Note: This is part two of a two-part blog series. Click here to view part one.
A couple of years ago, amid the flood of employment verification orders accompanying the “Great Resignation,” we wrote that outsourcing some or all of your CRA’s verification work “may be your only way out of the backlogs during this period of unprecedented demand.”
Now, with the nationwide quit rate cooling and job churn settling, it’s worth asking if outsourcing verifications is still an essential strategy for CRAs and background screening companies. Or, has the employment landscape shifted so much that it’s time to take verifications back in-house (or if you never outsourced, keep them there)?
As we’ll demonstrate in this article, what we first wrote in 2022 (and recently updated for 2024) still holds today.
“[O]utsourcing verifications to the right provider may help your business differentiate itself from your competition with faster turnaround times, greater customization, and better completion rates.”
Three Reasons to Outsource Employment Verifications in 2024
Outsourcing verifications is more than just a temporary fix. There are three good reasons to consider outsourcing verifications as a permanent strategy for helping your background screening business compete and grow through 2024 and beyond:
1. The ‘Big Stay’ Isn’t So Big
In a recent analysis, we pointed out that although the Great Resignation is well and truly in the rearview mirror, it doesn’t mean quitting and hiring have ceased altogether. The current employment landscape has been dubbed the “Big Stay,” but it might be better to think of it as simply a return to pre-pandemic levels.
“We are pretty much back to a strong, robust labor market, but one that is no longer overheating,” one economist told Axios.
Job growth in February of this year reached 275,000, exceeding most expectations.
Meanwhile, HR departments continue to need help verifying resumes so that they can speedily fill their open positions with qualified candidates. According to the 2023-24 SHRM State of the Workplace Report, 57% of HR pros say they are working beyond normal capacity, and 70% prioritize “finding workers with the skills their organization needs.”
The focus is especially on remote and “gig” workers. Both employment trends show no signs of slowing.
2. Verifications Are Resource-Intensive With Lower Margins
Employment verifications are among the typical CRA’s most requested services — for good reason. Employers rely on verification to ensure they hire only the most qualified, experienced applicants. Unfortunately, verifications are among the most labor-intensive, inefficient, and least scalable background screening services.
Yes, some verification orders can be automated using digital tools such as the Work Number, but at least 65% must be handled manually. And that 65% is miring your team members in an endless cycle of phone calls, voicemails, and waiting for callbacks.
It’s no surprise, then, that employment verification commands typically lower margins than other background screening activities. By reducing time-consuming manual verification work, outsourcing frees up your verification team members to take on higher-margin tasks from your other departments, such as criminal background checks.
3. Outsourcing Readies Your Business For What’s Next
The past several years have been nothing if not eventful. The roaring economy of 2019 crashed headfirst into a worldwide economic and health crisis, followed by an unpredictable recovery plagued by inflation.
If it’s starting to feel like things are getting back to “normal,” don’t get too comfortable. As the last few years show, nobody knows what’s over the economic horizon.
Scaling a verifications team up and down to adjust to the latest employment trends has never been easy. New hires can take weeks or months to get up to speed, resulting in missed deadlines and irritated end-users. But if your team is too large, the cost (for people, equipment, and real estate) can drag your company’s revenue during leaner periods.
A reliable outsourced verification provider insulates your background screening company from an unpredictable economy. Whether you use them as a “release valve” for your overflow work or trust all your verification orders with them, an ongoing relationship with an outsourced provider helps you concentrate on running your business in the present rather than worrying about the future.
Is Outsourcing Verifications ‘Giving Up’?
It’s tempting to view any outsourcing as a failure, but it’s not. Some of the world’s most successful companies became household names by outsourcing nearly everything — except for the things that truly make them special.
Outsourcing is an acknowledgment that there are certain things your business does better than anyone else, and perhaps employment verification isn’t one of them. Outsourcing verifications unchains your business from fickle labor trends, giving you the focus and flexibility you need to compete and grow against any economic backdrop.
Finding the Right Outsourced Employment Verifications Provider
When we talk about outsourcing verifications, we’re not talking about outsourcing to just any provider willing to take your business. As a CRA in a highly competitive industry, you need background screening results you can stand behind as if they were your company’s own. You need turnaround times that match or beat your internal team’s.
The right outsourced verifications provider offers the advantages of speed, scalability, and accuracy only size, experience, and ongoing technological investment can achieve.
At InfomData, we’ve hired and trained the most talented people in the background screening industry, refined our processes, and developed state-of-the-art data technology to serve as a seamless extension of your own people, processes, and technology. Based on over two decades of data, analysis, and experimentation, we’ve created advanced algorithms that know exactly who to call and when to remove the guesswork from the employment verification process.
Our scientific approach to employment verification allows us to effortlessly modulate our operational footprint, bringing on new team members in a matter of days to handle any volume and even the most complex custom requirements.
The 'Big Stay' may be here to stay. Then again, the next big labor shakeup might be right around the corner. At InformData, we’re ready to jump in at a moment’s notice to help your business quickly adapt to whatever the market demands. Click here to learn more or schedule a demo.
