Checkr mission

  • Candidate stories: Better understand the past and present

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    Candidate stories allow candidates with records an opportunity in the Candidate Portal to submit additional context about their records and self-improvement efforts they’ve made. After a candidate submits their story, you can read it in their report in the Checkr Dashboard.

    Candidate stories help your adjudication team comply with Ban the Box and fair chance regulations. This feature enables your adjudicators to collect relevant supplementary information from candidates, which some jurisdictions require as part of the adverse action process.

    Checkr enables this feature by default for all customers. If you don't want to offer your candidates the opportunity to share their story through this feature, work with your Checkr Customer Success representative to disable it.

    Note

    You can use the Checkr APIs to create and retrieve candidate stories.

    Request candidate stories in the Checkr Dashboard

    To request a candidate story from the Checkr Dashboard, open the report and click Request Candidate Story in the Actions section. Candidates can also submit stories without you requesting them.

    The Tag field on the Candidates page shows candidates who submitted additional information or who you've asked to. Checkr automatically assigns a tag below to these reports:

    • candidate-story-requested
    • candidate-story-submitted

    Notifications

    Use the Account Settings page to set your notification preferences for candidate story submissions. By default, your adjudicators receive notifications for candidate stories submitted before the pre-adverse action process begins.

    Note

    To better manage the candidate story intake process, your adjudicators can share a queue of submissions:

    1. Create a new user with an adjudicator role, and set their email address to the desired mailbox.
    2. Set that new user to receive notifications of candidate story submissions.

    After a candidate submits their story, the story and any supporting documentation appear in an Additional Information section in their report. After you read the candidate's story, you can mark it as read.

    Candidate experience

    Candidates receive an email inviting them to log in to the Candidate Portal and submit additional context or supporting documentation if they want to. 

    After the candidate clicks the Share Your Story link and logs in, they decide whether to provide general information or address a specific record. The candidate can then add their story and submit documents.

    The Candidate Portal makes it clear to candidates that you, the customer, decide whether to review submissions and Checkr can't guarantee that you will.

  • Fair chance dashboard: Hiring candidates with records

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    Where is my fair chance dashboard?

    You can access your organization’s fair chance dashboard from the Fair chance tab in your Checkr Dashboard. This dashboard displays hiring-related education, resources, and analytics for customers with available data. 

    The fair chance dashboard is available for all customers who use Checkr products for employment purposes. The fair chance dashboard doesn't apply for customers who use Checkr products for tenant, insurance, or business purposes. 

    What is the fair chance dashboard?

    Through the Fair chance tab in your dashboard, you can find fair chance-related education, resources, and (for some customers) data. Learn how your organization can widen your talent pool while transforming lives through opportunities to work.

    By engaging individuals who are impacted by a criminal record, you can widen your talent funnel, successfully recruit and engage top talent, and contribute to lowering the unemployment rate of workers impacted by criminal records.

    How do I use the fair chance dashboard?

    At Checkr, we believe people with records should have the opportunity to move forward from their past.

    Fair chance hiring refers to the practice of hiring people with criminal records. It is built on the premise that everyone, regardless of their background, has the right to be fairly assessed for a role they are qualified to hold. 

    By practicing fair chance hiring, companies can find qualified, diverse talent with a wide range of experiences that builds diversity and ultimately leads to stronger business outcomes.

    To learn more about the fair chance dashboard, review the fair chance user guide. 

     

    The information below applies to customers who have analytics in their fair chance dashboard:

    Who can see fair chance analytics data?

    This data is private and appears only for users in your organization who have the permission to access analytics enabled. These roles are admins or other roles that have explicit permission to access analytics in the Checkr Dashboard.

    What does <charge category> mean?

    Pending charges

    • A pending charge means that nothing has been officially decided and the prosecutor is still reviewing the charge.
    • The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) encourages employers to consider factors such as the nature of the offense when determining eligibility for candidates with records. 

    Petty charges

    • Petty charges are the lowest-level in severity, meaning the charge may not be serious in nature and may be irrelevant to your business or job type.
    • The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) encourages employers to consider factors such as the nature of the offense when determining eligibility for candidates with records. 

    Charges over 7 years old

    • The more time that has passed, the less likely an individual is to commit another offense. Charges that are older than 7 years old have surpassed the statistical reoffense rate.
    • The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) encourages employers to consider factors such as the time that has passed since the offense when determining eligibility for candidates with records. 

