HireRight + National Student Clearinghouse = ???
May 9, 2022 10:41 AM Subscribe
I was offered a job (yay!) but my background verification being done through HireRight (initiated April 28th) is taking longer than I expected. I called HireRight to ask...
and was told that it's my education that they've having trouble verifying, which is very unexpected. They said they're waiting for someone they spoke to at the registrar's office on May 3rd? And also read out a long email address to me? I went to a major private university in the US (Johns Hopkins) and they use National Student Clearinghouse for transcripts and verifications, so I'm confused that this isn't all happening electronically/in an automated way, and I'm worried HireRight might be doing something wrong. Can anyone familiar with these two companies shed some light on this and what I might do to help? Do they in some way not play well together? I had a really hard time communicating with the customer service rep on the phone (both understanding her and also trying to share that this might be done through a third party/asking if I could do anything to help the process.)
and was told that it's my education that they've having trouble verifying, which is very unexpected. They said they're waiting for someone they spoke to at the registrar's office on May 3rd? And also read out a long email address to me? I went to a major private university in the US (Johns Hopkins) and they use National Student Clearinghouse for transcripts and verifications, so I'm confused that this isn't all happening electronically/in an automated way, and I'm worried HireRight might be doing something wrong. Can anyone familiar with these two companies shed some light on this and what I might do to help? Do they in some way not play well together? I had a really hard time communicating with the customer service rep on the phone (both understanding her and also trying to share that this might be done through a third party/asking if I could do anything to help the process.)
Response by poster: Thanks. I'm new to the world of big companies and this sort of background check, and it didn't even occur to me that the HR person is the one to poke at them. I was anxiously assuming it was my issue to resolve.
posted by needs more cowbell at 11:28 AM on May 9, 2022
posted by needs more cowbell at 11:28 AM on May 9, 2022
I've been through HireRight and several of the other big ones. It is a pain and I have to do it 2-3 times a year as I currently consult. It usually is a requirement for me to be in their system. Specifically the National Student Clearinghouse as of a year ago has been backed up due to something, something Covid and I was asked to present transcripts myself. I went to HR and said look, I've given them all I need I don't have transcripts, figure it out (nicely). I never heard back. Do not be surprised if you're asked to present W2s everywhere you've been. I've never had background checks be an issue.
posted by geoff. at 11:49 AM on May 9, 2022
posted by geoff. at 11:49 AM on May 9, 2022
Also, it is graduation season and admissions season, and if Hire Right is for some reason actually waiting on someone in an undergraduate registrar's office to respond for some reason, your local URO is buried and regretting their life choices. Which is super frustrating when you're trying to get hired somewhere, but I'm just saying, a week for anything to happen in academia right now is not unusual.
posted by joycehealy at 12:28 PM on May 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by joycehealy at 12:28 PM on May 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
I don't understand why it is, but in my experience, background checks are of completely unpredictable duration. I had a background check when I started at my current employer, and then a second check when I was promoted. Despite not having moved or had any additional jobs or education, the first background check to a couple of days, the second one took almost three weeks.
As phunniemee says, couldn't hurt to reach out to HR and say, I'm still excited! Let me know if there is anything I can do to help! but the best thing you can do is just be patient.
posted by Rock Steady at 12:47 PM on May 9, 2022
As phunniemee says, couldn't hurt to reach out to HR and say, I'm still excited! Let me know if there is anything I can do to help! but the best thing you can do is just be patient.
posted by Rock Steady at 12:47 PM on May 9, 2022
Response by poster: Also, it is graduation season and admissions season, and if Hire Right is for some reason actually waiting on someone in an undergraduate registrar's office to respond for some reason
Oh, I know! Which is why I was especially panicked to hear mention of the registrar's office when AFAIK the registrar's office doesn't even handle this stuff at this school, the National Student Clearinghouse does. If the registrar's office were the right people to handle this I'd definitely be cutting the registrar's office some slack right about now.
I did email my HR contact (who was very helpful), and was also able to get to a different customer service rep by chat, so I feel less panicked about it. It's also useful to know that National Student Clearinghouse is maybe backed up due to Covid. It feels like it should be more automated than that when it's basically sharing uniquely identifiable information from a database between two big companies but who knows.
posted by needs more cowbell at 3:20 PM on May 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
Oh, I know! Which is why I was especially panicked to hear mention of the registrar's office when AFAIK the registrar's office doesn't even handle this stuff at this school, the National Student Clearinghouse does. If the registrar's office were the right people to handle this I'd definitely be cutting the registrar's office some slack right about now.
I did email my HR contact (who was very helpful), and was also able to get to a different customer service rep by chat, so I feel less panicked about it. It's also useful to know that National Student Clearinghouse is maybe backed up due to Covid. It feels like it should be more automated than that when it's basically sharing uniquely identifiable information from a database between two big companies but who knows.
posted by needs more cowbell at 3:20 PM on May 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Concluding update: In addition to touching base with my HR person, I was able to contact HireRight by chat (which at least eliminated the communication difficulties), and after mentioning National Student Clearinghouse to them and being on hold for a while, they told me that they were in touch with NSC and that there was an ETA of 72 hours. The next day I got an email from HireRight saying that NSC had provided/confirmed slightly different dates of enrollment for me than I had given and giving me the option of uploading my own verification. I scanned and uploaded PDFs of my transcripts and apparently everything is fine now. I start Monday, yay!
I do suspect that HireRight fucked up initially by contacting my college's registrar and that once they actually tried NSC rather than the registrar they at least had something concrete to report back to me (the discrepancy in dates) fairly soon. In addition, a friend who has a PhD told me that HireRight was not able to verify her PhD (which she got maybe 5 years ago at a very major US university) for a recent job offer, nor her sister's PhD (same). She actually believes she lost out on the position because of that, and in subsequent situations she mentioned to hiring managers that it had been an issue. (She is now well-employed after choosing from among several offers.) So if anyone else is experiencing a long wait with HireRight for education verification, I would definitely suggest being proactive about it.
posted by needs more cowbell at 4:59 PM on May 21, 2022
I do suspect that HireRight fucked up initially by contacting my college's registrar and that once they actually tried NSC rather than the registrar they at least had something concrete to report back to me (the discrepancy in dates) fairly soon. In addition, a friend who has a PhD told me that HireRight was not able to verify her PhD (which she got maybe 5 years ago at a very major US university) for a recent job offer, nor her sister's PhD (same). She actually believes she lost out on the position because of that, and in subsequent situations she mentioned to hiring managers that it had been an issue. (She is now well-employed after choosing from among several offers.) So if anyone else is experiencing a long wait with HireRight for education verification, I would definitely suggest being proactive about it.
posted by needs more cowbell at 4:59 PM on May 21, 2022
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I am assuming your future place of work is the one who has ordered the background check, and that you're not out here rolling background checks for fun. Which means it's your future place of work that has a contract with HireRight, which means your future place of work is the one best positioned to troubleshoot this and move it forward. Not you.
You should shoot an email over to the person who sent you your offer letter for signature, explain briefly that there appears to be a hold up on x part of your screening and that you have done y to resolve it, and please let you know what they (future HR) need from you to keep things progressing.
If your future HR is even remotely good at their jobs then the only thing they should be telling you to do is to hold tight please while they work to resolve it themselves.
posted by phunniemee at 11:14 AM on May 9, 2022 [5 favorites]