This is a 2019 SHRM Annual Conference and Exposition (#SHRM19) Interview is with InfoMart, a global identity and background screening provider. Below is a quick Q&A with Founder and Chief Visionary Officer, Tammy Cohen.
Who is InfoMart!? Tell us everything, just as you would someone approaching your booth and asking you this question at SHRM ‘19 in Las Vegas.
InfoMart is a global background screening and identity provider, 30 years strong! We personalize our process and technology to fit our customers’ needs and industry requirements. We have assembled the industry’s largest team of experts. By combining our team’s experience with our first-to-market innovations, our accuracy and turnaround time is unmatched.
Simply put, we make background screening your fastest, easiest, most valuable hiring practice. Consistently ranked one of the top 10 largest background screening providers in the industry, InfoMart continues to revolutionize the screening and identity space. And we’re just getting started!
Let us in on the magic. What’s the background check process like at InfoMart? How do you utilize your own tech and processes to ensure efficiency?
The efficiency begins before the request even enters InfoMart’s building. With just one click, an employer can initiate a background check, sending a candidate an invite to onboard via the screening industry’s first identity screening platform. ASAP ID uses a candidate’s real-time selfie and a photo of their government ID to confirm identity, then it transmits those verified identifiers to InfoMart. Not only does it enable a candidate-driven, mobile-friendly process; it improves the validity of the data being used in the screening process. And it only takes 60 seconds.
I call InfoMart the “screen machine” because of the powerhouse of technology that runs our back office. That is where the real work happens for a background check. Data flows are designed and time-tested for accuracy, efficiency, and turnaround time. We automate our quality assurance controls from entry to final review, deploying rules-based compliance filters and keeping the process compliant from start to finish. Our system is one-of-a-kind; it’s not a compilation of acquisitions’ technology nor an off-the-shelf subscription.
In today’s hiring landscape, accuracy is paramount, but turnaround time is required to be competitive. It takes years of experience and true experts to fine-tune the intricacies of a sophisticated background check. Our proprietary platforms are designed with our process in mind to keep all parties of a background check, from InfoMart to the client to the candidate, well-informed.
What are the biggest challenges companies face when streamlining their process? How do they overcome those challenges?
The challenges of HR are at a high with the emergence of so many timesaving and experience-driven applications. This explains why automation tools are growing in popularity among HR professionals, from AI recruitment and video interviews to VR tours for onboarding new employees. They want to get their new hire integrated quickly, for the benefit of the candidate and the company. Long background checks slow that down.
We’re proud to say that InfoMart resolves that problem. Our year-to-date average turnaround time for criminal searches is just 1.06 days—that’s how quickly we complete criminal background check requests. Ultimately, all screening challenges can be overcome by choosing the right background screening partner. A mix of technology, mature processes, and a well-trained team gets results back to our clients quickly.
What do you wish more HR professionals and recruiters knew about the background check process?
There are some HR professionals that believe they can use the online, $30/month criminal database search for a hiring decision. In fact, the fine print will say you can’t use the results for employment decisions. There is no quality control to check that the database is updated, no system in place to verify the information is tied to the right candidate, and no measure of FCRA-compliance to protect the company. Identifying the most accurate and compliant results for a criminal history search is extremely complex.
I’d also like to highlight the dangers of performing your own social media searches for hiring decisions. Recruiters risk compliance violations when making employment decisions knowing protected class information like age, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, and more.
Again, accuracy and compliance are key. We never begin a background check looking to exclude anyone from a job. In today’s hiring market, recruitment and HR professionals are facing record unemployment. Accurate background checks get the best candidates that much closer to the right job.
What makes InfoMart unique among other background check providers?
With a team of 170 employees, our average employee tenure is seven years. This is almost unheard of in the screening industry. I walked InfoMart’s halls the other day to check in on each department; one meeting alone had over 250 years of background screening experience situated around the table. That takes “experts” to a new level.
InfoMart is an industry pioneer. As part of the first wave of background screening providers, our beginnings pre-date internet and email; our processing technology consisted of fax and answering machines. We have been a key player in major technological and regulatory changes for the past three decades. As new data sources emerged, our teams were equipped to integrate advanced technology in with the process and the client in mind. When you assemble a team with this much experience, it’s magical to watch the fluid orchestration we’ve created in-house.
For anyone who won’t be able to make it to the InfoMart booth in Las Vegas, what do you want them to know?
We hope they can make it! We would love the opportunity to share the future of screening and the innovations that are guiding a new way of conducting background checks. If you miss the chance to meet our team this year, you can Get the Whole Story at www.infomart-usa.com. We also share valuable insight on our social media, so I encourage you to visit our Twitter @InfoMartUSA and follow if the content interests you. Enjoy SHRM 2019!
Brett Farmiloe is the Founder and CEO – and currently CHRO - of Terkel.io, a platform where business leaders can answer questions related to their expertise and get published in articles featuring their
insights. Brett is a #SHRM22Influencers and has also been a keynote speaker at several state SHRM conferences around the topic of employee engagement.
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