ESR Case Studies

1. Is that applicant really a convicted criminal? Recently, ESR helped an employer determine whether or not their applicant was a convicted felon. When the candidate’s name was checked at the local courthouse, a positive match turned up, including a day of birth which was only a few days off the date of birth submitted by the candidate. The record at the courthouse even had a photo of the perpetrator which closely resembled the applicant. Going above and beyond, ESR contacted the Bureau of Prisons who quickly resolved the issue: the individual listed in the court documents was currently incarcerated and could not be the same person as the candidate.
2. Applicant Generated Report (AGR) System A national firm with applicants from all over the U.S was facing the challenges of obtaining signed consent forms from applicants and data inputting the information  into a background screening firm’s system.  The employer then had to fax the release form to the background firm in order to obtain verifications from schools and employers that required a release.  The process was extremely time consuming, and created an administrative nightmare.  The firm sought a solution from ESR.  ESR provided the employer with its proprietary Applicant Generated Report (AGR) System. Now, all a recruiter does is enter the candidate’s name and email address. The AGR system sends and e-mail to the applicant who fills in the necessary data and completes an online consent.  Because some employers still require a signed release, ESR has developed an online “mouse” signature solution, so it is a completely a paper-free solution.  The solution even allowed the employer to review the online application form before it was submitted. As a result of the AGR solution, the employer no longer has to handle paper, do data entry or fax a release form—the AGR system by ESR handles all of those functions, and the candidate does the rest using our secure web-based system.
3. Seamless Integration with an Applicant Tracking System: An employer was using an applicant tracking system and when they were interested in a candidate, had to go through the very labor intensive process of contacting the applicant to have them fill out the background screening forms. Using the same AGR solution outlined above, ESR provided the Applicant Tracking System with a link on their website, where a recruiter could push a button that said, “Run Background Check," and the candidates name and e-mail were automatically transmitted to ESR.  After that, everything was automatic.  The applicant received an e-mail, gave ESR the required data, signed the online release, and ESR completed the report and sent a secured link to the employer.  Hours of administrative work done by numerous people went away with a very easy to use paperless system.
4. What does this criminal record mean? Frequently, ESR partners with new employers because while their current background firm may return results in a timely manner, said firm is unable to explain the data in the report. ESR is in the exceptions business, meaning that 9 out of 10 backgrounds come back clean, but it’s that 10^th one, or the exception, which causes more questions than answers. Our team of dedicated Background Specialists walks our clients through the report in laymen’s terms. In fact, the reports themselves display that actual legal language a public record displays, but then breaks it down into an easy-to-comprehend definition.
5. Avoiding a Sex Offender Standard Operating Procedure at ESR is to alert our clients right away when a criminal record that is of a violent and/or sexual nature is discovered. A couple months ago we found that a candidate matched a sex offender registry from a state whose county criminal records were not being checked. Immediately, an ESR Background Specialist called the employer. The main contact at the employer was not the one who did the recruiting. ESR was able to send the employer a photo of the convicted sex offender, purposely deleting any information about the crimes. The employer then asked the recruiter is the photo in the email was that of the candidate being background checked. A positive ID was made and the employer stopped the application process, as the criminal question was answered “no” by the candidate and the sex offenses were relevant to the job, as the candidate would have been working in a public area which includes children.
6. International Background Checks An employer based in the US has several international offices. To be consistent with corporate policy, the employer decides to parallel the types of background checks conducted on its domestic candidates. Turning to ESR, the employer is now able to conduct background checks in several countries within Asia, South America and Europe. Candidates Personal Identifiable Information (PII) is protected as ESR just the third U.S. background firm to be Safe Harbor Certified by the US Department of Commerce for its compliance with the European Union privacy rules.

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