Up to Speed: Optimizing Your Efficiency in GoodHire

Background checks have become invaluable in helping businesses make informed hiring decisions. GoodHire is designed to be highly configurable to meet the needs of your team and help you save time (and money). No matter how often you need to run background checks, read on to learn how to get the most benefit from the platform.

In our recent webinar, we walked through GoodHire’s many time-saving features and capabilities. The majority of webinar attendees said they use GoodHire on a daily or weekly basis, which means it’s always a great time to audit your account and ensure it’s configured to best meet your needs. Here are four simple ways to customize your account to save time and screen faster in GoodHire: 

Create Custom Packages

Conducting background checks is not a one-size-fits-all process. Different industries, locations, and positions require different background checks, and your organization undoubtedly has its own unique criteria based on your background check policy.  

The GoodHire platform enables you to create custom packages to reduce the administrative burden and eliminate duplicate work. For example, you might run criminal background checks for all roles, but run additional screenings such as education and employment verification for management roles. With a custom package, you can easily tailor your screening packages based on a variety of factors, like industry, position, and location. 

A best practice to consider is customizing packages by job role to help ensure all candidates are screened consistently, which supports fair hiring practices and helps to protect your organization from legal liability. GoodHire’s FCRA-certified Customer Support team is available to help set-up custom packages for your account based on your organization’s hiring needs.  

Streamline Candidate Consent

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires written consent from candidates before running a background check. To help minimize delays and streamline your hiring process, GoodHire offers three FCRA-compliant consent options: 

GoodHire E-Consent: Our e-consent option makes the whole process easier for both you and your candidates. Employers simply provide GoodHire with a candidate’s name and email address, and we contact the candidate to electronically sign and confirm consent to run a pre-employment background check. For cases when the candidate or employer is located in California, we also provide an Investigative Consumer Reporting Agency Act (ICRAA) compliant disclosure to the candidate. For screening services requiring additional consent (such as drug screenings or motor vehicle record checks), we also secure this consent separately on your behalf.

We’ve also optimized the e-consent processes for mobile devices. Candidates can electronically sign and verify their consent through their smartphones, making it easier and more accessible for candidates to move through the process quickly.

GoodHire Consent Form:  We also offer an offline FCRA-compliant consent form for candidate disclosure, authorization, and consent for the procurement of consumer reports. This form is best used when you have a candidate onsite so you can get their consent right away without waiting for them to sign and send in the consent form. We ensure this consent form complies with federal law, but know that additional state laws may apply based on your location and your applicant’s state of residence. 

Custom Employer Consent Form: Employers can choose to use their own consent form. This approach typically makes the most sense if your company has its own legal department. You can reach out to your account manager or our support team who can help get this set up for you. The great thing, if you choose this option, is that GoodHire’s compliance experts will still review the form to determine if it meets our acceptance criteria. If your form meets all requirements, we’ll automatically use your custom consent form for your future background screenings.

Configure Filtering Rules

GoodHire has developed comprehensive reporting procedures to help our customers comply with state and local laws as well as EEOC guidance. For example, GoodHire does not report arrest-only or other non-conviction records, including records where the candidate successfully completed a deferral program. We also apply a matrix of state and local laws to filter out records that you are not legally allowed to consider in your hiring decision.

While this compliance-forward approach saves you time by filtering out records that you can’t legally consider, some customers may wish to further customize reporting results to save time and improve compliance with individual company policies by using our Filtering feature.

This premium subscription feature customizes your report views by specifying the results to show or hide, so that only the relevant results will appear. You can use the same criteria for your entire screening program or assign unique criteria based on your custom screening packages. 

Your Filtering rules can be a combination of the following types of criteria:

• Severity (felony or misdemeanor)
• Screening category (financial, drug, justice system, watchlist, motor vehicle, etc)
• Number of offenses
• Time elapsed since disposition

Filtering enables you to focus on the criteria that matter to you and to your organization, which helps to ensure consistency in your background checks while minimizing potential bias in your hiring process. Used in combination with Automated Adjudication, Filtering can be an even more powerful component of your screening program. If you are interested in enabling these enhanced features on your account, please contact our Customer Support team.

Promote Fair Chance Hiring

Today in the US, one in three adults–more than 70 million–have a criminal record, which can make it challenging to gain employment for positions they might be fully qualified for. 

GoodHire is proud to support fair chance hiring practices, and within our platform are unique capabilities designed to empower both employers and candidates. One of these helpful features is called Comments for Context. Built into every GoodHire background check at no extra charge, Comments for Context is a simple, automated option that provides a link for candidates to easily add circumstances and context to any records that are returned. Our easy-to-use workflow provides tips and examples for candidates on how to write meaningful comments. This guidance also follows fair hiring guidelines which suggest asking the candidate to share the relevant context, including their age at the time it occurred, what they’ve done since, and evidence of rehabilitation.
Comments for Context not only helps expedite individualized assessments, it also eliminates the confusion of candidates who might choose to provide circumstantial information by email or phone. Additionally, a considered approach to candidates with criminal records keeps qualified candidates in your talent pool so you can make more informed hiring decisions. 

Get the Most Out of GoodHire

Whether you’re a large company screening candidates across multiple locations, or a small business running a background check occasionally, GoodHire’s platform can be easily optimized to meet your needs. From ordering background checks to reviewing results and making decisions, learn additional ways to configure your account for increased productivity in our on-demand webinar. 

Watch The Webinar

Learn how to save time and screen faster. Click to view GoodHire’s on-demand webinar.

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About the Author

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As GoodHire’s managing editor, Sara Korolevich produces educational resources for employers on a variety of employment screening topics, including compliance and screening best practices, and writes about GoodHire’s company and product news. Sara’s experience stems from 20+ years working as a B2C and B2B PR and communications professional.