    Charges from when the candidates were younger than 25

    • Emerging science about brain maturation suggests that adolescent brains continue to mature well into the 20s. 
    • The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) encourages employers to consider factors such as age at the time of offense when determining eligibility for candidates with records.

    How is the fair chance data calculated in the 3-bar chart?

    3-bar chart: This analytics feature displays customer adverse action rate as compared to that of average and high fair chance customers of a similar size over the past year.

    • Adverse action rate refers to the total candidates that your organization has initiated adverse action for / total reports marked Consider.
    • Similar size is defined as customers conducting a similar number of background checks per year.
    • Average is defined as the adverse action rate of the 50th percentile for your group of customers of a similar size.
    • High fair chance is defined as the adverse action rate of the top 10% of accounts (of your group of customers of a similar size) with the lowest adverse action rates.

    Adverse_action_comparison.png

    For more information about fair chance hiring practices, refer to Checkr's Fair Chance Mission.

  • Fair chance

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    What is fair chance?

    At Checkr, we believe people with records should have the opportunity to move forward from their past. Fair chance hiring refers to the practice of hiring people with criminal records. It is built on the premise that everyone, regardless of their background, has the right to be fairly assessed for a role they are qualified to hold. 

    By practicing fair chance hiring, companies can tap into a pool of qualified, diverse talent with a wide range of experiences that builds diversity and ultimately leads to stronger business outcomes.

    Fair chance dashboard

    You can access your organization’s fair chance dashboard from the Fair chance tab in your Checkr Dashboard. This dashboard displays hiring-related education, resources, and analytics for customers with available data. 

    The fair chance dashboard is available for all customers who use Checkr products for employment purposes. The fair chance dashboard doesn't apply for customers who use Checkr products for tenant, insurance, or business purposes. 

    The data in this dashboard appears for users in your organization who have permission to access analytics. These roles include admin users and other roles that have explicit permission to access analytics in the Checkr Dashboard.

    For more information about user permissions, visit the Users sections of the Account settings user guide.

    Analytics

    The analytics documented below don't appear for all customers, and some customers might have only one of the two. Your organization’s available data determines what appears. 

    Adverse action rate bar chart

    The 3-bar chart feature shows your adverse action rate as compared to that of "average" and "high fair chance" customers of a similar size over the past year.

    Adverse_action_comparison.png

    Adverse action rate represents [the total number of candidates that your organization has initiated adverse action for] / [the total number of reports with a status of Consider].

    Similar size is defined as customers conducting a similar number of background checks per year.

    Average is the adverse action rate of the 50th percentile for your group of customers of a similar size.

    High fair chance is the adverse action rate of the top 10% of accounts (of your group of customers of a similar size) with the lowest adverse action rates.

    Fair chance opportunity metric breakdown

    This section shows the total candidates who received adverse action in the past year with a breakdown of candidates by 4 charge categories:

    • Pending charges: A pending charge means that no official guilty or not-guilty decision has been made and the case is still ongoing.
    • Petty charges: Petty charges are the lowest severity level, meaning the charge might not be serious in nature and might not be as relevant to your business or job type.
    • Charges over 7 years old: The more time that has passed, the less likely an individual is to commit another offense. Charges older than 7 years old have surpassed the statistical reoffense rate.
    • Charges from when the candidates were younger than 25 years old: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) encourages employers to consider factors such as age at the time of offense when determining eligibility for candidates with records. Emerging science about brain maturation suggests that adolescent brains continue to mature well into the 20s. Additionally, according to many world organizations, such as the United Nations, "youth" is defined as people younger than 25 years old. This means that candidates who were younger than 25 at the time of the offense could be considered a “youth.”

    Candidates_not_through_funnel.png

    For more information about fair chance hiring practices, refer to Checkr's Fair Chance Mission.

  • Analytics overview

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    On the Analytics page of the Checkr Dashboard, you can review and evaluate your background check process. Charts on your Analytics page vary by how many candidates you screen and the Checkr packages or account features you have. You can also filter charts and download chart data.

    Important

    For charts to be accurate, your team must consistently select the Engage button to finalize a candidate's status.

