Firms offer online pre-hiring background checks

Background checks will no longer be delayed until after employees are hired if federal managers use the Internet to handle the chore.

Some agencies wait until after they hire someone to perform a background check. Now hiring officials can click a button and request criminal background checks of applicants-before the applicants even come in for interviews-with a new online hiring system developed by a duo of private firms.

NIC Technologies, which creates Internet applications for government agencies, and Employee Relations, Inc., a newcomer to the federal marketplace, teamed up to create the online system. When hiring officials want background checks of applicants, they can select from a range of services on the system, including criminal, civil and credit checks. The request zips securely to Employee Relations, whose team of investigators compiles and electronically delivers a report to the hiring officials, typically within 72 hours.

"Agencies tell me they do background checks after they hire employees," said Steve Burhans, vice president of marketing for NIC Technologies. "We can help put the hiring process in the right order. Agencies often want to do a background check earlier, but they just don't have the resources or the time to do it. Now, since we can put this on the Web, we can initiate and facilitate that."

With the online system, called the Employee Relations Network, candidates can submit applications online using Web-based forms. The applications are fed into a database, which hiring officials access for review. Then hiring officials can request the background checks, which candidates must agree to when filling out their applications. Officials can also initiate drug testing procedures for applicants.

For more information about the Employee Relations Network, see www.employeerelations.net.