With the Talent Report™ Select All solution, Equifax (NYSE: EFX) facilitates faster, more-informed hiring decisions for talent acquisition professionals with reliable verifications of employment via The Work Number® database. Talent Report Select All delivers contextual data in support of a more holistic view of the candidate in a single report, helping hiring managers make critical decisions with greater confidence.

“Customers tell us they need to quickly and efficiently verify current and past employment,” commented Joe Muchnick, SVP of Talent Solutions for Equifax. “Typically, in one, simple request Talent Report Select All delivers the data employers need instantly and consistently which helps put efficiency into a critical piece of their hiring process.”

A background check is information which is compiled on an individual which may be considered when determining eligibility for a job or housing. An employer or property manager determines what components to include in the background check based on the industry, position or housing unit. In general, the components may include: criminal history information, civil records, driver records, employment records, educational information, license verification, credit information and reference checks. Background checks may also include drug testing, a physical, and even psychological evaluations or assessments. In order to determine which components may be included in a background check, applicants are encouraged to consult with their prospective employers and property managers.

Today’s employers continue to refine their processes for making educated hiring decisions, and are constantly looking to improve efficiency and the quality of hires. As a result, background screening and employment verifications are on the rise. In fact, a 2020 survey released by HR research Institute and the Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA) found that 94 percent of employers are conducting at least one type of employment background screening. The same survey showed employment verifications are up 17 percent from 2019 to 2020. Founded as a non-profit trade association in 2003, the PBSA was established to represent the interest of companies offering employment and tenant background screening services.

Through Talent Report Select All, recruiting teams and background screeners with permissible purpose have access to nearly 400 million employment records in The Work Number database. Record growth in The Work Number database has increased more than 43 percent since 2016, and includes hundreds of thousands of small- to medium-sized businesses as well as many contractor (1099) records, supporting a more holistic view of the candidate.

The scale of the database and the sophisticated underlying technology platform helps drive digital efficiency into a formerly manual process. With a single report that returns all available data in typically milliseconds, credentialed verifiers can reduce workloads and improve decision speed. That scale can also help deliver unparalleled results. In fact, on average Talent Report Select All delivers more than 4 instant verifications of employment with each verification request. That means it helps employers and background screeners confirm a candidate’s past work history and current job status quicker, resolve inconsistencies with self-reported information, and validate experience.

In addition to confirming employment history, pre-employment verifications can also help businesses guide interviews based on insights from employment histories. A (pre-pandemic) Equifax study of pre-employment data for a large national restaurant chain found that nearly one-quarter of their new hires were concurrently holding another job. That is significantly above the January 2020 national average of 5.1 percent, as tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Such information can be confirmed through pre-employment verifications and can help hiring managers guide conversations around scheduling needs, in the hopes of attracting the best candidates and increasing retention by offering a workable schedule.

The background screening profession serves several critical functions, including: protecting the rights of consumers, promoting safe homes and workplaces, helping employers and property managers comply with state and federal screening regulations, helping public and private employers make informed placement decisions and last not least providing risk mitigation tools for employers and property managers.