    Overview

    The Overview tab shows your account's reports during the selected date range with the information below:

    • Completion and adjudication rate
    • Turnaround times
    • Outcomes

    The Volume section provides the charts below:

    • Invitations completed: If you don't use the Order background check button, this value is empty. List the number of invitations created during the selected date range. List the number of invitations completed as a percentage of the number created.
    • Reports completed: List the total number of reports completed during the selected date range. List the number of reports completed as a percentage of the number created.
    • Reports adjudicated: List the number of reports completed and adjudicated during the selected date range. List the number of reports adjudicated as a percentage of the number completed.
    • Report status & Report status by day: Chart the number of reports created during the selected date range and their current status. Possible statuses are Complete, Dispute, Pending, or Suspended. Results appear by day for the selected date range.
    • Report outcome & Report outcome by day: Chart the number of reports created during the selected date range and their current outcome. Possible outcomes are Clear, Consider, or other. Outcomes appear by day for the selected date range.

    The Turnaround Time section provides the charts below:

    • TAT summary: List the average turnaround time in days for invitations, reports, and adjudication.
      • Minimum
      • Median
      • Average
      • 90th percentile
      • Maximum
      • TAT metrics: The metric reported for the row:
      • Invitation: The time between an invitation’s creation and the candidate completing it
      • Report: The time between a report’s creation and its completion
      • Adjudication: The time between a report’s completion and its first adjudication decision
    • TAT drilldown: List the turnaround time for all reports created during the selected date range by the measures below:
      • Turnaround time (in hours) for the report’s invitation completion
      • Report completion
      • Report adjudication
        Reports without invitations, or without adjudication, are blank for those columns.
    • Report TAT distribution: Show the distribution of turnaround times (in days) for reports created within the selected date range.
    • Report TAT by package: Show the distribution of turnaround times (in days) by package for reports created within the selected date range.
    • Pending and suspended reports due to unresolved candidate exceptions: List the exception types for long pending and suspended reports. List the number of reports pending or suspended because of these exceptions.
    Note

    This report won't include data from the most recent 24 hours.

    • Exception type: The unresolved candidate exception responsible for the screening’s status of Pending or Suspended
    • Pending reports created: The number of reports created during the selected date range that currently have the Pending status
    • Suspended reports created: The number of reports created during the selected date range that currently have the Suspended status
    • Average days since report creation: The average number of days since the report was created

    Criminal

    The Criminal tab shows SSN trace and criminal searches in reports from your account during the selected date range with the information below:

    • Completion and turnaround times
    • Search outcomes
    • Map of all counties in the United States, color-coded for those counties' county criminal search turnaround times

    The SSN Trace and Criminal Screenings Volume section includes the charts below:

    • Screenings created: Show the number of SSN trace and criminal screenings ordered during the selected date range.
    • Screenings pending: Show the number of SSN trace and criminal screenings that currently have the Pending status. This information also appears as a percentage of the total number of criminal screenings created during the selected date range.
    • Screenings consider: Show the number of complete SSN trace and criminal screenings with the Consider status. This information also appears as a percentage of the total number of criminal screenings created during the selected date range.
    • Screenings created by day: Show the number of criminal screenings created during the selected date range by day and by criminal screening type:
      • County criminal records
      • Sex offender registry
      • Federal criminal records
      • Federal district criminal
      • State criminal records
      • Global watchlist records
      • Municipal criminal records
      • National criminal database
    • Screenings status: Show the status of SSN trace and criminal screenings created during the selected date range in two ways. The status can be Complete, Pending, or Suspended.
      • As a total
      • As a percentage of all criminal screenings created for the date range
    • Complete screenings by day: Show the number of SSN trace and criminal screenings created during the selected date range that have completed by the measures below:
      • Screening type
      • Day created
    • Pending screenings by day: Show the number of SSN trace and criminal screenings created during the selected date range that remain in Pending status by the measures below:
      • Screening type
      • Day created
    • Criminal screenings outcomes: Show Clear or Consider outcomes for criminal screenings created during the selected date range by screening type.
    • Clear criminal screenings by day: Show the number of criminal screenings created per day with a Clear outcome by screening type.
    • Consider criminal screenings by day: Show the number of criminal screenings created per day with a Consider outcome by screening type.
    • Adverse media outcomes: Show Clear or Consider outcomes for adverse media searches created during the selected date range by screening type.
    • Clear adverse media by day: Show the number of adverse media searches created per day with a Clear outcome by screening type.
    • Consider adverse media by day: Show the number of adverse media searches created per day with a Consider outcome by screening type.

