most background checks take?
• Can Checkr expedite the process?
• Where can I check the status of county court operations?

Question

We have a candidate who had their background check suspended due to not providing additional information. Unfortunately, they did not see the email from Checkr requesting additional information. How can we restart/reactivate the report? Can a new link be sent to the candidate?

Answer

Suspended reports can be updated and processed if the required document is provided within 30 days of the report's creation. If the exception cannot be resolved within these 30 days the report status changes to Complete and the screenings cancel. A new report must be ordered. Checkr cannot accept required documents from candidates via email.

Follow these steps to resolve the exception:

• Ask the candidate to check their email for the secure link to upload their document, or to visit the Candidate Portal to upload it at any time.
• If they cannot locate the email, log into the Checkr Dashboard and go to that candidate's report. Look for the verification link found beneath the exception on their report. This link can be shared with the candidate.
• Click the link on the report, and enter the requested information on your candidate's behalf.

Once sufficient information is provided, it will be reviewed and the report will be updated.

Also see these Help Center articles:

• Exceptions: Addressing data discrepancies in reports
• MVR Exceptions: What to do if an MVR report results in a Suspended status
• Report suspended: Candidate not receiving emails

This article will help you understand:

• What is the difference between a screening and a package?
• What standard screening packages are available?
  • US screening packages
  • Non US screening packages
• Can I customize a package?
• Which package is right for me?
• Who do I contact to add a new package?
• Can I add screenings to an existing package?
• Where can I learn about pricing?

What is the difference between a screening and a package?

A package is a defined set of screenings that will be run after a candidate authorizes their background check. For example, an Essential Criminal Package consists of the following screenings:

• Social Security Number Trace
• Sex Offender Registry Check
• Global Watchlist Check
• National Criminal Database Check
• County Criminal Check (Unlimited County)

What standard screening packages are available?

Checkr offers a variety of packages at different price points.

Checkr offers four packages which consist of a single, standalone screening:

• Education Verification: verifies a candidate's educational history.
• Previous Employment Verification: verifies a candidate's previous employers.
• Current Employment Verification: verifies a candidate's current employer.
• Motor Vehicle Report (MVRs): runs a standard MVR screening.

Checkr also offers several packages which provide common combinations of our most frequently requested screenings:

Contact Checkr Customer Support for pricing. In addition to the cost of the background check, reports may be subject to various third-party access fees.

Can I customize a package?

Additional screenings can be added to create custom packages that best fit your team’s needs. Checkr can add the following to any basic package:

• County Criminal Check
• Federal Criminal Check
• State Criminal Check
• County Civil Checks
• Federal Civil Checks
• Aliases

The following screenings can also be added as standalone checks or combined with others to create a comprehensive package:

• Motor Vehicle Records (MVRs)
• Education Verification
• Employment Verification
• Personal and Professional Reference Checks
• Fraud Abuse Control Information System (FACIS) Checks
• Employment Credit Checks
• Drug and Occupational Health Screens
• DOT Screens
• International Screens

For a complete list of available screenings, see Screening Types

Which package is right for me?

Each organization has unique needs. As a general rule of thumb, make sure the package includes comprehensive screenings suitable for the role. For example, if you’re hiring a driver you may want to include a Motor Vehicle Records (MVRs) screening in the package.

Who do I contact to add a new package?

Existing customers can contact Checkr Customer Support to add a new package to their accounts. Those working with a dedicated Customer Success Manager (CSM), may also contact their CSM directly. New accounts must first be credentialed before running screenings. Additional setup time will be required for packages that include Drug and Occupational Health Screens and Employment Credit Checks.

Can I add screenings to an existing package?

To add a specific screening to an existing package, you must have the role of admin, restricted admin, or requester, and have the 'manage_order_add_ons' permission turned on.

To learn more about what screenings you can add to an existing package, see Package add-ons: Add screenings to an existing package.

Where can I learn about pricing?

For information about package prices, visit the Checkr Package Pricing page. 

The Candidates tab of the Dashboard has the status options below for candidates who have already begun the background check process.

Invitation Sent 

The invitation link was sent, but the candidate hasn't responded yet and the report hasn't begun. 

Pending 

The report is processing. Most reports take 2-3 days to finalize, but some can take longer, often for one of the reasons below: 

• Checkr is waiting for the candidate to submit information: Checkr required a form of documentation from the candidate to continue the report. Checkr contacts candidates for exceptions like these so that your background check process works smoothly.
• A County Criminal Records Check is in progress: Some County Criminal Records Checks take significantly longer than others, usually because the county processes search requests manually. Unfortunately, the County Criminal Records Check can't be expedited.

Related article:

• "Why is the background check taking longer than expected?"

Complete 

The report is complete without a result and ready for your review. 

Clear 

The report is complete with a Clear result and doesn't contain records or information you’ve identified as relevant.

Consider 

The report is complete with a Consider result and contains information you might want to consider. This information might include criminal records, motor vehicle report (MVR) violations that don't meet your MVR criteria, Employment and/or Education verifications that weren't an exact match, or other records for your adjudicators to review.

Dispute 

The report is complete, and the candidate has contacted Checkr to dispute information on the report. Adjudication is blocked during the Dispute report status.

The reinvestigation timeframe for disputed reports is a maximum of 30 days. The compliance contact on your Checkr account receives an email after the reinvestigation.

Suspended 

The report can't complete because of missing information or incomplete searches. Checkr has contacted the candidate to submit additional documents. The report will continue after the information is confirmed. After a period of time, the report status automatically changes to Complete or Canceled. If you want the report to complete in its current state, you can use the Complete Now feature.

Some screenings have Suspended status indefinitely.

Related article:

• Report suspended: How to resolve an exception on a suspended report.

Canceled 

The report has a Canceled status if all screenings are canceled. If at least one screening has completed, the report has Complete status and indicates some canceled screenings.

Invitation Expired 

The invitation link was sent, and the candidate didn't complete it in the allotted time. To continue with the candidate, you must send a new invitation. By default, invitation links expire after 7 days. Work with your Checkr Customer Success Manager to change the number of days your candidates have to respond to an invitation.

The Assess feature has the options below: 

Clear 

Reports with no records returned will be tagged Clear. 

Eligible 

Reports with records returned that meet your criteria for Eligible, and with no records marked Review or Escalated, will be marked Eligible. In other words, your rules have determined that this record doesn't make the candidate ineligible for the position.

Review 

Reports with at least one record marked Review, and with no records marked Escalated, will be marked Review. In other words, your rules state that this record should be reviewed to evaluate whether it meets your adjudication criteria for the position.

Escalated 

Reports with even one record marked Escalated will be marked Escalated. In other words, your rules have flagged this record as one requiring close evaluation before engaging the candidate.

Related articles: 

• Assess
• Checkr Assess: Increase adjudicator efficiency and reduce cost-to-hire