Verifications

Verifying a candidate’s education confirms their level of schooling and their qualifications. Education verification confirms the information below:

• School name
• Degree earned
• Completion date

Checkr verifies education for colleges, high schools, and high school equivalency exams. Checkr also does international education verifications, but they take longer and additional fees apply. To enable international education verifications, contact Checkr.

Verification process

First, the candidate provides their education history. Checkr uses the candidate-provided information to search education databases. Those databases can usually verify the highest level of education completed. 

If the school doesn't report to the education databases, Checkr tries 3 times to directly contact the school’s registrar.

In the situations below, the report generates an exception and the candidate must submit proof of education:

• The school doesn't respond after 4 attempts.
• Five days have passed since the verification started. 
• The registrar can't confirm the highest level of education completed or enrolled.

If the candidate doesn’t provide proof of education after 7 days, the link to provide proof expires. After the link expires, the verification completes without verifying the school. If a candidate provides a high school diploma or a GED certificate during the application process, Checkr compares it to the candidate-provided history. If the document confirms the education history, Checkr verifies the document automatically.

After a verification starts, Checkr can’t accept additional documents unless the verification has an exception. If you have the admin user role, you can upload documents to the candidate's report using the exception link.

To review information a candidate provides outside the education verification, contact the candidate directly. Checkr can't use proof of education you obtain outside the background check process. If you want candidates to upload extra supporting documents, direct them to the Candidate Portal.

Results

The candidate's report includes notes about Checkr’s attempts to contact schools.

Use the notes to find your candidate’s progress through the verification. Education verification verifies only the candidate-provided information. Education verification doesn't verify that the candidate is who they say they are.

Candidate experience

Candidates provide their education history, including the information below:

• Highest level of education
• Institution name and location

If the candidate's highest education level is high school, they provide their high school diploma.

A candidate with a non-US work location and Canada school location, can log in using information from their current or most recent education institution. If the candidate logs in, we instantly verify the candidate’s education history from that institution. If the candidate can’t log in, the candidate provides their information manually.

The candidate then reads and acknowledges receipt of applicable forms and notifications:

• A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
• Disclosure Regarding Background Investigation
• Other state and required disclosures as applicable
• Authorization for a background check

After the candidate signs the authorization form, Checkr starts the verification.

If you applied for a job and want to know your background check’s status, log in to the Checkr Candidate Portal.

Verifying a candidate’s employment history confirms their work experience, qualifications, and credentials.

Verification process

Employment verification includes the steps below:

1. The candidate provides their employment history.
2. Checkr searches established databases of employment records to verify the candidate-provided information about their employment history. The situations below sometimes happen:
   • If Checkr can't use these databases to verify the candidate's history, Checkr uses public information to contact the employer.
   • If Checkr can't contact the employer using public information, Checkr uses the candidate-provided contact information.
   • If Checkr still can’t contact the previous employer, Checkr issues an exception. Checkr asks the candidate to provide a document below to resolve the exception:
     • A United States tax form below:
       • W-2
       • 1099
       • Schedule C
     • Letter from their former HR department on company letterhead
     • Pay stub

Your candidate has seven days from the exception date to provide documents. The link to provide documents for the exception expires after seven days.

The candidate's report includes notes about Checkr’s attempts to contact previous employers.

If the candidate provides no employment history, the verification has the “Canceled” status by default. To require that candidates provide employment information, contact Checkr.

Discrepancies in the information below may cause employment verifications to have the “Consider” status:

• Start date
• End date
• Position

A circle with an exclamation point indicates which information has discrepancies.

After a verification completes, Checkr can’t accept additional documents. To review information a candidate provides outside the employment verification, contact the candidate directly.

Self-employed candidates

When a candidate reports a period of self-employment, an internal Checkr team manually verifies the employment. Checkr requests a document below to verify self-employment:

• A United States tax form below:
  • 1099
  • Schedule C
• Letter from the client on company letterhead

“Do not contact” option

Candidates can request that Checkr not contact their current employer. When a candidate requests that Checkr not contact their current employer, Checkr does the verification using only candidate-provided documents. A candidate can select “Do not contact” only for their current employer.

Checkr asks the candidate to submit proof of employment with a document below that contains the employer's name:

• A United States tax form below:
  • W-2
  • 1099
  • Schedule C
• Letter from their former HR department on company letterhead
• Pay stub

Checkr uses these documents only for verification purposes. If the candidate doesn't provide these documents, the verification gets an exception. The candidate has 7 days to submit documents to resolve the exception.