    The SSN Trace and Criminal Screenings Turnaround Time section includes the charts below:

    • County Criminal Check TAT in hours: Map the average turnaround time for all criminal screenings by United States county. Average turnaround time has a scale from blue to red. Light blue is for the shortest turnaround times. Bright red is for closed counties or counties with turnaround times longer than 10 days. White means that the county had no available data.
    • County TAT in hours: List the average turnaround time for criminal screenings by US counties.
    • Screenings TAT summary: List the turnaround times below for each screening type started during the selected date range. Turnaround time is from screening creation to completion.
      • Minimum
      • Average
      • Median
      • 90th percentile
      • Maximum
    • Screenings TAT drilldown: List each report including an SSN trace or criminal screening created during the selected date range by report ID by the measures below
      • SSN trace or criminal screenings that each report includes
      • Creation and completion timestamps
      • Turnaround time in both days and hours.

    Motor vehicle records (MVR)

    The MVR tab shows motor vehicle records in reports from your account during the selected date range with the information below:

    • Completion rate
    • Outcome
    • Map of all United States states color-coded for states' MVR search turnaround times

    The MVR Volume section includes the charts below:

    • MVRs created: Show the total number of MVR screenings in reports for the selected date range and the total number of MVRs completed for that set.
    • MVRs created by day: Show the total number of MVR screenings in reports for the selected date range by day.
    • MVR status: Show the current status (Complete, Pending, or Suspended) for all MVR screenings in reports created during the selected date range.
    • MVR status by day: Show the current status for all MVR screenings created during the selected date range by report creation date.
    • MVR outcome: Show the Clear or Consider outcome of all completed MVR screenings created during the selected date range.
    • MVR outcome by day: Show the Clear or Consider outcome of all completed MVR screenings created during the selected date range by report creation date.

    The MVR Turnaround Time section includes the charts below:

    • State MVR TAT in hours and DMV closures: Map the average turnaround time for all MVR screenings by United States state. Average turnaround time has a scale from blue to red. Light blue is for the shortest turnaround times. Bright red is for closed counties or counties with turnaround times longer than 10 days. White means that the county had no available data.
    • State TAT in hours and DMV closures: List the average turnaround time for MVR screenings by United States state, whether the state closed its DMV, how long ago, and why.
    • MVR TAT summary: List the turnaround times below for each MVR screening from the account. Turnaround time is from report creation to completion.
      • Minimum
      • Average
      • Median
      • 90th percentile
      • Maximum
    • MVR TAT drilldown: List each report that included an MVR screening created during the selected date range by the measures below:
      • Report ID
      • MVR creation and completion timestamps
      • Turnaround time in both days and hours

    Verifications

    The Verifications tab shows health checks and employment and education verifications from your account's reports during the selected date range with the information below:

    • Completion rate
    • Turnaround time
    • Outcome

    The Health Checks & Verifications Volume section includes the charts below:

    • Drug checks created: Show the number of drug checks ordered during the selected date range and the number that completed.
    • Health checks created: Show the number of occupational health checks ordered during the selected date range and the number that completed.
    • Education created: Show the number of education verifications ordered during the selected date range and the number that completed.
    • Employment created: Show the number of employment verifications ordered during the selected date range and the number that completed.
    • Health checks and verifications created by day: Show the number of health checks and verifications created during the selected date range by the measures below:
      • Drug check
      • Education verification
      • Employment verification
      • Occupational health check
      • Day
      • Screening type:
    • Health checks and verifications status: Show the status of health checks and verifications created during the selected date range in two ways. Status can be Complete, Pending, or Suspended.
      • As a total
      • As a percentage of all similar screenings created for the date range
    • Complete health checks and verifications by day: Show the number of health checks and verifications created during the selected date range and which ones completed by the measures below:
      • Screening type
      • Day created
    • Pending health checks and verifications by day: Show the number of health checks and verifications created during the selected date range that remain pending by the measures below:
      • Screening type
      • Day created
    • Health checks and verifications outcome: Show the Clear or Consider outcome for health checks or verifications created during the selected date range by screening type.
    • Clear health checks and verifications by day: Show the number of health checks and verifications created per day with a Clear outcome by screening type.
    • Consider health checks and verifications by day: Show the number of health checks and verifications created per day with a Consider outcome by screening type.

