Note: This is part one of a three-part blog series recapping the background screening industry trends of 2024 and helping CRAs prepare for what’s next in 2025.
Congratulations on making it through yet another interesting year in background screening! The shifting landscape has revealed opportunities for Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs) to innovate, improve, and reimagine what’s possible. By reflecting on the key product trends of the year, we can uncover insights that will empower your organization to thrive in 2025 and beyond.
In our recent webinar, “Prepare to Thrive in 2025: Top Background Screening Trends of 2024 and What's Next”, our panelists Ryan Crawford, Jeff Anop and Adam Abbruzzese shared their key takeaways from 2024. This post highlights the product-related trends and insights they explored.
This post is a summary of their insights- you can watch the on-demand webinar for free here!
Product Trends: What the Data Revealed
Our database houses information covering tens of millions of searches from over 500+ CRAs and eight product categories covering a whopping 5,000+ primary sources in 200+ countries and territories… That’s a lot of data! We took a deep dive into this data to uncover product-focused trends and takeaways.
Here’s what we found:
National Criminal Database and Sex Offender Registry Searches
National Criminal Database (NatCrim) and sex offender registry (SOR) searches emerged as central topics of discussion this year, becoming a more significant part of day-to-day conversations. These products, often considered static components of screening packages, are now being reevaluated.
We saw a 63% increase in our NatCrim demand over 2023. CRAs are increasingly seeking alternatives to traditional providers, driven by demand for better data, improved service, and more flexibility compared to traditional methods.
There’s been a clear shift toward enhanced solutions for SOR searches. Demand for our SOR+ product increased significantly this year, and our SOR MNM has steadily decreased. By incorporating more detailed data, such as dates of birth and social security numbers, Sex Offender Registry+ reduces false positives and manual investigations, delivering significant cost savings and efficiency improvements.
Adam explains that clients’ growing demand for deeper, more reliable data is driving these trends, reshaping expectations for both NatCrim and SOR searches.
Verifications
Our year-over-year analysis of our Verifications demand revealed some interesting shifting trends—as Ryan said, “We saw some inconsistency and consistency.”
- Reference verifications saw a double-digit increase as more companies outsourced these traditionally in-house checks, driven by the need for customization and resource reallocation.
- Employment verifications grew modestly, with some clients possibly substituting reference verifications to avoid the hefty third-party fees that remain a significant challenge.
- Education verifications slightly declined, but we’re starting to see high schools increasingly participating in the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), which may streamline the process.
- It's also important to note the concern about the rise of AI-generated resumes, which contribute to a noticeable increase in fraudulent information. This trend reinforces the need to continue to perform resume verifications, despite the hurdles.
Ryan advises organizations to prepare redundancy plans to handle fluctuating volumes, ensuring they can meet demand efficiently while addressing the growing need for tailored and reliable verification solutions.
Criminal, Civil and Federals – Core
Here’s a brief summary of Adam’s evaluation of this year’s trends in our core products—criminal, civil, and federal searches:
- Criminal Searches: A decrease in hiring activity led to reduced demand for county criminal searches, reflecting broader economic trends. However, statewide searches grew by 17%, as we believe clients outsourced manual processes for greater efficiency and resource optimization.
- Civil Searches: Demand for civil searches also increased as clients looked to offload time-intensive, high-touch tasks like manual result sifting.
- Federal Searches: Federal search volumes rose by 17%, driven by the inefficiency of manual "alpha searches" (name-only matches without additional identifiers like dates of birth). In response, we’re finalizing a new federal product that integrates secondary databases to provide additional identifiers such as dates of birth or addresses, making the search more efficient and precise.
Across the board, the common trend is a growing preference for outsourcing manual processes and leveraging automation to improve efficiency and focus on strategic, higher-value tasks.
International Screening
Our data revealed that the demand for international background checks grew by a whopping 116% year over year! Yep – it’s time to go global. Ryan believes this increase is driven in part by:
- Global workforce expansion and cross-border hiring
- Increased regulatory compliance requirements
- Rising fraud and credential falsification concerns
- Rise in remote and gig work
Ryan shared that CRAs are fielding more inquiries for ancillary products, including ID verifications, Motor Vehicle Records (MVRs), financial checks, social media screenings, and more, reflecting expanded global hiring trends. Additionally, the 2026 Olympics in Italy and ongoing visa-driven hiring highlight the need for robust international solutions.
Key regions like India, the UK, Canada, and Mexico dominate client inquiries, highlighting the importance of navigating complex, country-specific requirements. A trusted partner is crucial to meeting these growing needs while ensuring compliance and operational efficiency.
Monitoring Solutions
This year, post-hire monitoring solutions have gained prominence as critical tools for staying ahead of potential issues, mitigating risks, and safeguarding businesses in real-time. Jeff explored the three solutions we’ve seen the most interest in:
- Criminal Monitoring: Criminal activity monitoring is increasingly used in settings like universities and workplaces to track changes in criminal records, with demand shifting toward actionable insights rather than basic arrest data.
- Healthcare License Monitoring: In the healthcare sector, monitoring focuses on tracking the licenses and certifications of healthcare professionals, especially those in high-mobility roles like traveling nurses and doctors. This approach combines criminal record monitoring with license validation, ensuring facility security and compliance.
- Driver Monitoring: Driver monitoring has become vital for businesses managing fleets. It enables them to track driver behavior after hire and address incidents like accidents or legal issues.
Recurring monitoring products also offer CRAs a path to sustained revenue growth, similar to a SaaS business model. With rising demand for tailored and scalable options, monitoring is helping businesses adapt to a dynamic risk landscape while unlocking new growth opportunities. We recommend focusing on these in 2025.
Looking Ahead to 2025
The trends of 2024 provide a roadmap for preparing your organization for the challenges and opportunities of 2025. Whether it’s leveraging automation, expanding globally, or adopting monitoring solutions, staying ahead requires a reliable data partner.
At InformData, we’re here to help you navigate what’s next. With decades of experience and a commitment to empowering our clients, we deliver the insights and solutions you need to unlock your potential and thrive in the new year.
Let’s make 2025 your best year yet! Contact our team today to explore how we can help your organization succeed.
Stay tuned for the next post in this series, where we’ll unpack overarching industry trends from 2024. Subscribe here so you don’t miss it.