Ordering

You can select from the employment verification options below. To configure these settings for your account, contact Checkr.

• Out-of-country history: Include international verification.
• Salary: Collect the candidate's salary information.
• Manager contact: Collect the manager's contact information.
• Contract type: Collect the candidate's contract type.
• Employment lookback: Set the amount of employment history to request from the candidate. You can set up to 10 years of history.
• Employment history: Set how many previous positions to request information about from the candidate. Set at least one position.

Consult your legal counsel about your compliance responsibilities under relevant federal, state, and local laws

Employment verification is available as a standalone search.

Lookback periods

You can configure different lookback periods for each package. Even if you configure a lookback period, Checkr doesn't require candidates to provide a specific number of employers. A lookback period only improves the chances that the candidate provides information within that lookback period. If you need information about an exact number of employers, tell your candidates directly.

A candidate meets the verification requirement when they provide an item below:

• The requested number of employers
• Employment history within the lookback period

For example, you might require a seven-year lookback period and three previous positions. A candidate who provides an employment history with one position that lasted 10 years and another candidate who had three positions over four years also meets your requirement.

Salary questions

Some jurisdictions regulate whether an employer can ask about a candidate’s salary history. Because regulations change frequently, Checkr’s default is to not collect salary information from candidates.

Candidate experience

In the Candidate Portal, candidates in the United States enter payroll login information for their current or most recent employer. If the information is correct, we instantly verify the candidate’s employment history. If we can’t find the employer’s information, or if the information is incorrect, the candidate provides their information manually.

Candidates outside the United States, and those who can’t use payroll information, provide their personally identifying information (PII) manually.

The candidate provides the PII below:

• Birth date
• Email address
• Full name
• Phone number
• Social Security number (SSN)

The candidate then reads and acknowledges receipt of applicable forms and authorizations:

• A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
• Disclosure Regarding Background Investigation
• Authorization for a background check
• Other state and required disclosures as applicable

After the candidate signs the authorization form, Checkr starts the verification. Checkr can’t update or correct candidate-provided information after the verification starts.

If Checkr can’t verify an employer, Checkr asks the candidate to provide a document below:

• A United States tax form below:
  • W-2
  • 1099
  • Schedule C
• Letter from their former HR department on company letterhead
• Pay stub

Checkr doesn't accept W-9 forms as proof of employment.

If you applied for a job and want to know your background check’s status, log in to the Checkr Candidate Portal.

When determining hiring eligibility for specialized or regulated roles, you need to check a candidate’s professional license. Professional license verification (PLV) verifies whether a candidate’s professional license is active and in good standing.

Checkr verifies publicly accessible license records including, but not limited to, the professions below:

• Accounting
• Coast Guard
• Contractor
• Dietitian
• Healthcare
• Insurance
• IT (Technology)
• Mental health
• Nursing
• Pharmaceutical
• Real estate
• Veterinary medicine

PLV verifies data a candidate provides. PLV doesn't verify the candidate’s identity.

Professional license records

During a PLV, Checkr verifies the license attributes below:

• Is active or expired
• Is in good standing
• Includes the candidate’s name

Because Checkr automates most of the PLV process, PLVs typically complete within 5 minutes. Usually because of a candidate’s data-entry error, automated PLV might not complete. In these situations, Checkr manually verifies information with licensing authorities. Manual verifications usually take 1-2 business days.

PLV process

PLV includes the steps below:

1. The candidate provides a copy of their professional license, which the issuing body verifies. For example, the Florida Bar verifies licenses to practice law in the state of Florida.
2. Checkr tries to verify the information, with a report status below:
   • Clear: The dashboard shows the candidate's verified documents and certification details.
   • Consider: The dashboard shows a reason below to explain the Consider status:
     • Candidate-provided information doesn't match government records.
     • Checkr can't find the license.
     • The license expired.
     • The license isn't in good standing or has derogatory marks.

Ordering

You can add PLV to a background check search package from the Checkr Dashboard. 

Candidate experience

The candidate provides the information below:

• State
• Certifying organization
• License type
• License number
• Expiration date (optional)
• License document

The candidate can upload up to 2 licenses for verification.

The candidate then reads and acknowledges receipt of applicable forms and authorizations:

• A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
• Disclosure Regarding Background Investigation
• Other state and required disclosures as applicable
• Authorization for a background check

After the candidate consents in writing, Checkr starts the verification.