    The Health Checks & Verifications Turnaround Time section includes the charts below:

    • Health checks and verifications TAT summary: List the turnaround times below for each health check or verification started during the selected date range. Turnaround time is from report creation to completion.
      • Minimum
      • Average
      • Median
      • 90th percentile
      • Maximum
    • Health checks and verifications TAT drilldown: List each report including a health check or verification created during the selected date range by the measures below:
      • Report ID
      • Health check or verification on each report
      • Creation and completion timestamps
      • Turnaround time in both days and hours

    Continuous

    The Continuous tab shows the information below:

    • How many candidates are enrolled and unenrolled in continuous subscriptions for the selected date range
    • Data sources that triggered reports for these candidates
    • Adjudication results

    The Continuous section includes the charts below:

    • Active continuous subscriptions: Show the total number of candidates enrolled in continuous subscriptions.
    • Continuous subscriptions enabled: Show the number of candidates enrolled in continuous subscriptions during the selected date range.
    • Continuous subscriptions disabled: Show the number of continuous checks disabled during the selected date range.
    • Enrollments by week: Show the number of continuous subscriptions enabled by week.
    • Unenrolled by week: Show the number of continuous subscription enrollments canceled during the selected date range. Enrollments can be canceled for one of two reasons:
      • The customer manually cancels enrollment.
      • The candidate has a report with the adjudication status of Post-adverse action.

    The Reports section includes the charts below:

    • Continuous report funnel: Show the transition of reports created during the selected date range through the continuous subscription process.
      • Reports created: Show the total number of continuous reports created within the specified date range.
      • Reports completed: Show the subset of reports created that completed during the specified date range.
      • Reports Consider: Show the subset of reports created that completed with a report status of Consider.
      • Reports Adverse Actioned: Show the subset of reports completed with the Consider status that had adverse action.
      • Unenrolled: Show the number of candidates unenrolled in continuous services either by the customer or because of a post-adverse action decision for that candidate.
    • Continuous data sources: Show the origin of data triggering a new report during the selected date range for candidates enrolled in Continuous Crim or Continuous MVR.

    Adjudication

    The Adjudication tab provides an overview of your adjudication systems for your account's reports during the selected date range.

    Use these charts to determine the most common charges for your candidate groups and which ones most often result in adverse actions. You can then use this information to determine whether to adjust your Assess rules or your adjudication matrix to improve the adjudication process. You can also learn whether your team is evaluating candidates fairly and consistently in different locations.

    The Report Adjudication section includes the charts below:

      • Reports completed: Show the number of reports created during the selected date range in two ways:
        • As a raw number
        • As a percentage of reports created
      • Reports adjudicated: Show the number of reports created during the selected date range that have been adjudicated in two ways. Adjudicated reports have a status of Engaged, Pre-adverse action, or Post-adverse action.
        • As a raw number
        • As a percentage of reports completed
      • Reports unblocked by PAM or Assess: Show the number of reports created during the selected date range that PAM or Assess unblocked in two ways.
        • As a raw number
        • As a percentage of reports completed
    Note

    Reports that PAM unblocked means that PAM hides all reportable charges and the report has the Clear outcome. Reports that Assess unblocked means that the report outcome is Consider and the Assess label is Eligible.

    • Report funnel
      • Reports created: Show the total number of reports created during the selected date range. This number includes manually created reports and candidate-completed invitations.
      • Reports completed: Show the number of reports completed out of all reports created during the selected date range. Incomplete reports might be in progress, pending, or suspended.
      • Reports Engaged: Show the number of reports with an Eligible outcome and an Engaged adjudication decision.
    • Report lifecycle: Show the lifecycle of reports created during the selected date range, from creation through completion and adjudication.
    • Report lifecycle summary: List the number of reports created during the selected date range by the measures below:
      • Status: Complete or Pending
      • Outcome: Clear or Consider
      • Assess decision: Eligible, Escalated, or no decision
      • Adjudication (if applied through the Checkr Dashboard or API)

    The Criminal Screening Adjudication section includes the charts below:

