Mike Maroone Automotive Group operates four car dealerships, and needed a background check partner that would support ongoing hiring and future growth plans. They chose GoodHire for its ease-of-use for HR, hiring managers, and candidates alike. 

Since implementation, they’ve found significant improvements in efficiency. GoodHire has helped them save 20-30 minutes per candidate, with 1-2 day turnaround times for background check results.

With GoodHire as their screening partner, they know they can continue to improve their time-to-hire, and as they plan future acquisitions, they have a trusted source for easy-to-use, fast background checks.

Mike Maroone Automotive Group was established in 2017 with the acquisition of four auto dealerships. The company has millions of dollars in inventory across four locations, and needs to protect its property from theft and damage by recruiting and employing high-quality talent. 

They began screening employees with their first set of acquisitions because they didn’t know what the prior company had done in terms of their background check investigations. They didn’t want to be surprised by anything, so all of the existing employees were asked to complete a background check and drug test. Unfortunately, the background check provider they used during the acquisition was cumbersome, difficult to use, and very expensive. 

In an effort to identify a new background check partner to support its future growth plans, Layla Holt, the Human Resources Director at Mike Maroone Automotive Group, began researching background check companies. Having worked in the auto industry for a long time, she knew background checks were key to finding high-quality talent, and knew a better employment screening partner could help them improve efficiencies in their screening process. She found GoodHire and liked the “simplicity of the user interface” and clean, easy candidate experience. 

Now, they trust GoodHire’s criminal background checks to identify high-quality talent and ensure employees haven’t been convicted of things like violent crimes, burglary, or grand theft auto. They also run Motor Vehicle Records searches to ensure the vast majority of their employees have good driving records, as their liability insurance carrier won’t insure anybody with more than two moving violations in the past three years. Finally, they use GoodHire’s drug screenings to minimize illegal activity and mitigate risk on their properties.

When Layla initially began using GoodHire, she was pleased that all they had to do was enter the candidate’s name and email address and select which background checks to run, eliminating manual data entry and saving time. The GoodHire platform sends an email to the candidate, and the candidate completes an online form and provides consent. GoodHire’s dashboard and workflow is intuitive and easy for everyone to start using right way.

They later implemented BambooHR as an applicant tracking system and HRIS, and the integration with GoodHire made the background check process even easier. Layla shares, “It’s a click of a button.” Hiring managers receive all applications through BambooHR and click “initiate background check” once they’ve selected a candidate. When human resources receives a notification that there’s a background check in the queue, they can review it, and run it. A dashboard gives them visibility into the status for each candidate, so they can easily see things like whether the candidate has completed their drug test, or if the collection is still pending.

GoodHire is also mobile optimized, which is a major benefit in the automotive industry. Layla explains, “People in the car business are not necessarily sitting around their computers all day long, but they have their phones on them all the time.” A mobile-optimized platform allows managers to keep the hiring process moving, and simplifies the experience for candidates as well.

Layla said that GoodHire’s ease-of-use saves her and her hiring managers 20-30 minutes per candidate. With 15-20 background checks per month, this amounts to upwards of 10 hours saved per month.

GoodHire’s straightforward candidate interface makes the platform very intuitive for candidates, too. Unlike platforms Layla has used in the past, candidates don’t need to be coached through the process. This saves time for both the candidate and the hiring team, who won’t need to waste time troubleshooting clunky background check software. In turn, background checks can be started and completed sooner, leaving a better impression on candidates and improving time-to-hire.

Mike Maroone Automotive Group also finds the background check reports very simple to read and understand, and appreciates that GoodHire helps with adverse action, which is built-in to the workflow. Layla says, “I really like the ability to do the pre-adverse action notices right from the system. And I also like that it allows the candidates to explain any criminal records that might show up so I may ask follow-up questions.”

GoodHire also helps reduce the administrative burden of centrally managing background checks for multiple dealerships. They are able to use a single system with expense codes to invoice the dealerships separately so that they are expensed properly.

There are a couple of key challenges to hiring in the automotive industry. First, the majority of employees are on a commission pay plan. They not only have to find people that have the talent; they also have to find people who aren’t afraid to work on commission. Second, automotive technicians are difficult to come by. They have to really seek them out, and have put apprenticeship programs in place to train and retain them.

These challenges are compounded by a high industry turnover rate. Following the acquisition, Mike Maroone Automotive Group experienced around 85% turnover as existing employees were wary of new ownership and leadership changes. Turnover is now closer to 60%.

Given these challenges, Layla is pleased that GoodHire’s turnaround times are “very quick,” with many of the background check results available the same day, or the following day. This allows them to get people on board faster, before candidates move on to other job opportunities. All employees—whether they work in sales, finance, the service department, or the parts department—go through the same screening process. Once they have high-quality employees in place, they provide growth opportunities such as apprenticeships and management development programs in an effort to both support their employees’ careers and retain them.

GoodHire’s background checks are now a key part of Mike Maroone Automotive Group’s recruitment process. As the company considers future dealership acquisitions, they know they have a trusted partner for screening new hires and maintaining a consistent, high-quality workforce.

Layla says, “For potential future acquisitions, it will be nice to use a platform that we know is simple and easy to use for everyone.” With an easy-to-use interface and fast turnaround times, GoodHire can help them quickly scale their high-quality workforce.