    • Reports unblocked by PAM: Show the number of reports created during the selected date range for which PAM hid all reportable charges, resulting in a Clear report outcome.
    • Charges unblocked by PAM: Show reports created during the selected date range that PAM unblocked by the measures below:
      • Screening
      • Charge category and subcategory
      • Charge type
      • Whether the charge was dismissed
    • Reports unblocked by Assess: Show the number of reports created during the selected date range with the Consider report outcome and the Assess label of Eligible.
    • Charges unblocked by Assess: Show reports created during the selected date range that Assess unblocked by the measures below:
      • Screening
      • Charge category and subcategory
      • Charge type
    • Reports adverse actioned: Show the number of reports created during the selected date range that resulted in adverse action.
    • Charges on adverse actioned reports: Show all reported charges on reports that resulted in adverse action by the measures below:
      • Screening
      • Charge category and subcategory
      • Charge type

    Assess adjudication is available only for United States screenings.

    The Assess Overview section includes the charts below:

    • Assess start date: The date that the account started using Checkr Assess for reports
    • Reports in pre-Assess benchmark: The number of reports created in the 3 months before the Assess start date
    • Reports assessed in date range: The number of reports created in the selected date range that were completed and assessed

    The Assess Efficiency and Fairness Impact section includes the charts below:

    • Reduction in Consider reports requiring manual adjudication: Compare the number of Consider reports requiring manual adjudication for the 3 months before Assess and the selected date range. To calculate the percentage, subtract the rate before Assess from the rate after Assess and divide the result by the rate before Assess.
    • Reduction in adverse action rate of Consider reports: Compare the number of Consider reports resulting in an adverse action for the 3 months before Assess and the selected date range. To calculate the percentage, subtract the rate before Assess from the rate after Assess and divide the result by the rate before Assess.
    • Consider reports requiring manual adjudication: Show the percentage of Consider reports requiring manual adjudication for the 3 months before Assess and the selected date range.
    • Adverse action rate of Consider reports: Show the percentage of Consider reports resulting in adverse action for the 3 months before Assess and the selected date range.

    The Assess Turnaround Time Impact section includes the charts below:

    • Reduction in average manual adjudication TAT: List the reduction in average adjudication turnaround times from the 3 months before Assess to the selected date range. Adjudication TAT is the time between a report’s completion and its first adjudication decision.
    Note

    If you upgrade a report, the turnaround time won't include adjudication that happened before the upgraded report completed.

    • Reduction in % of adjudication over overall TAT: Show the percentage reduction in overall turnaround time from the 3 months before Assess to the selected date range.
    • Average manual adjudication TAT: Show the average number of hours from report completion to manual adjudication for the 3 months before Assess and the selected date range.
    • % of adjudication over overall TAT saved: Show the percentage of reports’ turnaround time required for adjudication for both the 3 months before Assess and the selected date range. Report turnaround time measures from report creation to adjudication.

    Continuous check adjudication is available only for United States screenings.

    The Continuous Check Adjudication section provides the Reports Adverse Actioned chart. This chart lists the number of reports created during the selected date range that resulted in adverse action because of a Continuous Check report. The information appears both as a raw number and as the percentage of reports completed.

    MVR adjudication is available only for United States screenings.

    The MVR Adjudication section includes the charts below:

    • Reports with failed MVR rule: List the number of reports created during the selected date range that included an MVR screening that caused a Consider outcome.
    • MVR rules applied: List the total numbers of reports created during the selected date range for each rule applied and the MVR report's information:
      • Status: Complete or Suspended
      • Outcome: Consider or not available

    The Manual Adjudication section includes the charts below:

    • Reports manually adjudicated: List the number of reports that your team manually adjudicated, or set to an option below through the Checkr Dashboard:
      • Engaged
      • Pre-adverse action
      • Post-adverse action
    • Report volume and average TAT by adjudicator: Show each adjudicator's number of processed reports and the average turnaround time.
    • Pre-adverse action rate by adjudicator: Show each adjudicator's percentage of reports resulting in adverse action.
  • Features of Assess Premium

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    Checkr offers Assess Premium to help streamline your team’s adjudication process by manually defining rules for evaluating records that searches find. 

    First, you set powerful and flexible adjudication rules. Based on your rules, Assess Premium assigns a status to records in the completed reports. You can then focus on reviewing reports that need your attention.

    Customized, role-based adjudication rules

    Customize adjudication rules for any role based on the information below:

    • Age of the record
    • Candidate's age at the time of offense
    • Disposition
    • Frequency of record type
    • Record severity
    • Record type

    More efficient adjudication

    Assess Premium can help reduce the number of reports that need manual review by up to 90%.

    Filtering records based on the rules your adjudicator sets can reduce your time manually reviewing reports by up to 80%.

    Risk mitigation

    Assess Premium helps you standardize eligibility decisions for your candidate pool. By setting your rules to show only the records you care about, you can reduce the risk of human error and bias. Targeted and consistent review processes help you with the tasks below:

    • Help demonstrate your compliance.
    • Make informed decisions about your policies based on real data.

    Assess Premium doesn't replace your compliance program, particularly your background check review and adjudication practices. Assess Premium applies your defined rules to records to help your review and adjudication practices.

    As a consumer reporting agency, Checkr doesn't adjudicate records for you. You should consult your legal counsel about which Assess Premium settings best fit your needs, including the topics below:

    • How to apply your company’s review and adjudication practices to Assess Premium
    • How your use of Assess Premium might affect your responsibilities under applicable federal and state laws

    Possible report statuses for Assess Premium

    When a report completes, Assess Premium compares records to your eligibility rules and assigns 1 of 3 possible statuses. The assigned status appears in the Assessment column on the Candidates page of the dashboard:

    • Eligible: A situation below applies:
      • The report has no criminal history or other records.
      • The report has records that, according to your Assess Premium rules, don't require adjudicator consideration.
    • Review: Your rules flagged at least one record in this report.
    • Escalated: Your rules flagged at least one record in this report for detailed review.

    Checkr Dashboard

    Completed reports that use Assess Premium have the Complete status. Only admins and adjudicators can access record-level assessments in the dashboard.

    Checkr API

    A report has an overall status of Clear, Eligible, Review, or Escalated based on the searches it includes. Reports with no records have a status of Clear. 

  • Features of Assess Standard

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    Checkr offers Assess Standard as a more affordable version of Assess. Assess Standard helps streamline your team’s adjudication process.

    First, you set powerful and flexible adjudication guidelines. Based on your rules, Assess Standard assigns a status to records in the completed reports. Reports that meet your criteria are assessed as Clear, and you can automatically engage those candidates. You can then focus on reviewing reports that need your attention.

    Customized, role-based adjudication guidelines

    Customize adjudication guidelines for any role based on the information below:

    • Age of the record
    • Candidate's age at the time of offense
    • Disposition
    • Record severity
    • Record type

    More efficient adjudication

    Assess Standard can help reduce the number of reports that need manual review by up to 70%.

    AuFiltering records based on the guidelines your adjudicator sets can reduce your time manually reviewing reports by up to 80%.

    Risk mitigation

    Assess Standard helps you standardize eligibility decisions for your candidate pool. By setting your rules to show only the records you care about, you can reduce the risk of human error and bias. Targeted and consistent review processes help you with the tasks below:

    • Help demonstrate your compliance.
    • Make informed decisions about your policies based on real data.

    Assess Standard doesn't replace your compliance program, particularly your background check review and adjudication practices. Assess Standard applies your defined guidelines to records to help your review and adjudication practices.

    As a consumer reporting agency, Checkr doesn't adjudicate records for you. You should consult your legal counsel about which Assess Standard settings best fit your needs, including the topics below:

    • How to apply your company’s review and adjudication practices to Assess Standard
    • How your use of Assess Standard might affect your responsibilities under applicable federal and state laws

    Possible report statuses for Assess Standard

    When a report completes, Assess Standard compares records to your eligibility guidelines and assigns 1 of 2 possible statuses. The assigned status appears in the Assessment column on the Candidates page of the dashboard:

    • Clear: No records in this report have potentially adverse information, or information you need to evaluate based on your guidelines.
    • Review: At least 1 record in this report needs evaluation based on your guidelines.
  • Checkr Adjudication Product Migration from PAM to Assess FAQs

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    Effective 6/27/23, the Positive Adjudication Matrix (PAM) will be discontinued and replaced with a new and improved adjudication product called Assess Standard. Current PAM customers will be migrated automatically to a free trial of Assess Standard.

    Assess Standard brings an easier-to-use interface, more granular control, and the addition of 13 templated guidelines to maximize candidate throughput. Assess Standard also reduces reports requiring review up to 70%, getting your team the results they need even quicker.

    The Checkr team will be migrating all current customer PAM settings directly to Assess Standard so existing adjudication processes will not be impacted. There is no action required by Checkr customers.

    Read below for answers to common questions about the migration.

    Why is this migration from the Positive Adjudication Matrix (PAM) happening?

    The new adjudication solution, Assess Standard, addresses feature gaps in the PAM product and provides a superior self-service user experience.

    Is this migration going to mess up our existing adjudication settings?

    No, not at all! Our team will be careful porting over all existing settings for a seamless transition. As the migration date gets closer, we will also provide educational resources to make sure you feel equipped with the new product.

    I have a question about the migration; who should I contact?

    Reach out to your assigned Customer Success Manager (CSM). The initial email you received announcing the migration came from your CSM, so simply reply to that email with any questions. If you don’t have an assigned CSM, contact Checkr Customer Support.

    What happens when my free trial of Assess Standard expires?

    You will receive a head’s up 30+ days before your trial ends with details about the cost of Assess Standard and your options to continue or opt out of the product.

    What’s better about Assess Standard?

    It’s the future of your adjudication at Checkr and built off the Assess Premium framework, which has been our gold standard adjudication optimization offering since 2020.

    Customers with Assess Standard are seeing 20% fewer reports requiring review compared to PAM, meaning you’re spending less time looking at reports and more time getting candidates through the funnel. Overall Standard users see a 70% reduction in reports requiring review over no adjudication solution.

    Assess Standard also brings 13 templated guidelines with turn-key, fairness/compliance settings. These guidelines will not only help you expand your top-of-funnel but also increase fairness through your policies. We recommend you discuss with your legal counsel what fits your compliance needs. With Asses Standard, your team will be able to hone in on their adjudication settings significantly more effectively than PAM.

     

  • Expungements: Helping candidates move on from their past

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    At Checkr, we believe a criminal sentence should never be a life sentence to unemployment. We believe that the past shouldn't limit human potential, and we work to expand people’s opportunities.

    To promote our mission of fair-chance hiring, we built an affordable end-to-end expungement process for candidates with certain eligible charges in California.

    What are expungements?

    Generally, expungements seal or remove criminal charges from public record. Several factors affect the availability of expungements:

    • Jurisdiction of originating charge
    • Charges in multiple jurisdictions
    • Charge type and severity
    • How long ago the charge happened
    • Rehabilitation procedures and opportunities
    • Fines and fees for the charges and potential expungements

    Several states have enacted mandatory expungement policies for certain charges, but this process isn't universally available. Many candidates and employers are unaware of these policies and find it difficult to determine which records qualify.

    Checkr facilitates expungement services in two ways:

    • Identify potentially expungeable records for certain charges in California.
    • Help candidates through the petition process.

    Expungement-eligible records

    Checkr helps both customers and candidates identify which records might qualify for expungement:

    • For customers: The Checkr Dashboard identifies potentially expungeable records.
    • For candidates: For potentially expungeable records for certain charges in California, Checkr contacts candidates directly and the Candidate Portal identifies the record.

    Expungement process

    After Checkr identifies candidates with charges eligible for expungement in California, Checkr refers them to Avenues Legal LLP, a law firm in California. Avenues Legal LLP further evaluates candidate eligibility and processes the expungement petitions. All service costs go directly to Avenues Legal LLP.

    The expungement process has the steps below:

    1. Checkr notifies the candidate that they have a potentially expungeable record using the methods below:
      • Email
      • SMS text
      • The background check in the Checkr Candidate Portal
    2. If the candidate wants to seek an expungement, they complete a questionnaire in the Checkr Candidate Portal to determine whether the record qualifies.
    3. If the record qualifies, Checkr passes the information below to Avenues Legal LLP:
      • The candidate’s contact information
      • The candidate's eligible charge information
      • The underlying background check report
    4. The candidate chooses whether to pay the legal and processing fees for filing their petition for expungement.
    5. Avenues Legal LLP creates and files the candidate’s petition and communicates results.
    6. After the expungement order is granted or expungement isn't approved, Checkr emails the candidate.

    Interested in getting involved?

    Checkr is currently seeking opportunities to partner with nonprofits, government entities, and companies to sponsor expungements to enable more candidates to benefit from a clean slate. If you're interested, contact expungements@checkr.com.